How long does probate take in Illinois?
Illinois probate usually takes six to twelve months for a straightforward estate. The floor is set by the creditor claims period, not by paperwork: claims run for six months after the executor publishes notice, and an estate generally cannot close until that window shuts. The house itself can often be sold well before then.
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What actually sets the six-month floor?
The creditor claims period sets it. Once the court issues letters of office, the executor publishes notice to creditors, and a six-month window opens in which anyone owed money by the deceased can file a claim against the estate. Distributing the estate before that window closes exposes the executor personally, so most estates wait it out.
Claims are barred outright two years after the decedent's death regardless of whether letters of office are ever issued (755 ILCS 5/18-12). Probate paperwork is rarely what makes probate slow. Waiting on a statutory clock is — and the house sits through all of it, running up taxes, insurance and utilities that come out of what the heirs eventually receive.
The stages of an Illinois probate, in order
- 1
The will is filed
Illinois requires whoever holds the will to file it with the circuit court in the county where the decedent lived, generally within 30 days of learning of the death. Filing the will is not the same as opening probate, and it does not by itself give anyone authority to sell anything.
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A petition opens the estate
The named executor petitions the court to admit the will and issue letters of office. Where there is no will, an heir petitions to be appointed administrator instead, and the estate is distributed under Illinois intestacy rules rather than under a will.
- 3
Letters of office issue
Letters of office are the document that matters to anyone selling an estate house. Letters of office are the court's confirmation of who may act for the estate, and title companies and buyers will ask to see them. Letters typically issue within weeks of the petition, not months.
- 4
Notice to creditors is published
The executor publishes notice and mails it to known creditors. The six-month claims window runs from publication, and it is the single largest block of time in a normal Illinois probate.
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Estate assets are inventoried and managed
The executor accounts for what the estate owns and keeps it insured and maintained. For an estate whose main asset is a house nobody is living in, this stage is where the carrying costs accumulate — and where selling the property is most often decided.
- 6
Claims are resolved and the estate closes
Once the claims window has closed and debts, taxes and expenses are paid, the remaining assets are distributed to the heirs and the estate is closed. A house that was sold during the estate is distributed as cash at this point rather than as property.
Can a house be sold before probate is finished?
Often yes. The executor's authority to sell comes from letters of office, not from the estate closing, and letters typically issue within weeks of the petition rather than months.
Under independent administration — the default route in Illinois for most estates where the will does not forbid it and no heir objects — an executor can generally sell estate real estate without returning to the court for approval of each step. Under supervised administration, which a court may order or an interested party may request, a sale usually needs court approval and takes longer. Which route an estate is on is the single biggest variable in how quickly a house can move.
The practical consequence for heirs: waiting for the estate to close before listing or selling the house means carrying it for the whole claims period. Selling once letters of office are in hand stops the taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance from eating into what the estate eventually distributes.
Does the small estate affidavit work for a house?
No. The Illinois small estate affidavit under 755 ILCS 5/25-1 reaches tangible and intangible personal property not exceeding $150,000, plus registered vehicles and safe deposit box contents (755 ILCS 5/25-1, verified 25 August 2026). Real estate is not in it.
An heir who read that Illinois has a small-estate shortcut and assumed it would transfer the house has been misinformed, and it is a common enough mistake to state flatly: a house passes by probate, by a trust, by joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or by a transfer-on-death instrument recorded before death. Never by small estate affidavit.
Two further cautions on that figure. Widely-circulated articles still quote an older $100,000 threshold, and the section carries a further amendment, Public Act 104-624, taking effect on 1 January 2027 — so anyone reading this after that date should check the current text rather than relying on this page (755 ILCS 5/25-1, verified 25 August 2026).
When does a house skip probate entirely?
Three arrangements move a house without probate, and all three had to be set up before the owner died.
A house held in a living trust passes under the trust's terms. A house held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship passes to the surviving joint tenant automatically. A house covered by a transfer-on-death instrument recorded before death passes to the named beneficiary under the Real Property Transfer on Death Instrument Act (755 ILCS 27).
If none of those was done, probate is the route, and no amount of family agreement changes that. The county recorder needs a legal authority to transfer title, and agreement among heirs is not one.
What makes an Illinois probate run long?
Four things, in rough order of how much time they add.
A contested will, which converts a six-month administrative matter into litigation. Heirs who cannot be located, since the court requires notice before an estate can proceed. Supervised rather than independent administration, which adds a court step to decisions the executor could otherwise make alone. And an estate whose assets are illiquid — most often a house the estate must carry while nobody lives in it.
That last one is not a legal delay at all. It is the one that costs the heirs the most money, and it is the only one on the list an executor can act on directly.
The Illinois probate statutes behind this page
- Small estate affidavit — $150,000, personal property only (verified 25 August 2026) — 755 ILCS 5/25-1
- Claims against an estate barred two years after death — 755 ILCS 5/18-12
- Transfer on death instruments for real property — 755 ILCS 27
When the estate does better listing the house
Where the house is in market-ready condition, the estate has the cash to carry taxes, insurance and utilities through the claims period, and the heirs agree on a timeline, an open-market listing will normally net the estate more. That is worth saying plainly. It stops being true the moment the estate is paying to hold a property nobody wants, in a condition that will not pass a buyer's inspection, for heirs who live in different states.
What this means for a Chicagoland estate house
Cook County and the collar counties bill property taxes a year in arrears, so an estate house carries a tax bill for a year the decedent owned it, payable after the death. Add insurance — vacancy usually requires a different and more expensive policy once nobody is living there — plus utilities kept on to protect the pipes through a Chicagoland winter. Those are the costs that run for the whole claims period, and they are the reason executors sell during probate rather than after it.
Questions about probate in Illinois
Do all Illinois estates go through probate?
No. Probate is required when the deceased owned assets in their own name that no other mechanism transfers. An estate consisting only of trust assets, jointly-held property and accounts with named beneficiaries may not need probate at all.
Who can sell the house during probate?
The executor named in the will, or an administrator appointed by the court where there is no will, once letters of office have issued. An heir cannot sell estate real estate personally just because they expect to inherit it.
What are letters of office?
The court order confirming who has authority to act for the estate. Title companies and buyers ask for them, and a sale cannot close without them. They typically issue within weeks of the petition.
Can heirs who disagree force a sale?
An heir can petition the court, and Illinois courts do order sales of estate real estate where heirs deadlock. It is slow and it costs the estate money, which is why most families find a way to agree first — and why an offer everyone can see in writing often settles the argument.
Does the mortgage have to be paid off before the house transfers?
No. A mortgage survives the owner's death and is paid off at closing from the sale proceeds, the same as in any other sale. Any remaining equity goes to the estate for distribution among the heirs.
Can we sell the house as-is if it is full of belongings?
Yes. An estate house that has not been cleared out is one of the most common things we buy in Chicagoland. The executor takes what the family wants and leaves the rest, which removes the clean-out that otherwise has to happen before any listing.
Why trust us with this?
You should be skeptical of anyone offering to buy a house they have not seen. Most owners get the postcards — no company name on them, a mobile number, a promise of top dollar. Being skeptical of that is the correct instinct, and we would rather you applied it to us as well.
So here is what can be checked. We have bought a great many houses in the situations sellers actually find themselves in — inherited and probate homes, pre-foreclosures, divorces, tenant-occupied buildings, long-vacant properties, fire and water damage, and houses nobody had touched in forty years. Whatever yours is, it is very unlikely to be the first of its kind for us. We look at the property before committing to a number, we show you how we got there, and you are never under any obligation to accept it.
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100+ properties closed
$5,334,500 paid out for houses across the six counties we serve.
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Free, no obligation, and nothing to fix, clean, or clear out first. Tell us what you are dealing with and we will give you a straight number — and a straight answer about whether selling is the right move at all.