To file a will in Illinois, deliver the original signed will to the circuit court clerk in the county where the deceased person lived, and do it immediately after you learn of the death. Filing the will itself costs nothing. If the estate needs to be administered, you then file a petition for probate with supporting documents and pay the county’s probate filing fee, and the court issues Letters of Office giving the executor authority to act.
The Immediate Duty to Deliver the Will
Illinois does not give you time to think about it. Under 755 ILCS 5/6-1, anyone who has possession of a will must file it with the circuit court clerk of the proper county immediately upon learning of the testator’s death.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 755 ILCS 5/6-1 – Duty to File Will If someone is sitting on the document and won’t hand it over, the court can issue an attachment order compelling them to produce it.
The penalty for holding back is not theoretical. Anyone who intentionally alters or destroys a will without the testator’s direction, or conceals it for 30 days after learning of the death, can be charged with a Class 3 felony, which carries two to five years in prison.2Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-40 – Class 3 Felony
The good news: filing the will under Section 6-1 carries a $0 fee in Illinois counties.3Bond County, Illinois. Filing Fees The fees people associate with probate come later, when you ask the court to actually open the estate.
Which County to File In
You file in the county where the decedent had a known place of residence at the time of death.4Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 755 ILCS 5/5-1 – Place of Probate Residence is the anchor, not where the death happened. A person who spent their last three years in a DuPage County nursing home but kept a home in Cook County is a Cook County filing.
For someone with no Illinois residence but property in the state, you file in the county where the greater part of their real estate sits. If they owned no Illinois real estate either, you file where most of their personal property is located. Filing in the wrong county doesn’t void anything, but the case will have to be transferred, and that costs weeks.
Documents to Gather Before You File
The Original Will
The court needs the original, ink-signed document, not a photocopy. Authenticity has to be verifiable and alterations have to be visible.
Certified Death Certificate
Request certified copies from the county clerk where the death occurred or from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Through IDPH, a certified copy is $19 by mail or online, with additional copies at $4 each; online orders through VitalChek add a $15 handling fee.5Illinois Department of Public Health. Obtain Death Certificate Order several. Every bank, insurer, and title company will want its own.
Petition for Probate
This is your formal request asking the court to admit the will and appoint the executor. It asks for the decedent’s name, address, date of death, and the approximate value of both personal property and real estate.6Lake County Circuit Clerk. Petition for Probate and for Letters Valuation doesn’t need to be exact yet; the court uses it to set bond amounts and gauge the scope of administration. You also name the executor from the will and check whether you’re requesting independent or supervised administration.
Affidavit of Heirship
This form maps the family tree the court will rely on for notice. You list every heir (anyone who would inherit under state law if there were no will) and every legatee (anyone named in the will). Anyone left off may not get the notice the law requires, which can give them grounds to reopen the case later.
Oath and Surety Bond
Before taking office, every executor files an oath and a surety bond promising to manage the estate faithfully. The bond protects beneficiaries and creditors against mismanagement. The will can waive the bond, and Illinois courts routinely honor that waiver.7Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 755 ILCS 5/12-2 – Individual Representative Oath and Bond If the will is silent, the executor can still petition for a waiver, especially with all beneficiaries’ written consent. When bond is required, the amount is tied to estate value, and the premium is paid from estate funds.
How to Submit the Filing and What It Costs
Most Illinois counties require electronic filing through the Odyssey eFileIL system. Create an account on the portal, convert your documents to PDF, select the probate case category, and submit with a linked payment method.8Tyler Technologies. eFile Illinois Landing Page Some clerks still want the physical original will delivered to the courthouse after the electronic upload. Call the circuit clerk’s office in your county to confirm the procedure before you file.
Filing the will is free, but opening a probate estate is not. In Cook County, the filing fee for a decedent’s estate is $379. In Bond County and St. Clair County, it is $366. Certified copies of Letters of Office, which you will need to hand out to banks and other institutions, run $2 per page in most counties.9Circuit Court for the 20th Judicial Circuit St. Clair County, Illinois. Circuit Clerk Fee Schedule Many courthouses have help desks or kiosks for self-represented filers who need a hand with e-filing.
Proving the Will and Getting Letters of Office
Filing the will and petition starts the process; it doesn’t finish it. Before admitting the will to probate, the court needs to be satisfied that it is genuine. Illinois requires statements from at least two attesting witnesses confirming they watched the testator sign or acknowledge the will, that they signed as witnesses in the testator’s presence, and that they believed the testator was of sound mind.10Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 755 ILCS 5/6-4 – Admission of Will to Probate Those statements can come through live testimony, an attestation clause on the will itself, or a signed affidavit. Many well-drafted wills include a self-proving affidavit that clears this hurdle without dragging witnesses back in.
Once satisfied, the judge enters an order admitting the will and issues Letters of Office. That document is what actually empowers the executor. Without it, no bank will release funds and no title company will move property. Order multiple certified copies at the same time.
Independent or Supervised Administration
You make this choice on the petition, and it shapes how the rest of the estate runs. Under the Independent Administration of Decedent’s Estates Act, an independent executor can sell property, pay debts, settle claims, hire professionals, and distribute assets without a court order for each step.11Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 755 ILCS 5 – Probate Act of 1975, Article XXVIII The executor still owes duties to the estate, and any interested party can bring a specific decision back to the judge, but day-to-day administration moves much faster.
Supervised administration is the alternative. The executor must petition the judge before selling real estate, distributing assets, or paying certain claims. It adds time and legal fees to every transaction and is more common in contested estates, cases with unreliable executors, or families where beneficiaries don’t trust the person in charge. If you request independent administration in the petition, the court will grant it unless an interested party objects.
Notices You Must Send After the Will Is Admitted
Filing gets the case open. The executor’s clock starts immediately after.
Within 14 days of the order admitting the will, the executor must mail a copy of the petition and the order to every heir and legatee whose name and address appear in the petition.12Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 755 ILCS 5/6-10 – Notice and Waiver If an address is unknown, notice must be published once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper in the county of administration. The mailed notice has to explain the recipient’s right to demand formal proof of the will and to contest its admission.
Separately, the executor must publish a creditor notice once a week for three successive weeks in a local newspaper and mail notice to every known creditor. The notice states the decedent’s name, the executor’s contact information, and a deadline for claims that must be at least six months from the date of first publication, or three months from the date of mailing, whichever is later.13Justia. Illinois Compiled Statutes 755 ILCS 5 Article XVIII – Claims Against Estates Any creditor who misses that deadline is barred. This six-month window is the reason no Illinois probate case closes faster than six months, no matter how simple the estate.
When You Can Skip Full Probate
Not every estate needs a probate case. If the decedent’s personal property, excluding motor vehicles registered with the Secretary of State, totals $150,000 or less, an heir or beneficiary can use a small estate affidavit to collect assets without opening probate. A 2025 amendment to the Probate Act raised the threshold from $100,000 to $150,000 for deaths on or after its effective date.
The small estate affidavit will not transfer real estate like a house or land. If the decedent’s real property already passed outside probate through a transfer-on-death instrument or joint tenancy, the remaining personal property can still qualify. Motor vehicles transfer through the affidavit without counting toward the $150,000 cap. The affidavit is filed at least 30 days after death, and the filer swears under oath that the estate meets every legal requirement. For small, straightforward estates, this route saves months and hundreds of dollars in court fees.
One thing to keep in mind either way: even when you plan to use a small estate affidavit and never open probate, the duty to deliver the original will to the circuit court clerk under Section 6-1 still applies. Filing the will is a separate obligation from administering the estate.