ILLinois,Chicago Probate court

The easy answer is to say hundreds of thousands (for a matter like the infamous McCaskey estate in which everyone hired attorneys and fought for years). The real answer is that it depends. Attorneys usually charge by the hour for handling probate matters. Charging by the percentage is frowned upon because a percentage may have little or nothing to do with the actual work required to handle a particular estate. An estate of $1,000,000 could theoretically cost no more than an estate of $100,000 (and vice versa) if there are no issues and everything is straightforward. The same basic work is involved to probate every estate. Differences in cost are attributable to many different factors including the hourly rate of the attorney. Hourly rates are usually a function of experience, reputation, years in practice, etc. Aside from the hourly rate is the efficiency of the attorney and staff. It can be less expensive to hire an attorney with a higher hourly rate sometimes because with more years in practice and more experience in handling probate estates, an attorney is often more efficient. Another factor how much of the background, information gathering and how much of the work the executor/administrator can do without relying upon the attorney and staff. The more hand holding and follow up work the attorney and the attorney's staff must do, the more it will cost. The more responsive the client is and the more the client is able to follow through with things, the less time the attorney and office staff will spend. There are many factors out of the attorney's or client's control as well, including the existence of unique issues that must be resolved; claims that are filed by creditors, heirs and other interested parties who are contentious; Wills or Trusts that are not well-drafted and require interpretation; assets that require a high degree of skill to handle (like businesses); loose ends left by the decedent that need to addressed; information that is hard to find; and any number of issues that arise and require resolution. The time an attorney spends on a probate matter will depend on the number and complexity of the legal and other issues that come up and need to be addressed. When choosing an attorney, you should find out what the attorney's experience is, how many probate estates the attorney handles in a year, how many years the attorney has been doing probate, what the hourly rate is, what are the rates of legal staff and who will be doing the work, etc. You should also make sure the attorney has a good reputation among other attorneys and former clients if you can. A referral from another person is always better that picking up the phone book or searching the Internet. Still, much can be discovered from a website, resources like Lawyers.com and other things that can be found on the Internet that will give you a good idea of the attorney's ability and reputation.