Cases Resolved By The Law Offices of Hoy & Sahlas, LLC

Cases Resolved by the Father-Daughter Legal Team

Estate Planning Clients:

We’ve set up estate plans for people of all walks of life and a wide variety of needs:

• Young to Older clients

• Basic to complex and sophisticated estate plans

• Individuals of modest means to great wealth

• Business Owners and succession planning

• Divorced individuals

• Widows and Widowers

• Blended families

• Couples with a baby on the way

• Newly married couples

• Unmarried couples

• Parents with children who have disabilities or special needs

• First-time home buyers to savvy real estate investors

• Asset protection planning

• Mitigating Federal and State Estate Tax

• Funeral/burial/cremation wishes and final disposition of remains

• Naming guardians for minor children

• Individuals with Charitable Intent

• Owners of multiple real estate properties  

• End of Life wishes through advance directives 

• Donating body to science

• Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Spendthrift issues

• Creditor issues (current and potential)

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Entrepreneurs, Charities and Businesses:

We’ve helped entrepreneurs and small business owners pursuing the American dream by setting up their own business. We've assisted a wide variety of business clientele.  We have also helped incorporate and continue to represent not-for-profit businesses including charities, churches and condominium associations.  Contact our Oak Brook Business Attorneys for a Consultation today.

We've helped Business Owners such as: 

• A Wine store owner

• A Dog day care owner

• Commercial property owners 

• A Music School

• A Primary School

• Churches

• Printing companies

• Real estate investors and landlords

• Home remodeling businesses

• Welding product companies

• Professional clients including law firms, marketing firms, accountants, engineers, architectural firms, medical doctors, and counseling practices

• Chef & catering businesses

• Website owners

• landscaping companies

• Condominium associations

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Decedent's Estates we've handled:

Cases with:

• Unknown heirs

• No Will 

• Holographic Wills

• Beneficiaries residing overseas such as Sweden and Greece

• Lost Wills and Trusts

• Numerous Hoarder Estates

• Insolvent estates (more creditors than assets)

• Estates with numerous beneficiaries (33 individuals) 

• Estates with minor children as beneficiaries

• Lost Safe deposit box key

• Years of unfiled income tax returns

• Charitable beneficiaries 

• AWOL beneficiaries with unclaimed inheritance

• Beneficiaries who Disclaimed their Inheritance 

• Creditors and collection companies

• Out-of-state Executors

• The Executor Died

• A Beneficiary Subsequently Died

• The deceased person was the Executor of another’s Estate

• Both probate and trust administration were required

• Unclaimed property with the State of Illinois was collected

• Real estate:

  • with leases and tenants

  • Out-of-state real estate

  • International real estate

  • Commercial storefront property

  • Residential homes, condominiums, and multi-units

  • Investment property and rentals

  • Farmland with leases or crop share contracts

  • Restaurants

  • Mineral rights real estate

  • Problematic Real Estate:

    • A fire destroyed the real estate

    • Foreclosure proceedings

    • $60,000.00 in unpaid property taxes

    • $350,000.00 in unpaid property taxes

    • Had years of unpaid rent with tenants holding over

    • Property was abandoned to the Village

    • Numerous Code Violations

    • Minor children owned real estate

    • Decedent was owed large property tax refunds

    • Decedent forgot to file for senior and homeowner exemptions 

    • A family member was living at the house rent-free

    • Beneficiaries disagreed about selling the property

    • Beneficiaries needed to buy out one of the beneficiary’s share

• Cases with unusual assets such as:

  • A lawsuit (wrongful death or survivors actions)

  • Businesses 

  • Mineral rights, oil and gas leases

  • McGraw-Hill royalty contracts

  • South African Krugerrand coins

  • Frank Lloyd Wright artifact collection (acquired by a museum)

  • Guns

  • Art collections

  • Coins

  • Moon rocks

  • Auto parts and equipment

  • Car and motorcycle collections

  • Snowmobiles

  • Boats 

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Real Cases We've Handled:

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Bethel University recognized Colleen L. Sahlas for handling a probate estate leaving them a $3 million donation.

Elderly, Swedish Sisters Leave Millions to 33 Cousins

Two Swedish sisters lived together well into their 90s, and neither sister had ever married or had any children.  Dying within months of each other, these frugal, hard working sisters earned enough to call themselves millionaires, yet lived modestly.  One sister had a Will while the other did not. The sister having the Will died first, directing in the Will that the other sister inherit everything.  Shortly after, the surviving sister died without a Will.  Without a Will, it is left to the State of Illinois Statute as to how the total assets would be distributed.  The Law directed that it be distributed to all the maternal and paternal cousins, totaling 33 in all, with half of them residing in the Country of Sweden.  Our firm successfully located each heir, collected and distributed the millions in assets, and worked with the Swedish Consulate to ensure that each heir of the Estate received their proper inheritances.

Family Home Saved Just Days Before its Permanent Loss to a Property Tax Sale
A client who was an only child and whose parents had both passed away was about to lose their suburban home to a property tax purchaser.  He grew up in the house in Chicago's western suburbs which had been owned by his family for decades.   This lovely, $650,000 home was in danger of being permanently lost to a property tax sale scavenger service.  After we discovered the tight time frame and notified our client, we raced against the clock began to redeem the property from the tax sale.  With 60 days before the home would be permanently lost, we assisted the client to quickly open probate in Cook County, rush to the bank to collect $60,000 from her deceased mother's bank account and present the funds to the County to redeem the unpaid property taxes. 

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Hoarder's estate 

A suburban father and son died within four months of each other.  The father named the son as beneficiary of his trust and Will, and the son didn't take steps to administer his father's estate.  After the son passed away, our firm represented the Executor of the son's Estate who was also the Trustee of the son's Trust.  The Will could not be found and the safe deposit box had to be drilled out.  The estate and trust included real estate properties which had homeowner's insurance policies that went unpaid and had lapsed.  It also included a gun collection, dozens of bank accounts, stock, investments, retirement accounts, 2 safe deposit boxes, life insurance policies lacking surviving beneficiaries, unpaid income tax returns, months of unpaid bills, and an industrial unit which had auto shop parts and equipment including 19 vehicles. In addition, the home and storage unit were full of personal property to be itemized, transferred or sold.  What would have typically taken years to collect and administer took approximately one year.  We assisted the representative to open probate, collect all assets in good order, insure and then sell the real estate, negotiate with creditors, file all outstanding income tax returns, and move to close the estate. 

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Estate Leaving a Trip to Scotland for Golf Buddies

A newly divorced gentleman passed away leaving a Will with generous bequests including a golf trip to Scotland for his 5 golf buddies.  His ex-wife was still entitled to certain retirement accounts after the divorce and after his death.  He had two real estate properties to maintain.  His Will bequeathed over $1.5 million to 17 different individuals and charities. However, the estate only had $200,000 to work with, since the deceased individual didn't realize that naming a beneficiary on his investment accounts would not be controlled by his Will.  His beneficiary designation form on his $2 million account named a single friend.  This friend realized that the deceased individual would have wanted those funds to pass through his Will to fulfill the Will's legacies.  We assisted the Executor in collecting the assets, dealing with creditors and avoiding the potential insolvency and abatement of the estate.  We also helped the Executor handle the charitable bequests and report to the IL Attorney's General's Office, and the charities were able to receive the donations through the decedent's estate. 

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Unmarried House Remodeler Owning Real Estate in Multiple States Dies Without a Will

A single man without any children in his 50s dies unexpectedly leaving his real estate rehabbing & flipping business with multiple real estate properties in several States with unfinished work and packed with personal belongings.  Having invested monies in numerous companies and real estate properties in several different States, he was also the Executor for his 2 deceased aunts’ estates which were left incomplete at the time of his death.  Leaving little paperwork or files detailing exactly what he owned, the Executor was still discovering monies and investments 3 years after probate was first opened.  Having died without a will, it was left to the State of Illinois to determine who would inherit his assets. But matters were complicated by the fact that he owned real estate in 3 different States, and each State’s laws about who was entitled to inheritance monies was different from the other States.  We successfully opened probate in several different States, discovered and collected the numerous assets and distributed them to his heirs according to each State’s law.  In addition, we assisted in ensuring that the 2 deceased aunt’s estates were re-opened and had assets distributed accordingly.

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Did Your Loved One Pass Away?  Contact our knowledgeable and personable Oak Brook Probate & Estate Administration Attorneys today for a consultation by calling (630) 575-0400.