Selling a house in probate in McHenry County.

Illinois probates an estate in the county where the person lived. For McHenry County that's the 22nd Judicial Circuit, and the paperwork goes through the Clerk of the Circuit Court. The Clerk's probate page puts it this way: "The deceased must be a resident of McHenry County." It doesn't matter where the heirs live or, for a resident, where the house is.

The Clerk's office is at 2200 N. Seminary Avenue (Route 47), Woodstock, IL 60098, Rooms 136 and 353, open Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, at 815-334-4190. Its site says all probate filings must be done electronically unless you have good cause not to e-file. Wills are the exception: they aren't accepted electronically and are taken at the Civil customer service windows in Room 136.

These details are from the Clerk's website as we read it on October 3, 2026. Offices change rooms and hours, so check the Circuit Clerk's probate page before you drive to Woodstock.

Illinois law says that immediately upon a death, anyone who has the person's will shall file it with the clerk of the court of the proper county. The McHenry County Circuit Clerk's page repeats that rule and adds its own instructions:

• The original will must be filed with the Circuit Clerk's office, and the Clerk keeps it.
• The Clerk's page says wills must be filed within thirty days after the date of death.
• It says there is no fee to file a will, and that certified copies can be purchased once it's filed.
• A will can't be filed before the person has died.
• The petition to have the will probated and the original will can be filed at the same time.

Filing the will doesn't open a probate case or give anyone authority over the house. That takes a petition and an order from the court.

The Clerk's office provides probate forms in Room 136 and on its website, in separate sets for an estate with a will and an estate without one. The names on the list are a fair outline of what happens: a petition for letters, an oath of office and a bond, an order declaring heirship, a notice to heirs, a claim against the estate, and, at the end, a final report of the independent representative and an order of discharge.

Two of those matter for a house. The letters are what prove the representative's authority to a title company. And the list includes a petition to terminate independent administration, which is how an heir who objects asks the court to supervise the estate, including a sale. Our page on how to sell an inherited house in Illinois explains independent and supervised administration and what each means for selling.

Families often ask whether they can skip probate with a small estate affidavit. The Clerk's probate page describes small estates as estates that "do not include real estate, do not have debts or claims," and are under the value limit in the statute. If the person who died owned a house in their own name, that description doesn't fit.

A house can still pass outside probate if it was held in joint tenancy with a survivor, in a trust, or under a transfer on death instrument recorded before the death. A lawyer or a title company can tell you which of those, if any, applies by looking at the recorded deed.

Most estates with a house use a lawyer, and we recommend one. If you're handling it yourself, the 22nd Judicial Circuit runs a Self-Represented Help Center with Prairie State Legal Aid. The court's page lists it in Room 346, at 815-334-0317, open 8:00 am to 4:30 pm and closed from 1 to 2.

Read the court's own caution before you rely on it. The Center's staff "cannot provide legal advice," though they can give information about the process and access to court forms. The page also says a self-represented litigant "will be held to the same standard as a trained attorney."

You can ask for an offer at any point: before the will is filed, while the petition is pending, or after letters issue. A contract and a closing wait for the letters, because until then nobody has authority to sign for the estate. If the property taxes have fallen behind while the estate was being sorted out, the County Clerk's office can tell you whether they were sold and what it takes to redeem.

We buy houses across McHenry County as they stand, contents included if the written offer says so. See what we look at on our McHenry County page, or the page for a house in the city of McHenry. Our office is in Elgin, and we come to the house. A cash offer is usually below what a cleaned-out, repaired house would list for, and the estate's lawyer should read any offer before the representative signs.