Plan Today, Embrace Tomorrow

Good estate planning is not about what you own. It is about making sure the people you love are protected, your wishes are honored, and the decisions you would have made are the ones that get carried out. Andrew works with clients across northern Illinois to build estate plans that reflect real families, not just the families the statute books imagined.

Building a family through adoption or surrogacy involves a legal process that changes lives on all sides. Andrew works with birth parents, adoptive families, and agencies on newborn adoptions, stepparent adoptions, non-traditional placements, and LGBTQ+ family adoptions, including second-parent adoptions for same-sex couples. He also drafts and reviews surrogacy agreements for intended parents and surrogates.

A trust keeps your estate out of the probate process, protects your family's privacy, and lets you control exactly who receives what and when. It is often the right choice for families with real estate, blended households, unmarried partners, or a family member with a disability who depends on public benefits. Andrew drafts revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, and special-purpose trusts across northern Illinois.

When a family member has a disability, a standard inheritance can create serious problems. Assets left directly to someone who receives SSI or Medicaid may disqualify them from the benefits they depend on. A special needs trust holds those assets without triggering that loss, and can fund education, transportation, assistive technology, and quality-of-life needs that benefits do not cover. Andrew also drafts Supported Decision-Making Agreements, a less restrictive Illinois alternative to guardianship that preserves a person's autonomy while building support around them.

From choosing the right business entity to drafting and reviewing contracts, Andrew provides ongoing legal counsel to business owners in Rockford and northern Illinois. Whether you are starting a new venture, formalizing an existing arrangement, or navigating a business question that does not fit a standard checklist, the firm offers practical, straight-talking guidance.

This firm was built for LGBTQ+ individuals and families. Andrew Mertzenich is an LGBTQ+-owned attorney who founded the Rockford Area Pride Committee and led the city's first official LGBTQ+ Pride Parade. The office is a safe, judgment-free space. Every estate plan here is written for your actual family, not the default the law assumes. Whether you are an unmarried partner, a same-sex couple, a transgender person, or part of a chosen family, the right plan is one built around the life you have.

A last will and testament names who inherits what you leave behind, who settles your affairs, and who raises your children if you have minor ones. Without one, Illinois law makes those choices for you, in a fixed order that rarely matches what you would have chosen. A will is the clearest, most direct way to say what you want to happen.

​A power of attorney names the person who manages your finances or makes medical decisions when you cannot. A living will states your wishes about life-sustaining treatment. Together, these documents put the people you trust in the room when it matters most. For LGBTQ+ families and unmarried couples, they are especially important. Without them, Illinois law may not recognize your partner's right to be part of your care at all.

Whether you are buying your first home, selling a commercial property, or reviewing a closing agreement, Andrew handles the legal side of real estate transactions in northern Illinois. That includes residential and commercial purchases and sales, contract review, title review, and regulatory advice at closing. Real estate transactions move quickly. Having an attorney in your corner before you sign keeps surprises out of the closing room.

Settling a loved one's estate means validating the will, gathering and valuing assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing what remains to heirs and beneficiaries. It is a process that comes at the worst possible time, and it goes more smoothly with a guide who knows it. Andrew helps executors and families across Winnebago and Boone Counties navigate probate without unnecessary delay or cost.