​Your will answers three questions no other document covers. Who inherits: the people and causes you name, with specific items or shares, from the house to a keepsake you promised someone. Who settles things: your executor gathers what you owned, pays your debts and hands property to the people you chose, so the job does not fall to whoever volunteers. Who raises your children: if you have minor children, your will names the guardian you trust, and a backup too. Those three decisions are yours to make. Made in a properly signed will, they carry the force of an Illinois court.

Making a will here starts with a conversation, not a stack of forms. You and Andrew talk through what you own, who matters to you and what you want to happen, by phone, by video, at the downtown Rockford office or at your kitchen table if leaving home is hard. He listens for the things most people never think to mention, then drafts your will and walks you through every line before you sign. Illinois has strict rules for a will to count: it must be in writing, signed by you and witnessed by two people. Andrew makes sure the signing is done right so nothing is left to chance.

A will is the foundation of any estate; but a full plan usually has more to it. A trust can spare your family the probate process, keep your affairs private and pass a home to children without the court process. Powers of attorney and advance directives name the people you trust to make medical and financial decisions if you cannot speak for yourself, which a will cannot do. And for families raising a child with a disability or planning for a nontraditional family, there are tools built for exactly that. As an estate planning attorney serving Illinois families, Andrew helps you see the whole picture, not just the one document.

If you die without a will, Illinois intestate succession law decides who inherits, in a fixed order the state set long before it knew your family. A spouse comes first, then children, then parents, siblings and more distant relatives. The surprises come fast. Your spouse may have to split your estate with your children rather than keeping the home you shared. An unmarried partner of thirty years receives nothing at all, because the law does not recognize the life you built together. And property can end up with a relative you never spoke to, while the people you considered family wait outside. The court also chooses your children's guardian without ever hearing your preference. [Andrew: confirm this matches how you present intestate succession.] A will replaces all of that with your choices.

​Some families have to explain themselves before a law firm will plan for them. Not here. Andrew writes wills for LGBTQ+ individuals and couples, unmarried and blended families, people with disabilities and the people who love them, seniors and young parents just starting out. The office is a safe, judgment-free space, fully wheelchair accessible with free parking in downtown Rockford, steps from the Winnebago County Courthouse. If your family does not look like the one the statute books imagined, that is exactly why your will matters. It is where you say who your family is, in your own words, and have it carry legal weight.