Alden Probate Lawyers

Carin Brio started her practice at one of the largest real estate law firms in the State of Massachusetts as one of a handful of associates who represented clients in over 200 real estate cases every month. Since then, she has added estate planning, probate, family law, and other areas of law to her practice and helped hundreds of clients with the legal matters that are important to them. Now based out of Knoxville, Tennessee, Carin and her staff work diligently on their cases - whether it is a contested divorce case, setting up a trust for your family, or...

Ben Schneider is a client focused which means that it is important to him to cultivate a personal relationship with each of his clients. By doing this, he is able to give each new client’s case individual attention and analyze every legal issue thoroughly and completely.

Ben Schneider acts as the one of the principal bankruptcy attorneys for Schneider & Stone where he focuses on individual Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filings as well as business Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 filings. Ben also practices in the areas of family law and litigation and is the point attorney for divorce and...

My legal practice is primarily focused on Personal Injury, Estate Planning, and Probate Law. With a wealth of experience spanning over thirty-five years in each of these areas, I have consistently taken on a leading role in litigation, mediation, and settlement negotiations. In my capacity as the lead attorney, I diligently prepared for and handled 10-15 trials annually. This involved a range of tasks, including interviewing witnesses, managing interrogatories, responding to requests for production and admissions, conducting and defending depositions, crafting interlocutory motions, and preparing and presenting requested instructions in jury cases. Together with my two partners, we successfully expanded our law...

Brian J. Banahan has been practicing law in DuPage, Kane and Cook County Illinois for over 20 years. He began his legal career and learned his way around the courtroom in 1997 as a full time 711 prosecutor with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office. From there, Mr. Banahan moved to serve as chief legal counsel and Deputy Public Administrator for DuPage County for 17 years. In that job, Mr. Banahan managed, administered, litigated, settled, and closed hundreds of decedent’s estates and an extensive number of related legal matters in nearly every area of the law. In the process, he...

Michael A. Otte concentrates his practice on estate planning, trust administration, and contested and litigated estates and trusts. Additionally, Michael's particular area of focus is in elder law matters, including Medicaid planning, Medicaid appeals, guardianship, contested guardianships, nursing home contract review, general elder law matters requiring litigation or other court involvement, and other issues affecting the legal needs of older people. Michael has given dozens of both public and private seminars on his areas of experience in order to educate the public and fellow attorneys on important estate planning and elder law concepts. Michael is a member of the Chicago...

John Pankau graduated from Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, and Chicago Kent College of Law with High Honors. He is licensed to practice law in Illinois and owns The Law Office of John Pankau, P.C. in Itasca, Illinois. Prior to and while attending law school, John and his wife Carole owned and operated a family business in Bloomingdale. John is an active member of his community, presenting educational seminars at local libraries and banks. Today, his practice concentrates in the areas of real estate, estate planning and administration, probate, and local government law.

Owner and Principal Attorney at DLAW, PC As an attorney with more than 25 years of legal experience, Deanna Aguinaga Walker enjoys the flexibility that having her own law practice gives her. She is able to become personally involved with each of her clients, and she appreciates the opportunity to assist them on a wide range of legal matters. Deanna earned her Juris Doctorate degree from the Northern Illinois University School of Law in 1995. Since then, she has dedicated her career to meeting the needs of her clients. When you work with Deanna, you can expect her to provide legal advice...

Marcia worked with the Federal Communications Commission as an attorney in the Mass Media Bureau and as Branch Manager in the Common Carrier Bureau from 1982 through 1987, and at MCI Telecommunications as a senior attorney from 1987 through 1994. Thereafter, she worked as a consultant until joining Kaplan & Greenswag LLC in January 2007.

Marcia is admitted to practice in Illinois and the District of Columbia and is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association. Marcia also serves on the Northbrook Plan Commission.

Stella Day is a seasoned litigation attorney with a focus on probate and guardianship matters. She brings her wealth of experience to Johnston Tomei Lenczycki & Goldberg, LLC, following a successful tenure at the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office. With over 16 years in the field, Stella has adeptly handled a variety of complex felony and misdemeanor cases, including DUI, Aggravated Battery, Sexual Assault, and Murder. Her track record includes successful litigation in numerous jury trials and evidentiary hearings across different courtrooms. Stella has also extensively dealt with cases involving mental health and competency issues. As a guest speaker on trial...

Attorney Robert M. Kaplan has been practicing law for more than 20 years. He is dedicated to assisting clients with family law, real estate law, bankruptcy law, estate planning and probate matters. After receiving a degree in law from The University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville, and working as a Public Defender in Miami, FL, Attorney Kaplan made the move to Illinois to start his own practice in 1991.

Mildred ("Millie") V. Palmer graduated Cum Laude from University of Flordia's College of Law in 1990 with a concentration in taxation and estate planning. After graduation she went to work for Ernst and Young as a tax attorney in the Special Services Group while taking LLM classes at Chicago Kent. In 1992 she moved from Ernst and Young to Gardner Carton and Douglas where she practiced tax law. As a tax attorney attached to a large firm, Millie saw a wide variety of work in the area of taxation, charitable giving, corporate work and estate planning. During this time, she...

I am a partner in a small suburban firm for over 35 years that provides excellent legal services to thousands of satisfied clients. I regularly lectures on various legal topics and am appointed by the court to mediate Family Law issues. I also love playing tennis and am on the Board of several charitable organizations

Born and raised in Chicago, Mr. Thompson earned his B.A. from the University of Iowa in 1984. In 1987 he graduated with his J.D. at the Northern Illinois University in Chicago. He is fluent in Spanish.

Mr. Thompson has 18 years of experience litigating Personal Injury claims, Workers' Compensation, Criminal Law, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy & Traffic cases. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Admission to Federal Trial Bar, and is a board member in good standing with multiple charitable organizations.

Mr. Thompson has been married for thirteen years and...

Richard Schmack was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Berwyn, Illinois. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois in 1977 with double majors in Political Science and History. In 1980 he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Upon graduation from law school in 1980, Richard was admitted to the Illinois Bar and the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. He is a member of the Federal Trial Bar. Richard has made DeKalb County his home since1985. He, his wife, Jackie, who is his office manager, and...

Patrick S. Sylvester is the founder of PSS Law, which At PSS LAW, which is proud to provide outstanding representation to clients who are seeking legal assistance in the greater Chicago area, Wisconsin, and Florida. We offer experienced, dedicated legal counsel, and have achieved excellent results for our clients. PSS Law attorneys are skilled at both transactional law in the areas of estate planning, probate, wills and trusts, real estate, and business law as well as courtroom battles (estate litigation and trials). PSS Law attorneys understand that each case is unique and use their knowledge of the legal system...

Perry Smith received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Education from Loyola University of Chicago in 1977 and a Juris Doctor degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law, in 1985. He is also a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer.

He began working for the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office in late 1985. During his time in that office he worked in the Traffic, Misdemeanor, and Felony Review Divisions before spending more than three years in the Felony Trial Division. He left that office at Labor Day 1990 and began his association with Bernard Wysocki....

Lisa Knauf is an attorney that combines her legal expertise with real world experience. She had a successful sales career before going back to school to attend Northern Illinois Univ. College of Law for her law degree, She is licensed to practice law in Illinois and is the owner of Knauf Law Office PC in Addison Illinois, which merged with Pankau Law in January 2020. The Knauf Law practice concentrates in the areas of estate planning, including wills, living trusts, and powers of attorney, probate administration, real estate and elder law. Lisa is an active member of her community, having served...

Brent Glenn graduated from The University of Chicago Law School in 2000. He began his career at top law firms in Chicago and Washington, D.C. including Winston & Strawn and Sheppard Mullin. At that time, he concentrated his legal career on commercial real estate matters including real estate finance of both borrowers and lenders, commercial real estate sales, purchases and leases. In addition, he provided real estate support in corporate transactions valued at more than a billion dollars.

In 2017, Brent opened his own practice in Barrington, Illinois. In addition to commercial real estate, his practice now includes a...

Along with his years of experience, Lake County divorce attorney Van A. Schwab has a solid educational basis for his divorce and family law practice. After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, he received his law degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law. Because of recent, up-to-date training, Mr. Schwab is a certified divorce mediator, and is prepared to handle family law issues through collaborative law methods. He has published an article on cohabitation in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. Licensed to practice family law in the states of Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey, he...

Fred is a fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estate Counsel, an honor bestowed upon very few attorneys. He focuses in the areas of estate and tax planning, trust, estate and probate administration, and business structuring and counseling. Fred enjoys helping people accomplish their personal goals. He has an extensive background assisting clients in the transfer of small businesses and farms during their lifetime or at death while minimizing taxes and expenses. Many of his estate plans are sophisticated and involve using wills, trusts, limited liability companies, family limited partnerships and other closely held entities. He has...

Andrew Kelleher, a co-founder of Kelleher + Holland, LLC, had a vision of legal services deeply rooted in high-level client services from the very inception of his career. He believes that nothing replaces old-fashioned hard work. That hard work has been focused on putting the client’s best interests first for 25 years. Andy concentrates his practice in trust and estate law, business law, tax law, and asset protection planning for high net worth business owners, executives, and individuals. He enjoys the never-ending challenges of solving complex estate and tax planning puzzles for his clients. Being both an attorney and a CPA,...

Jack C. Slingerland received a Juris Doctorate degree from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.

Jack is the city Attorney for Genoa, IL. He has served as a DeKalb County Assistant State’s Attorney, as the DeKalb County Public Defender, and as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois. He served as a member of the legislative staff of the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, Michael J. Madigan.

Jack has been in private practice of law for more than 23 years, and now is the co-owner of Slingerland & Clark, P.C. He is admitted to practice in federal...

Anthony R. Scifo is a duly licensed attorney in the State of Illinois, admitted in November 2007. He is experienced in the practice of civil litigation, particularly family law litigation and probate litigation. Anthony is an experienced and Court approved Guardian ad Litem for the Family Law Divisions of Kane County, DuPage County, Kendall County, and DeKalb County. Further, he is a Court approved Guardian ad Litem for the Adoption Division and the Probate Division in Kane County, Illinois. Anthony is also an experienced and Court-Approved Family Law Mediator in DuPage County, DeKalb County, and Kendall County. In November...

I have been assisting families in family law and estate planning for over 25 years.

Edward “Ed” Stawicki, founder and principal of Stawicki Law Office, LLC, is a lifelong resident of Chicagoland who has over fifteen (15) years of experience as a civil litigator at the trial and appellate court levels. Ed concentrates his practice on:

Estate & Trust Litigation
Will Contests & Trust Contests
Recovery or Estate & Trust Assets
Contested Guardianships
Elder Law
Financial Exploitation of Elderly Persons

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David R. Freriks, JD, MLIS

Mr. Freriks is a graduate of the University of Illinois and the Chicago-Kent School of Law. He was admitted to the Illinois and Federal Bars in 1980. During law school, he clerked for the late Honorable Brian B. Duff (1930-2016), United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

In addition to his law practice, he has held administrative and management positions with the Office of the Illinois Secretary of State; Baker & McKenzie, the largest law firm in the world; the Association of Legal Administrators; the Thomson Reuters...

BRADFORD E. BLOCK is the principal of the Law Offices of Bradford E. Block, in Northbrook, IL. He has been an attorney for more than 35 years and practices in the areas of business formation, mergers and acquisitions, not-for-profit organizations, private foundations, equity financing, tax law, and the preparation and negotiation of corporate and technology contracts. Mr. Block has lectured to various professional groups on matters related to limited liability companies, partnerships, business transactions, S-corporations, and tax exempt organizations. He is a former adjunct professor of business planning and partnership law at DePaul University. Mr. Block is also a commercial...

“I BELIEVE THAT CLIENTS ARE BEST SERVED BY THE PREVENTION OF LEGAL PROBLEMS THROUGH CAREFUL AND THOROUGH ADVICE GIVEN PRIOR TO THEIR ENTERING INTO TRANSACTIONS AND BUSINESS ARRANGEMENTS.”

Jason Taken is a Navy Veteran turned Estate Planning and Probate attorney. Jason serves Cook County and the broader Northern Illinois areas.

- Chicago-Kent College of Law - Loyola University Chicago - Former Sergeant of United States Marines