MW Brady Law Firm, PC

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MW Brady Law Firm, PC Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from MW Brady Law Firm, PC, Lawyer & Law Firm, 20950 S Frankfort Square Road, Suite B, Frankfort, IL.

Compassionate & experienced attorneys in Illinois & Indiana providing specialized legal counseling in:
Estate Planning | Real Estate Law | Small Business & Corporate Law | Guardianships, Probate, and Trust Admin

Two different paths run after death, and which one an estate travels down comes from the paperwork the family left behin...
10/16/2026

Two different paths run after death, and which one an estate travels down comes from the paperwork the family left behind. Assets that pass by a Will go through probate. Assets held in a Trust go through Trust Administration.

Most Illinois families use both documents, and each does very different work.

The Illinois probate path:

✔️ Court supervision. A judge oversees the executor, notice runs to creditors, and every step is on the public record.
✔️ Timeline. The process typically runs six months to over a year in Illinois.
✔️ Costs. Legal fees, court costs, and executor fees come out of the estate before the beneficiaries receive anything.
✔️ Publicity. Filings are public. Anyone can look up who inherited what.

The Trust Administration path:

✔️ No court involvement in most cases. The successor trustee follows the Trust's terms directly.
✔️ Timeline is typically faster. Debts get paid, beneficiaries get notified, and assets get distributed on the Trust's schedule.
✔️ Costs are usually lower. Fewer filings, no probate fees, no court oversight.
✔️ Privacy stays intact. The Trust document is not filed publicly.

Which document owns the assets when the moment arrives sets the path. A Will alone routes everything through probate. A funded Trust keeps assets on the private administration path. The Will covers what does not fit inside the Trust, and the Trust covers what does.

Message us with a question about your specific plan. Or call 708-532-3655 to review how your paperwork routes.

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

Illinois adds its own estate tax in addition to of the federal system, and the threshold is set at $4 million. When an e...
10/14/2026

Illinois adds its own estate tax in addition to of the federal system, and the threshold is set at $4 million. When an estate crosses that line, the entire estate becomes taxable, not just the amount above the threshold. Rates run as high as 16%, and the federal exemption sits at $13.99 million per person for 2025. Families who fall safely under the federal line can still owe Illinois estate tax.

Who actually crosses the threshold in Frankfort and the surrounding counties:

✔️ Farmland runs $15,000 or more per acre across the surrounding counties. A 300-acre farm alone can push an estate past the $4 million line.
✔️ Retirement accounts count toward the estate. Individual Retirement Accounts and 401(k)s stack quickly for a household with two working careers.
✔️ Life insurance proceeds count when the policy is owned by the insured. A $1 million policy pushes the estate up by $1 million on the day it pays.
✔️ Business interests and real estate holdings can outrun the threshold before anyone thinks to run the math.

Annual gifting, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts, Credit Shelter Trusts for married couples, and Family Limited Partnerships each reduce or defer the Illinois tax. Revocable Trusts alone do not shield assets from the state tax. The right combination depends on the estate's composition, the beneficiaries, and how long the plan has to work.

Save this before the next family conversation about the farm or the family business. Call 708-532-3655 to review the numbers on your Estate Plan.

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

Illinois is an attorney state for real estate, and the closing itself is only the last step in a process that started we...
10/13/2026

Illinois is an attorney state for real estate, and the closing itself is only the last step in a process that started weeks earlier. What actually happens between under contract and keys in hand is where most of the money and risk sit.

The path from contract signing to keys in hand:

✔️ Attorney review runs for five business days once the contract is signed. Repair requests, closing dates, tax proration, and financing terms all get negotiated here.
✔️ Title work happens weeks before closing. The attorney orders a title commitment, spots liens or judgments, and clears them before the date.
✔️ Disclosures get reviewed. Illinois requires the Residential Real Property Disclosure form. Homes built before 1978 also require the federal lead-based paint disclosure.
✔️ Closing day itself is the final review. The attorney checks numbers on the closing disclosure, verifies the funds, and confirms the deed and mortgage are properly executed and recorded.

The transfer only happens after every item in the file is cleared. A last-minute question about proration, an unrecorded lien, or a missing signature gets caught here, before it becomes a problem after the movers arrive.

Comment with a question you wish you had asked at your last closing. Or call 708-532-3655 to bring an attorney into your next closing.

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

10/09/2026

Another round of "Who's More Likely To" at the firm.

A quick get-to-know-the-team round filmed around the office. The kind of video that makes you think you know us, right before you find out you did not.

Play along in the comments before you watch. Or call 708-532-3655 to talk with the firm.

*This video is general information and not legal advice for your specific situation. Please feel free to make an appointment for a free consultation.*

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

Illinois does not require a Limited Liability Company (LLC) to have an Operating Agreement on file. Most small business ...
10/08/2026

Illinois does not require a Limited Liability Company (LLC) to have an Operating Agreement on file. Most small business owners take that as permission to skip the document. When they do, the state's default LLC rules step in and run the company by their own terms.

What the Operating Agreement sets that the state defaults do not:

✔️ Ownership percentages and voting rights among members.
✔️ How distributions get made, and on what schedule.
✔️ Member exits, buyouts, and what happens when a partner passes away.
✔️ Dispute resolution and deadlock procedures.

Two members of an LLC without an Operating Agreement can face a deadlock the state has no clean answer for, months into a disagreement neither anticipated. Single-member LLCs need the agreement too. Courts routinely allow creditors to pierce the liability shield of a single-member LLC that has no Operating Agreement, no separate bank account, and no records of member decisions.

At M. W. Brady Law Firm, we draft Operating Agreements alongside every LLC we form, and we review existing agreements for growing businesses every few years.

Save this next to your LLC formation paperwork. Call 708-532-3655 to draft or review your Operating Agreement.

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

Signing a deed and locking it in a drawer with instructions not to record until death is a probate-avoidance strategy Il...
10/06/2026

Signing a deed and locking it in a drawer with instructions not to record until death is a probate-avoidance strategy Illinois families still hear about. Illinois law does not recognize it, and Estate of Mendelson v. Mendelson made the reason plain. Without delivery during your lifetime, the deed reads as a testamentary document, and Illinois holds testamentary documents to the same standards as a Will. Homemade deeds almost never meet those standards.

The problems in the unrecorded-deed strategy:

✔️ Delivery. A deed that never leaves the drawer does not transfer ownership during your life, so Illinois courts read it as a lack of delivery.
✔️ Testamentary trap. When a deed is meant to take effect only at death, Illinois treats it as a Will substitute and requires Will-level formalities.
✔️ Title company refusal. Title insurers routinely decline to recognize deeds held for posthumous recording.
✔️ Probate anyway. Heirs end up in court for the very outcome the deed was supposed to avoid.

A Land Trust or a Transfer on Death Instrument does what the unrecorded-deed strategy tries to do, without the delivery problem or the testamentary trap. An afternoon with an attorney is enough to see which one fits the family's situation.

Share this with a family member trying to keep a property out of probate. Call 708-532-3655 to build the plan Illinois actually recognizes.

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

Adding your adult child to your house deed sounds like the cleanest way to leave them the home when the time comes. Illi...
10/05/2026

Adding your adult child to your house deed sounds like the cleanest way to leave them the home when the time comes. Illinois reads it differently. The addition is a completed gift of a partial interest, and it changes who owns the house today, not just tomorrow.

The trade-off most families do not see coming:

✔️ Capital gains basis shifts. A child who inherits at death takes a stepped-up basis. A child added during your lifetime takes your original basis on their share.
✔️ Control over the house changes today. Selling, refinancing, and even major repairs may require the child's signature.
✔️ Creditor exposure follows the child. A judgment or divorce filing against them can attach to their partial interest in your home.
✔️ Federal gift tax reporting is triggered when the transfer exceeds the annual exclusion.

A Trust, a Transfer on Death Instrument, or a Life Estate Deed can each accomplish the same goal without the tax hit and without giving up control today. Which document fits depends on how the house is titled, what the surrounding Estate Plan says, and who the eventual beneficiaries are.

Message us with a question about your specific situation. Or call 708-532-3655 to walk it through.

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

Signing a Trust does not fund it. The document only starts working when the assets are actually retitled into the Trust....
10/02/2026

Signing a Trust does not fund it. The document only starts working when the assets are actually retitled into the Trust.

For a lot of Illinois families, the plan gets built, signed, and put on a shelf. The intention is right. The mechanics are not finished. A Trust that holds nothing sits empty when the moment arrives, and the assets pass by whatever the default rules are, not the Trust document.

Here is what funding looks like:

✔️ Bank accounts and brokerage accounts get retitled to the Trust name.
✔️ Real estate deeds get transferred into the Trust, often through a Quitclaim or Warranty Deed.
✔️ Business interests get assigned to the Trust through the Limited Liability Company operating agreement or corporate records.
✔️ Retirement accounts and life insurance policies stay in your name; the Trust becomes the beneficiary on the form.

At M. W. Brady Law Firm, we walk clients through the funding step at the same appointment that builds the Trust. The container and the contents belong together.

Save this before the next annual review of your Estate Plan. Call 708-532-3655 when you are ready to make sure your Trust is actually funded.

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

Term or permanent? For most Illinois families, the answer depends on what the plan around the policy is trying to do.Bot...
10/01/2026

Term or permanent? For most Illinois families, the answer depends on what the plan around the policy is trying to do.

Both are legitimate tools, and both have a natural home in an Estate Plan. Two questions shape the choice. What years does the family need to be covered, and what job does the money need to do when it arrives?

Here is how each fits:

✔️ Term insurance is temporary coverage tied to the years your family still depends on your income. If a stay-at-home spouse and two kids in the house is the picture, term is often the right shape.
✔️ Permanent insurance builds cash value over time and stays in force for life. If liquidity is the concern, or the estate holds a house or a business that would need cash to keep or transfer, permanent has a role.
✔️ A blend of both is common. Term handles the earning years while a smaller permanent policy carries the estate later.
✔️ Beneficiary designations on either type override the Will. Coordination between the policy and the Estate Plan is where most families lose the value.

At M. W. Brady Law Firm, we review beneficiary forms alongside every Will and Trust we build so the policy and the Estate Plan carry the same intent.

Save this for the next time you sit down to review your policies. Call 708-532-3655 to bring the policy into the Estate Plan.

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

Most new Illinois business owners ask whether to form a Limited Liability Company or make an S-Corporation tax election....
09/28/2026

Most new Illinois business owners ask whether to form a Limited Liability Company or make an S-Corporation tax election. Behind that single question are two separate decisions.

An LLC is a business structure filed with the Illinois Secretary of State. An S-Corp is a federal tax election filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Both moves can happen at the same time, or the S-Corp election can be added later once the business matures.

The essentials:

✔️ A standard LLC treats the full net profit as self-employment income. In 2025 that means 15.3% self-employment tax on earnings up to the annual cap.
✔️ An S-Corp lets an owner draw a reasonable salary subject to payroll tax and take the rest as distributions, which are not subject to self-employment tax.
✔️ On a $120,000 profit, that structure can save the owner roughly $9,000 a year. Below the $80,000 to $100,000 net income mark, the payroll and administrative cost of an S-Corp often outweighs the tax savings.
✔️ Both entities require careful separation of personal and business finances to preserve the liability protection they offer.

An LLC files Articles of Organization with the Illinois Secretary of State for a $150 fee. S-Corp status requires filing IRS Form 2553 within 75 days of the tax year start. Missing either deadline is a common and expensive mistake.

Save this before your next conversation with your tax accountant. Call 708-532-3655 when you are ready to build the structure.

📍 Offices in Frankfort & Crete, Illinois and by appointment in Bourbonnais, IL and Dyer, IN

Address

20950 S Frankfort Square Road, Suite B
Frankfort, IL
60423

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+17085323655

Website

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