Probate Process in Illinois

[Jeremy Zindel]

So I was driving for dollars one day after checking on one of my rentals and I sent a yellow letter to a house that appeared vacant. A lady called me a couple days later and said that she would be more than happy to sell me the property dirt cheap and get it off her hands if I could help her figure out how to do so. In talking with the lady about the circumstances of the property I found out that she is the ex of the owner of the property who passed away back in 2011. They were never married but they had two children together. This property is essentially the only asset the guy had and his only next of kin would be his two children as his parents were never in the picture and he was raised by his grandmother who passed away about two month after he did. I called my county clerk's office and found out that the estate has not been probated so now I'm trying to figure out how to move forward. Since the only heirs appear to be the two children, I assume the property would transfer to them, but since they are both minors their mother would have the power to sell the property. The house is free and clear and the lady has been paying the taxes on the property for that last two years to keep it current. From my research in the Illinois probate process, it seems like you can file the paperwork yourself for small estate valued at less than $100k (which would be the case in this situation) and avoid going through the courts. However, I think having real property makes that more complicated and might require going through the court system and hiring an attorney. An added layer of complexity is that the guy did not have a will which may also necessitate getting a lawyer involved. Help me out BP! Thanks!