Probates In Illinois

[Darrell Essex]

Hello All,

I"ve read a lot about how to get probate information in California, Florida, Georgia etc, but I wanted to know how the people in Illinois go about it. I've heard that you have to pay at the courthouse and pay even more to be lazy and get it online. Is this true for every county, because I know cook county is full of the "DMV" types in those positions at the courthouses. If it's public record shouldn't it be free as long as we ourselve put in the time to sift through it?