I had previously closed on a townhome using one of the attorneys in this practice. Stacy was instrumental in helping my purchase of the townhome to be completed. She was prompt, professional, and quick with her responses and her assistance. I had inquired about getting a trust and will update updated. I was recommended to Ken Piercey. I cannot recommend Kens team enough. From Donna and Maria, who worked with me to updating and gathering information to Ken, who worked tirelessly with me to get my will and trust updated. I was not the easiest customer due to personal reasons that made my completing my will and trust a challenge for me. They were patient, kind and understanding. When I came in to sign the paperwork for the will and trust, I could not have asked for a more professional experience. Ken took his time to explain the changes and made the process so much easier to understand. Having Ken provide his guidance and assistance in helping me complete the process was extremely helpful. Completing a will and trust can be complicated and emotional. Working with Ken and his team I had complete faith in the process and knowing I made the right decisions. I cannot recommend them enough. read more

Piercey & Associates - A professional will and trust with all of the paperwork organized and complete. I could not be happier. - Estate Planning Law Near Me - Barrington, Illinois

Ken Piercey was incredibly helpful with my elderly mom's living will and power of attorney documents. Responsive, professional and caring, he went out of his way to communicate and meet all our needs. read more

Steven Nicholas and his paralegal Nancy are the best in the business. They handled every bump in my home selling and buying process with grace and superior expertise. Their customer service is above and beyond. read more

Players: Mr. Ken Piercey - KP Mr. Rodney Piercey - RP Ms. Emma McCumber - EM Piercey & Associaties - P&A My wife and her brothers had the misfortune of dealing with Piercey & Associates due to a trust established by their mother before she passed away in 2020. Had they known beforehand what they were in for, they NEVER would have allowed their mother to use this firm to set it up. Things they wish they had known: -Every assistant at P&A is a paralegal. You'll be billed $250/hour for every phone call and email interaction. -KP bills at $500/hour - even if he's responding to a complaint about billing. -Their standard trust document names KP ($500/hr) as the Trustee and his dad, RP ($800/hr), as Trust Protector. "Trust Protector" sounds important but the trust document doesn't give any meaningful powers to the Trust Protector. It also appears to setup a conflict of interest that the person protecting the trust is the father of and partner of the Trustee. We complained to the Trust Protector and he had zero idea why we were even reaching out to him. He had no problem figuring out how to bill his time. -We estimate we lost $25,000 in possible interest. Hundreds of thousands of dollars sat in a non-interest bearing account for years. When asked, KP pointed to the trust document that absolves him of any responsibility for lacking fundamental money management skills. (my words - his were a much more legalesque way of saying P&A won't do anything with your money and you can't complain about it) -My mother-in-law had multiple bank accounts. My brother-in-law was a joint tenant on one of them. KP swept that joint tenant account into the trust which is not what should have been done. He claims that it was the bank's fault for including it. Attorneys should pay attention to details like the names on the accounts. When the beneficiaries complained about being billed by P&A to repay the money, KP maintained his stance that "it's not my fault". -Speaking of money... brokerage accounts and IRAs were all liquidated to cash and put into the non-interest bearing account. With reinvested dividends that money could have grown by over 35%. Or the beneficiaries could have stretched the IRA for their own tax planning and income purposes. It doesn't matter because he never asked the beneficiaries. It felt like they were an ATM rather than beneficiaries. It was an exceptionally one-sided relationship. -When my wife and her brothers were finally fed up with delays they asked me to get involved. I filed a Power of Attorney along with a demand letter. KP and his paralegal, EM, determined that my POA was invalid - they still charged the Trust for reading it and for responding to me. I then downloaded the IL statutory POA. I had my wife get it notarized then I had a messenger hand deliver the original. EM replied that it was invalid per IL law. No detailed reason why. At $250/$500 per hour I chose not to continue pushing the topic. I did hire a lawyer to review both POAs - he said they looked valid to him and he would have honored them. Did KP and EM were play games because I was holding them accountable? Did you know that paralegals are not regulated whatsoever in the state of IL? I have no recourse against EM's unsupported claims. -The IL State Trust Code mandates annual accountings of the Trust. P&A didn't provide accountings except when we requested them. Based on the typos/inaccuracies, they were created when we requested them as opposed to being a contemporaneous record as mandated. Again, it wasn't worth pursuing because they billed for every question we ever had. When we received the final accounting it took multiple requests to get all of the supporting invoices, statements, etc. I would rate their trust administration services a 0. I felt like it was sloppy and unprofessional, particularly in light of the fees they were charging. -We have no record of P&A clearly and fully explaining the potential for conflicts of interest. KP drafted a trust that gave very limited ability to control the Trustee once it becomes irrevocable and made himself the initial Trustee - is it a potential conflict of interest???. Unfortunately, the people that pay the price are the beneficiaries; by the time they figure it out, it's too late. I can only imagine how my mother-in-law would feel if she were still alive. -KP trademarked his trust document. I'm not going to mention the name. That little TM after the name sure makes it seem official. It also makes it seem much more legitimate; after all, he filed it with the government. Anyone can trademark just about anything as long as it's unique and/or for a unique purpose. Don't fall for it. -We disagreed with the management of the Trust and requested that KP resign. He refused and pushed for a Non-judicial Settlement Agreement. To pursue that route , the Trust would hire an attorney and the beneficiaries would hire their own attorney to negotiate the terms of his resignation. Double legal fees... read more

If I could give this firm 10 stars I would! The entire staff is fantastic, helpful, caring. I can't say enough good things about them. Rodney took care of us with regard to estate planning. Presented all the options with pro's and cons and then sent us home to think about it all before contacting them with how we wanted to proceed. No pressure. Would highly recommend. read more

Senior Paralegal Jolyn Schiola and Attorney Michael Murphy were fantastic! Multiple delays on the buyer's side prolonged my closing by 6 weeks but Jolyn was consistently one step ahead. She did a great job of staying on top of a slow-to-respond buyers attorney, multiple extension requests and constantly changing deadlines. Before I could ask, she would be sending out updates! Jolyn was responsive to my questions, compassionate, and helpful throughout a long stressful process. I would highly recommend Attorney Murphy and Jolyn to my friends and family. Thank you for the extraordinary service Jolyn! read more

Re Barrington IL office of Piercey & Associates: Dogged, highly professional work on my behalf in a thorny home sale that went through two buyers and months of delay from lenders. Granted, the broker at Hometown Real Estate who has worked with Piercey & Assoc. for many years absolutely earned her commission, but the team of women working on my sale under the direction of Piercey's Steve Nicholas pushed the deal over the finish line. They are noteworthy for their responsiveness and professionalism. Months later, one of those extraordinary women, Nancy McWilliams followed up with more constant pushing for an escrow refund due to me under the terms of the sales contract. read more

This company is a class act! They are professional in every way while taking a personal interest in us as clients. Every need we had in our estate planning was anticipated. They have a great team that handles every detail. We elected to go with a living trust that not only protected our assets, but our children's as well in case of divorce or remarriage (not that that would ever happen). I highly respect Rodney for his honesty and Christian perspective. His counsel on investing in the kingdom of God at the end of our lives was also very solid! read more

We worked with Mike Murphy and Stacy McCormick for our recent home purchase. Most of our interactions were with Stacy via email and phone - Stacy was excellent to work with. She was quick to respond, quick to meet our timelines, and very knowledgeable with our questions. Mike was very helpful at our closing - he helped put the legal terms "in our lingo" and helped us truly understand the different portions of the mortgage process. Overall a smooth process and we're thankful to them for how professional and calming they were during a usually stressful process! read more

My husband and I just recently bought our first home in Illinois, and our realtor suggested using Michael Murphy and his team to represent us. It was by far one of the best decisions we have ever made. From start to finish, the paralegal from Mr. Murphy's team that we worked with, JOLYN, was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!! She went above and beyond to make sure we were not only taken care of, but that we got the results we needed for every step of this process. She worked day and night, whenever we needed her, she made herself available to us, and I can not express how valuable her efforts were. We were purchasing our first home, from out of state, never meeting anyone in person, or even seeing our future home.. and as nervous as we were about everything.. we didn't ever have to worry about it being handled, because JOLYN had our backs! She dealt with EVERY complication that came up with our lender... and let me tell you... there was a LOT! But she handled it all! She was honest, upfront, aggressive when she needed to be, kind, and so incredibly helpful!! Hiring a legal team and Working with Jolyn and Mr. Murphy was the best decision we could have made. We will 100% be recommending them to everyone we know!! The importance of having a legal team during the home buying process is instrumental, and saved us not only money, but time, resources and several headaches as well! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! read more

Professionalism can best be described as knowing that when contracting for a service you feel completely satisfied with the expertise and knowing the final result will exceed your expectations. Nordstrom in the retail industry is a prime example knowing no matter how small the issue it will be handled promptly with great customer service. Piercey and Associates provides this level of expertise and satisfaction for trusts and estate planning. It's not often when you complete a complex issue like a trust and feel completely at ease with no nagging concerns that the decision was a correct choice. Great estate planning company with prompt follow up. read more

The closing of my and my fiance's first home was made very easy thanks to Piercey and Associates which was such as relief as it occurred during Covid. Communication and professionalism were very much appreciated. read more

Putting together our estate documents was something we procrastinated for 7 years since our children were born. And this time procrastination paid off! We had several lawyer friends offer to complete this service for a fee, but none of them were estate experts. Piercey & Associates are true experts, and offers a packaged solution with: estate, will, POA, HPOA, etc... They took the time to get to know our personal goals and preferences, did a thorough review of all documents, and walked us through the finished product. They keep all originals secure and will update them over time for accuracy. We truly feel relieved and confident that should the worst happen, we are well organized and prepared. Well done Piercey team! read more

I recently had some estate planning work done at Piercey & Associates. They are very professional and accommodating. Ken was thorough in his work and provided a lot of important insights. Thanks for the great job. read more

Piercey & Associates did an excellent job of educating us on the various aspects of estate planning and then preparing the right documents for us. They made it well worth the effort and expense to know that we are now protected from the vagaries of the court system as well as in control of our future. read more