Peck Ritchey, LLC

Focus and practice areas

Probate, trust, and guardianship work sits at the center of this Chicago law firm. Its practice covers the litigation of contested wills and trusts, the administration of estates and guardianships, estate planning, and elder law. The firm also lists nursing home abuse and neglect among its areas. In my opinion, that is a focused menu for a firm of this size, and the pages read that way.

The work splits into two broad tracks. One is contested: disputes over wills, trusts, and the estates of disabled persons. The other is planning and administration, which means setting documents in place and then carrying them out. Both tracks sit inside the same family of law, which keeps the firm's attention on estates, trusts, and the people who manage them.

The disputes the firm handles

Much of the firm's litigation centers on decedent's estate litigation, trust litigation, and contested guardianship. Peck Ritchey represents parties to these disputes rather than staying only on the planning side. The listed matters include disputed accountings, recovery of assets, claims, heirship disputes, and will and trust contests.

These are the cases that tend to reach a courtroom when a family cannot agree. A contested guardianship, for example, asks a court to decide who should manage the affairs of a person who can no longer do so. Will and trust contests turn on whether a document is valid and who should benefit. The firm states it handles the fiduciary disputes that grow out of those questions.

Estate planning and elder law

On the planning side, the firm prepares basic wills and trusts and also works on planning around gift, estate, and inheritance taxes. It lists special needs planning, asset protection, and Alzheimer's disease planning as part of that work. Elder law rounds out the group, which fits a firm whose litigation so often involves older clients and their estates.

This pairing matters for anyone weighing the firm. The same attorneys who draft a plan also litigate when plans are challenged. As a reviewer, I read that as a sign the firm sees both sides of the same problem, though the site does not claim any particular outcome.

Who the firm names

The firm names six attorneys, led by managing partner Kerry Peck. He is a past President of the Chicago Bar Association. The Illinois Supreme Court appointed him to chair the Supreme Court Commission on Elder Law.

Those are public roles. They line up with the firm's elder law and guardianship focus, and they give the firm a named figure with a record beyond the office.

Backgrounds across the group

Timothy J. Ritchey studied finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned his law degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law. His work covers estate and guardianship administration, probate and trust litigation, real estate litigation, and estate planning.

Brandon E. Peck earned his law degree at the University of Illinois College of Law in 2009. He concentrates on trust, estate, and guardianship litigation and administration. He advises fiduciaries and guides them through probate.

Jesse A. Footlik studied sports management at the University of Michigan and earned his law degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law. He handles estates, trusts, and probate, with added work in estate planning, elder law, and tax. He also sits on a Chicago Bar Association probate committee.

Further members

Kyle T. Fahey earned his law degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law, graduating cum laude with a certificate in business law. He holds an English literature degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work covers trust and probate litigation along with guardianship matters.

Peter M. Brady earned his law degree at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a political science degree at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He represents individuals, families, financial and medical institutions, and various fiduciaries. His focus is trust and probate.

Where cases are handled

Peck Ritchey keeps four offices in the Chicago area: Chicago, Northbrook, Oak Brook, and Lake Forest. The firm states it takes cases in Cook, Lake, Kane, and DuPage Counties. That spread covers the city and a good part of the counties around it.

For a family dealing with a probate court in any of those counties, a nearby office can shorten the distance to a hearing. The firm does not publish figures for its client base, so the office list reads as a statement of reach rather than volume.

Experience and bar involvement

The firm states it has over 100 years of experience in probate, trust, and guardianship litigation. All of its attorneys are members of the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Bar Association. Those memberships are a baseline, and the firm treats them as something every attorney there holds.

Taken together, the picture is a firm that stays inside one area of law and staffs it with attorneys who share that focus. It litigates estate disputes and it plans estates, often for the same kinds of clients. In my opinion, a firm that keeps to a defined field is easier to assess than one that tries to cover everything, and Peck Ritchey reads as the former.