How Much Does an Eviction Lawyer Cost in Illinois

A typical Illinois eviction costs $1,600 in attorneys’ fees. The filing fee for Cook County is $389.25 and/or for for DuPage is $298.00. You’ll need the cost of serving a 5 days’ notice and you’ll need to pay a process server $195.00 (or so) to serve the alias summons.

But here’s what most landlords don’t realize: one paperwork mistake resets your clock to zero. That’s another 30-60 days of lost rent while your non-paying tenant stays put. I’ve watched landlords turn a $1,600 problem into a $5,000 nightmare just by putting the notice on the door instead of having it properly served.

Below, I’ll break down exactly what you’re paying for, where the money goes, and how to avoid the mistakes that double your costs. Or just use this free quote tool and get some price transparency. I don’t collect any information from it.

(This Article Last Updated April 2026)

Do You Ever Give Refunds?

We also do offer partial refunds. If the case settles before I file the Complaint, we cut the fee to $300.00 flat. If it settles on its first court appearance, in Cook County, we cut the legal fees to $650. If it settles in Cook County before trial assignment, we cut the fees to $995.00. I am only trying to get paid for the work I actually do, so I can form years of fair business relationships with my clients. Factor that in when you consider my prices.

Why Pay the Eviction Lawyer in Chicago’s Fees Instead of Doing it Yourself?

To fully answer you on how much does an eviction lawyer cost, we’ll have to know all the court fees. Most of the time, a single unit, single adult eviction outside Chicago is $1530 total. In Chicago it’s usually $2100-2300 depending on complexity. It might be more or less depending on your case, but if you need to take ONE answer out of this article, take that one.

First off, drafting a termination notice is a critical step in the eviction process. Specific legal standards exist for this document, and any misstep could lead to your case being dismissed. Our flat rate includes everything from your call saying “My tenant missed rent this month” until it’s time to call the sheriff for a lockout. All notices, all documents, all the headaches.

When it’s time to proceed with filing for eviction, my services are available at $1,600.00 for Chicago, $895.00 for DuPage or $995.00 for suburban Cook or Kane County. That flat fee includes several key services, all designed to get your tenant back to paying or out of your life as fast as possible.

1. Case Review: Ensuring your eviction process complies with the Illinois Forcible Act or the RLTO. We check everything from the type of notice, the content of the notice, the process of process service, verifying the account balances and making sure everything complies with both existing law and ordinance.
2. Document Preparation: Drafting and filing all necessary paperwork. We made every form we commonly use available for you for free. We’ve got it down to a science and can make sure everything is where it needs to be.
3. Court Filings and Legal Fees for Eviction: Managing the submission of documents to the court. If you put your property into the above quoting process, this is where we pay those $300-500 of legal fees for the eviction.
4. Service of Process: Overseeing the proper delivery of court notices to tenants. We already linked you the resources for notice, but we still have to hire the services of a court officer to tell the tenant to show up in Court. Think of it this way, there’s one round that says “Get out of my house” and another that says “Come to Court.” We do both for you.
5. Court Representation: Advocating on your behalf at all required hearings leading up to the trial. When you consider how much are legal fees for eviction, you need to understand I’m saving you hours and hours of your time by being in court for you, as well.

How Much Does NOT Hiring an Eviction Lawyer Cost?

I get calls every week from landlords who tried to file pro se and got their case thrown out. Usually it’s a notice problem. Sometimes it’s a service problem. Either way, they’ve already burned 30-60 days of rent, and now they’re calling me to start the whole thing over from scratch. Chicago and Cook County keep adding new ordinances (the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, updated RLTO disclosure requirements, the city’s Fair Notice rules), and if you miss even one of those, the judge will dismiss your case. That’s not a maybe. I’ve seen it happen dozens of times.

Four Mistakes that Turn a $1,600 Attorney Fee into a $5,000 Disaster

1. The Notice That Undoes Everything: You draft your own 5-day notice. You’re sure it’s right. You file suit, wait 6 weeks for a court date, show up ready to win… and the judge dismisses your case because the notice said “5 business days” instead of “5 days.” You tell the tenant “if you don’t pay by the first I’ll file” after you hand it to her. Well, Back to zero. Another notice. Another 6-week wait. Another $2,000+ in lost rent while your tenant stays put, rent-free. In 150+ cases, I’ve never lost on notice. The margin of error for notices is razor thin, and you can’t afford any mistakes. And please, never tape the notice to the door. I’ve watched that single shortcut cost landlords an extra 60 days.
2. The Deadline You Didn’t Know Existed: Miss a filing window by one day? Case dismissed. Forget to appear for a status hearing? Case dismissed for want of prosecution. Let 30 days pass without action? Start over from scratch. Every deadline you miss is another $2,000-$3,000 in rent walking out the door. That’s money you’ll never recover because your tenant doesn’t have it. This is one of the biggest reasons to work with an experienced landlord attorney rather than trying to track the court calendar yourself.
3. The Paperwork That Gets Thrown Out Wrong courthouse. Wrong form. Wrong defendant name. Forgot to attach the lease. Filed in Law Division when it should’ve been filed in the Municipal Division. I’ve seen landlords file pro se, get dismissed on a technicality, then come to me having already lost $4,000+ in rent and now owing double the legal fees to fix what should’ve been done right the first time. If you have a Chicago lease agreement, there are specific RLTO attachments the court will check for before your case even gets heard.
4. The Service That Doesn’t Count You can have a bulletproof case and lose because the process server cut corners. Handed it to the tenant’s cousin who was visiting? Doesn’t count. Left it with a 12-year-old? Doesn’t count. Can’t prove when and how it was delivered? Case dismissed. My office works exclusively with the best process servers in Cook County, the ones who show up to court, testify clearly, and don’t give judges any reason to doubt service was proper.

Avoiding these errors saves you money, obviously, but it also saves you months of stress and lost sleep. Stop asking how much an eviction lawyer costs and start asking how much rent you’ll lose trying to do this yourself.

In 2025 I handled over 150 evictions with a 99% success rate. Only one single case didn’t go our way, and that’s because my landlord didn’t come to court!

Your security deposit situation matters here, too. If your tenant owes back rent but you’re also holding a deposit, the math on what you can recover in a money judgment changes. I walk clients through that calculation as part of the flat fee so there aren’t any surprises in court.

Justin Abdilla

Attorney at Law, The Chicagoland Lawyer

Justin Abdilla is an Illinois attorney who focuses on landlord-tenant law and real estate litigation. He has handled over 150 eviction cases across Cook, DuPage, and Kane Counties with a 99% success rate. He built The Chicagoland Lawyer to give Illinois landlords direct access to flat-fee legal representation without the billing uncertainty of traditional hourly firms.