Bio
Attorney Colleen L. Sahlas is the managing partner of The Law Offices of Hoy & Sahlas, LLC. She joined her father’s firm in 2000, and became a partner in 2006. For almost 25 years, she has focused her legal practice in estate planning, decedents’ estates, business, and real estate.
Mrs. Sahlas is the winner of the 2025 IICLE Outstanding Achievement in Estate Planning Award. This annual award celebrates and acknowledges the exceptional contributions and distinguished accomplishments of Illinois attorneys who exemplify professionalism, innovation, and dedication in the field of estate planning and serves as a symbol of the profound impact the recipient has had on safeguarding and preserving the legacies of individuals, families, and communities.
In 2025, her anticipated probate manual for Illinois lawyers, "Practical Probate: An Essential Guide for Illinois Decedents’ Estates in Independent Administration," will be published (and is available for preorder) by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. Featuring 14 prominent co-authors and a Foreword by Cook County Presiding Probate Judge Daniel B. Malone, she is the General Editor and primary author.
From 2024-25, Mrs. Sahlas was the Chair of the Trusts and Estates Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association. The Council is influential in proposing changes to State legislation, and educates Illinois attorneys through its newsletter and continuing legal education courses. She was recently recognized in the June, 2025 Illinois Bar Journal article, "Probate Pitfalls," praising her efforts and achievements as Chair and as a co-presenter of a highly attended ISBA webinar on Probate Pitfalls. While acting as Chair, she commissioned her council members to amend the Illinois Small Estate Affidavit to allow estates with personal property totaling $150,000 (raised from the current $100,000) to avoid probate, and in addition, allowing all motor vehicles to avoid probate. This legislative bill, known as SB 83, has already passed the house and the senate, almost unanimously. It currently awaits the signature of Gov. Pritzker to sign it into law. Mrs. Sahlas served on the ISBA Standing Committee on Legislation from 2024-2025, and also served on a 6-member Legislative Committee with the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association which successfully amended the Illinois Residential Real Property Disclosure Act and was signed into law in May, 2022.
In 2022, Mrs. Sahlas received a 5 Year Service Award as the former Managing Editor of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Trusts and Estates Newsletter.
From 2020-2022, she served on the Board of Directors of the DuPage County Estate Planning Council and has been a member since 2016.
An author and speaker, Mrs. Sahlas has presented webinars with IICLE, the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), the American Bar Assn. Probate & Property Newsletter, and more.
She received her Juris Doctor degree in 2000 from the John Marshall Law School.
