Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

There seems to be a lot missing from this picture. Your jail time should have nothing to do with ownership in the house. There should have been an arrangement for everyone to share 1/4 of the taxes, insurance, upkeep. If you're not paying your "fair share" that's one thing, unless there was an agreement otherwise among the children, but even if you didn't because you were in jail it is not unusual to work out an arrangement for the others to pay your share and then deduct the amounts advanced against either rent or proceeds of sale, but it sounds as though your brother doesn't see it that way. Then again if any one of you (or a surviving spouse?) is occupying the house, the occupant should be paying rent to help offset these costs. A public defender won't help here unless he or she can do civil real estate work. The Chicago Bar has a lawyer referral service that may help you. You may need someone to file what's called a "partition" action that could result in a forced sale.