More than 10 months after the CEO of Harold’s Chicken Shack died, the effort to settle her estate and determine ownership of the legendary local restaurant brand has, for now, honed in on a notary public from the western suburbs called to testify about the authenticity of the executive’s purported last will and testament.
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No dollar figure has been assigned yet, but attorneys for Kristen Pierce-Sherrod’s widower said in recent court filings that the estate could be worth more than $4 million.
The legal dispute over the future of Harold’s Chicken Shack spilled into public earlier this year when Pierce-Sherrod’s five adult children accused their mother’s widower of freezing them out of the family business.
The ongoing Will County probate case hinges on the legitimacy of Pierce-Sherrod’s purported will, which was not referenced until last March, two months after her death.
Pierce-Sherrod’s five adult children argue the document is legitimate and unequivocally grants them total ownership of the iconic local brand. Pierce-Sherrod’s widower, Vincent Sherrod, says his wife died without a final will and testament.
In the months before she died, Sherrod was appointed her guardian and took control of Harold’s business operations, though Pierce-Sherrod’s children said he petitioned for guardianship of their mother without the family’s knowledge.
Will County court records show a subpoena was issued in June seeking to depose a notary public who swore in an affidavit to having witnessed Pierce-Sherrod sign the will in October 2025. The notary later filed a pending motion to stay the deposition after claiming that she did not possess any records related to the will.
The notary could not be reached for comment. In an affidavit previously submitted to the court, she said: “I believed the testator to be of sound mind and memory at the time of the signing or acknowledging said Will,” and “the testator was acting voluntarily and not under duress or constraint of any kind at the time of the signing or acknowledging of said Will.”
Responding to the motion to stay the notary’s deposition, attorneys for Sherrod highlighted the notary’s “continuing refusal to comply with a duly served subpoena for documents.”
“It is simply not credible that one of only two attesting witnesses possesses no communications, emails, test messages, photographs, calendar entries, location information, or other documents relating to the execution of the purported will,” Sherrod’s attorneys wrote.
Court records indicate the other subpoenaed witness is the owner of a Georgia-based Harold’s Chicken Shack franchise. That franchisee also submitted an affidavit stating she witnessed the will’s signing by Pierce-Sherrod.
Earlier this month, a judge granted a motion from Sherrod to appoint a public administrator to collect on behalf of the estate. The temporary designation allows the Will County Public Guardian to sue and collect those debts.
Several more subpoenas were issued to financial institutions over the summer in an attempt to calculate the estate’s value, court records show.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for early November.Pierce-Sherrod, the daughter of Harold’s Chicken founder Harold Pierce, died in January 2026. She was a resident of Will County, but two months after her death, one of her daughters filed an application in Cook County Circuit Court to transfer the “will” to Will County.
Attached to the application was a six-page document, dated Oct. 12, 2025, and stamped “COPY,” that bequeathed the Harold’s Chicken Shack brand to “my beloved children,” Kasee, Kaya, Keele, Kolby and Kyle Gill.
“I have lived through the complexities, heartaches, and legal burdens that come when a family business is not clearly protected from outside interests or secondary marital claims,” Pierce-Sherrod’s purported will reads. “I am establishing these strict provisions today so that you never have to endure the same struggles we did to reclaim what is rightfully yours.”
“You are the keepers of the mild sauce, the guardians of our history, and the future of this brand,” the document continues. “My life’s work has been to clear the thorns from your path so that you may lead with confidence, unity and the knowledge that your mother’s greatest priority was securing your place at the head of this table.”
In a statement previously provided to the Tribune, a spokesperson for Sherrod said: “He believes the whole truth is and will continue to be revealed through the on-going litigation.”