RJSR
Divorce and legal separation can affect nearly every part of a family’s financial and parenting life.
RJSR helps clients understand the choices available under Illinois law and build a strategy for resolving property, support, parenting, business, and other issues. Our attorneys have over 100 years of combined experience in matrimonial and family law, serving clients throughout Will, DuPage, Kendall and Grundy Counties.
Illinois is a no-fault divorce state. Under 750 ILCS 5/401, a dissolution of marriage is based on irreconcilable differences that have caused the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. The statute also requires the applicable Illinois residency or military-presence requirement to be satisfied. If the parties have lived separate and apart for at least six continuous months immediately before entry of the divorce judgment, irreconcilable differences are conclusively presumed; that six-month provision is a statutory presumption, not a general requirement that every Illinois divorce remain pending for six months.
A legal separation does not end the marriage. Under 750 ILCS 5/402, a person living separate and apart from a spouse may seek support, maintenance, and other available relief while the marriage remains intact. A court may approve a property-settlement agreement the parties ask to incorporate into the judgment, but without such an agreement the court may not value or allocate property in the legal-separation case. Either spouse may later pursue a dissolution of marriage.
Legal separation can have significant long-term financial consequences. Illinois law generally treats property acquired by a spouse after a judgment of legal separation as non-marital property, and later maintenance issues may require a new analysis if a divorce is subsequently filed. Whether legal separation is useful therefore depends on the parties’ goals and circumstances rather than simply being a temporary version of divorce.
Before entering a judgment of dissolution, the court must, to the extent it has jurisdiction, consider, approve, reserve, or make provision for the principal issues created by the marriage and divorce. Those may include:
Under 750 ILCS 5/503, the court assigns each spouse’s non-marital property to that spouse and divides marital property without regard to marital misconduct in just proportions after considering the statutory factors. Classification, valuation, tracing, dissipation claims, reimbursement issues, retirement benefits, business interests, and tax consequences can all affect the final division.
When minor children are involved, the court allocates significant decision-making responsibilities and parenting time according to the child’s best interests. Financial support is addressed separately under Illinois child-support law. Parenting arrangements, support, maintenance, and property issues often interact, so resolving one part of the case without understanding the others can create unintended consequences.
Many divorces are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or a marital settlement agreement. Others require contested hearings or trial. A sound strategy should account for both possibilities from the beginning: identifying the information that matters, preserving financial records, obtaining appropriate valuations when needed, developing realistic settlement positions, and preparing disputed issues for court when agreement is not possible.
A divorce judgment may not end every legal issue between former spouses. Post-judgment matters can include enforcement, modification of support or parenting provisions, contribution to qualifying educational expenses, and other disputes. Appeals involve separate procedural requirements and deadlines. RJSR represents clients in post-decree proceedings and appellate matters when further court action is necessary.
The right path depends on the facts of the case. RJSR represents clients in both routine and complex Illinois divorce and legal-separation matters, with particular experience in cases involving substantial assets, businesses, disputed income, parenting conflict, and litigation.
