Illinois divorce laws
Child
Support
In Illinois, either or both parents can be ordered
to pay child support. Determination of the amount is based on guidelines
put in place by the Illinois legislature, and is a percentage of net income.
In general, you can expect the non-custodial parent to pay child support
in accordance with the table above. The court does have latitude however,
and can deviate beyond these parameters. If the court deviates from these
child support guidelines, it must make a written finding why the deviation
is appropriate, based on the following considerations:
- The financial resources and needs of the child
- The financial resources and needs of the custodial parent
- The standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not been dissolved
- The physical and emotional condition of the child, and his educational needs
- The financial resources and needs of the non-custodial parent.
Residency 
 In
order for the Family Court to issue a judgment of dissolution of marriage
(divorce), one of the spouses must have established residency in Illinois
or was stationed in this State while a member of the armed services, and
the residence or military presence had been maintained for 90 days prior
to filing. The filing of the petition should occur in the county where
the plaintiff or defendant resides.
Child
Custody
Family courts determine child custody in accordance
with the best interest of the child. The courts consider all relevant factors
including the following guidelines:
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The wishes of the child's parent or parents as to custody of the child
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The wishes of the child as to custody
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relationship of the child with his parent or parents, or siblings
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The child's adjustment to his home, school and community
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The mental and physical health of all individuals involved
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The physical violence or threat of physical violence by the child's potential custodian
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The occurrence of ongoing abuse
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The willingness and ability of each parent to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing relationship between the other parent and the child.
The court doesn't consider conduct of a present or proposed custodian that does not affect the relationship to the child.
In the absence of ongoing abuse, the court presumes that maximized involvement by both parents is in the best interest of the child. Joint custody is one of the considerations of the court, but it does not necessarily favor that arrangement unless one or both parents suggest it, or if in the court's view, it serves the child in the best possible manner. The court may take the following into consideration for child custody consideration:
- The capability of the parents to cooperate effectively
and consistently in matters that directly affect the joint parenting of the child.
- The residential circumstances of each parent;
and
- All other factors which may be relevant to the
best interest of the child
| Divorce Myth: Following divorce, the woman’s standard of living plummets by seventy three percent while that of the man’s improves by forty two percent. Reality: This dramatic inequity, one of the most widely publicized statistics from the social sciences, was later found to be based on a faulty calculation. A reanalysis of the data determined that the woman’s loss was twenty seven percent while the man’s gain was ten percent. Irrespective of the magnitude of the differences, the gender gap is real and seems not to have narrowed much in recent decades. |
Grounds for
Divorce
 In order for the court to enter a judgment of dissolution of marriage (divorce), one of the spouses has to be a resident of this State or was stationed in this State while a member of the armed services, and the residence or military presence had been maintained for 90 days before the filing.
Grounds for divorce in Illinois are:
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Impotence
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Bigamy
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Adultery
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Desertion for one year
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Addiction to alcohol/drugs
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Attempted murder
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Conviction of felony
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Infecting other spouse with sexually transmitted disease
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Living separate and apart for two years where there exists irreconcilable differences, or
Both parties may in writing stipulate that
they have lived apart for 6 months and that the couple have no chance of
reconciliation, in which case the 2 year apart rule is waived.
| Divorce Myth: Following divorce, the children involved are better off in step families than in single-parent families. Reality: The evidence suggests that step families are no improvement over single-parent families, even though typically income levels are higher and there is a father figure in the home. Step families tend to have their own set of problems, including interpersonal conflicts with new parent figures and a very high risk of family breakup. |
Mediation
If the court concludes that there is a
prospect of reconciliation, the court, at the request of either party, or on
its own motion, may order a conciliation conference, as guided by Illinois
divorce laws. The conciliation conference (mediation) and counseling would
take place by court order. By the same token, the court can prohibit conciliation or mediation if it believes it is not in the best interest of one or both parties.
In an action for dissolution of marriage (divorce) involving minor children, the court may order the parties, excluding the minor children, to attend an educational program concerning the effects of dissolution of marriage on the children, if the court finds that it would be in the best interests of the minor children.
Alimony
Illinois courts can order temporary or permanent maintenance (alimony) awards if petitioned. Evidence of marital misconduct is not considered in the alimony guidelines. Illinois courts will consider the following factors:
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The income and property of each party
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The needs of each party
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The present and future earning capacity of each party
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The contribution of one party to the betterment of the other party, where the contributing partner had forgone or delayed education, training or any career enhancing activity or opportunity.
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The time necessary to enable the party seeking maintenance to rejoin the labor force as a self-sustaining person.
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The standard of living established during the marriage
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The duration of the marriage
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The age and physical and emotional condition of both parties
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The tax consequences of the property division upon the respective economic circumstances of the parties. Any valid agreement of the parties 11. Any other factor that the court expressly finds to be just and equitable Top
Waiting Period
 If
the grounds for the dissolution of marriage is based upon living separate and apart for two years with irreconcilable differences, the court must determine that efforts at reconciliation have failed or are impractical and not in the best interests of the family. Illinois divorce statutes provide that if the parties have lived separate and apart without cohabitation for at least six months immediately prior to the filing of the petition, the parties may waive the requirement of living separate and apart for two years by filing a stipulation to that effect with the court.
Grandparents Rights
 Grandparents visitation will not be granted unless the parents are living apart and not cohabiting on a permanent or indefinite basis, one of the parents has been absent from the martial residence for over one month without the other spouse knowing his /her whereabouts, one of the parents is deceased, one of the parents joins in the petition with the grandparents or great-grandparents, or if a sibling is in state custody.
Divorce Settlement
 Illinois is known as an equitable distribution state. Assets are divided by the court in an equitable
(although not necessarily even) manner. Did you come into this marriage owning a house? Concerned about the equity in that house that you brought into the marriage? Here's how it works generally. What you brought into the marriage is usually all yours. However, any appreciation of the house or the property value is normally treated as a "marital asset", meaning that you will likely forfeit a third to a half of that appreciation to your spouse in the divorce.
The Illinois Supreme Court has stated “The constitution (Illinois) prohibits the state from forcing fit
parents to yield visitation rights to a child’s grandparents when
the parents do not wish to do so merely because a trial judge believes
that such visitation would be appropriate.” The parent preventing visitation may have very good reasons for doing so. Even if the parent has no good reason to deny grandparent visitation, U.S. and Illinois law still require the grandparent to meet a fairly high burden to secure visitation of a grandchild, in order to respect every parent’s superior right to raise
a child the way that parent sees fit.
| Divorce Myth: When parents don’t get along, children are better off if their parents divorce than if they stay together. Reality: A recent large-scale, long-term study suggests otherwise. While it found that parents’ marital unhappiness and discord have a broad negative impact on virtually every dimension of their children’s well-being, so does the fact of going through a divorce. In examining the negative impacts on children more closely, the study discovered that it was only the children in very high conflict homes who benefited from the conflict removal that divorce may bring. In lower-conflict marriages that end in divorce—and the study found that perhaps as many as two thirds of the divorces were of this type—the situation of the children was made much worse following a divorce. Based on the findings of this study, therefore, except in the minority of high-conflict marriages it is better for the children if their parents stay together and work out their problems than if they divorce. |
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