How To File For
Divorce In Illinois?
Getting a divorce can be
emotionally draining and stressful. If the divorce is amicable, you may find it
easy to handle things even without needing legal representation. However, when
you have issues of communication with your spouse or you seem to agree on
matters like child custody and support, and how you should divide your
property, you may need the help. In Illinois, divorce is referred to as
dissolution of marriage. There are two kinds of divorce, namely: fault-based
and the no-fault divorce. In a fault divorce, it requires that one spouse
proves the other has engaged in marital misconduct that had led to divorce.
With the no-fault divorce, you don’t need to prove that the breakup has been
caused by your spouse – you simply state your marriage is “irretrievably
broken.”
That being said, how do you
go about filing for divorce in
Illinois?
Prepare Divorce
Forms
From
the Illinois Legal
Aid Online resource page, you can find information about
the divorce process and forms. You need to determine the divorce type you want
to file. There are different things the court will consider when looking at the
divorce.
You
will have to gather and complete the necessary forms. You can find the standard divorce
forms that the Illinois Supreme Court publishes.
Depending on the county where
you reside, you may need additional or even different forms. Take, for example,
the Cook County Circuit Court provides you a link where you can find divorce
forms, so you want to consider checking with the circuit
court clerk in your areas so see if there are specific forms that you may need
to fill in your county.
That being said, you will
also need to file what is known as the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.
This is a written request that says you seek divorce. In the forms, you will
see terms like the “defendant” or “respondent” and “plaintiff” or “petitioner.”
The spouse filing for
divorce petitions is referred to as the plaintiff while the other takes the
defendant role. In the event that you have a minor, you will be required to
file additional forms including the Joint Parenting Agreement, Uniform Order of
Support, and Visitation Form.
For Illinois couples who do
not have minors and have minimal assets, they file a different form known as
Joint Simplified Divorce. This kind of divorce utilizes different forms from
the typical divorce fling. You can check with your court clerk's office in your
local area.
Filing the Forms
When you fill out the forms
you should file them with the court’s clerk. You may find the clerk’s office
within the courthouse. If the office is not located in the courthouse, just
inquire and you will be directed its location. You will have to pay a fee for
filing the forms when you deliver them to the clerk. You may want to call the clerk’s
office before you go to file the forms. This will help you know what amount of
fee you need to pay.
The fee may vary, expect to
pay somewhere between $200 and $350 depending on your area. It is also possible
that you can get a fee waiver based on your financial situation. You can find
information regarding fee
waivers from Illinois’ Legal Aid website resource.
Serving your Spouse
You need to “serve” your
spouse via the sheriff’s office or private process server. The court may also
give you permission to use a non-party who is over 18 to deliver the forms.
When it comes to “serving” the other spouse, it simply means providing them with
copies of your divorce documents that have been filed in the case. If the sheriff
office delivers the papers, you get a proof-of-service document that you should
file with the court.
If you are filing a
fault-based complaint, there are different things that you can cite as the
grounds for divorce. For example, you can state that impotence, bigamy,
adultery, or felony conviction as the reason for divorce. You may also state
that abandonment for a specific period of time or extreme mental and physical
cruelty or drug addiction is the reason for wanting to divorce.
Since Illinois courts seldom
consider the fault of each spouse as the foundation for dividing property, many
couples will not bother having a list of the reasons for divorce in a fault-based
divorce.
Sometimes, you find that
your spouse isn’t within reach, for example, he or she is in jail, is deployed
with state missions like military, or he or she is not in the state, you should
seek alternative serving method. You can check with the court clerk in your
area to find out more about the service rules in situations that seem
extraordinary for divorce forms’ serving.
Financial
Disclosures
Many
counties require that both spouses file a Financial Disclosure Statement. This document
is filed with the court at the time of a divorce process. The disclosures
demand each party to provide a list of their assets, income sources, debts,
mortgage expenses, and even credit card bills among other financial details.
With Financial Disclosures, they help make the process involving the division
of marital property a straightforward one. Also, the disclosures help the
judges to decide on alimony as well as the child support awards.
Conclusion
In essence, these are the steps
you need to take when you want to file for divorce in Illinois. The process of
filing for divorce is just straightforward when you know how to go about it. Make
sure you are precise with the information and fill the details correctly in the
forms.
In order to file dissolution
of marriage based on a no-fault divorce, you and your spouse should have resided
in Illinois for not less than three months. You should also have lived
separately in which case; you stay like just roommates and not like spouse. You
need to realize that living separately doesn’t mean staying apart or being
physically separated, it means that you’re just not living as a spouse anymore.
You could be in the same house, but you don’t live like spouse.
