Illinois Divorce Procedures

The divorce procedure begins when the petition for dissolution of marriage is filed. The divorcing partner who files the petition is called as the Plaintiff or Petitioner. The other divorcing partner is called as the Defendant or Respondent. The Petition is a public record. It is usually 2 to 3 pages in length and has facts pertaining to the Petitioner, the Respondent and the child(ren), if any.

Illinois Divorce Procedure regarding Service

Once the Petition is filed in the court, the next step is that the Petition and Summons must be served to the Respondent. This service is done by private process servers of the Sheriff. Some people are of the opinion that it is rather awkward and insulting if the service is done during office hours in the presence of co-workers. In case, the Respondent has hired the services of an attorney, the private process servers or the Sheriff can contact the attorney and hand over the documents to the attorney.

Sometimes the private process servers contact the Respondent and plan to meet the Respondent at a private spot so that the Respondent is not embarrassed. In case, there is a background of domestic violence or substance abuse amongst the Petitioner and Respondent, then it is advisable that the services of law enforcement personnel ought to be taken to execute the service.

Illinois Divorce Procedure regarding Response

In this state, the Respondent is allocated 30 days from the date of service to file a written Response. Whenever the Respondent does not file a formal Response, the Petitioner reserves the right to request the court to continue the case with a default judgment. In such a scenario, the Petitioner furnishes evidence to the Judge that the Respondent had knowledge regarding the Petition and the Respondent has knowingly failed to file a Response. Further, the Judge grants the divorce and distributes the marital property equitably.

Whenever the Respondent files a Response, there can be a discussion between the lawyers whether there is any need of temporary support. During this discussion, the marital expenditure, maintenance and child support while the divorce case is pending are settled. While the divorce case is pending, if the divorcing partners are residing with each other and are handling finances as they did in marital life, then, there is no requirement of temporary support.

However, if the divorcing partners are not staying together and / or are not sharing expenses, then temporary support can be finalized by order of court after a full hearing or by agreement of counsel.

Trial

The divorce case is set for trial only when pretrial conference or negotiation fails. It must be noted that the trial calendar of any court is planned several months in advance. So, divorcing partners have to wait for 5 to 6 months before they can get a trial date.

During this period of 6 months, the lawyers of the partners prepare the case. This preparation incorporates the following actions.

• Preparation of exhibits
• Review of the discovery developed by the spouse
• Taking depositions
• Review of the reports of experts
• Interviews of potential witnesses
• Entering stipulations with opposing counsel

Divorce Papers