Illinois Divorce Steps
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Illinois Divorce Steps can be categorized into 6 steps as follows.
- Filing the Petition
- Serving the divorce documents
- Filing the Response
- Financial Investigation, negotiation, settlement
- Pretrial Conference
- Trial
Illinois Divorce Steps in a nutshell
- The divorce process starts when a person files a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. This person is termed as the Petitioner or Plaintiff. The spouse of this person is called as the Respondent or Defendant
- The Petition is a public record. It is 2 to 3 pages long and comprises of basic data regarding the divorcing partners and their children. It does not have considerable personal data
- The Petition and the Summons are served to the Respondent. The Sheriff in the county or private process servers are given the responsibility of the service
- The person allocated the task of service usually arranges a meeting in a private and convenient spot to avoid any embarrassment for the Respondent
- In case there is a past record of substance abuse or domestic violence, it is recommended that the person allocated the task of service uses the services of law enforcement personnel during this process
- The Respondent is allocated 30 days within which he or she should file a written Response
- If the Respondent does not file a Response within 30 days, the Petitioner should request the court to declare a default judgment
- If the Respondent files a Response, the lawyers of the divorcing parties discuss with each other whether there is a requirement of temporary support
- Temporary support orders are brought into force by order of court post a full hearing or by agreement of counsel
- Financial Investigation is another term for Discovery. This comprises of processes like review of financial documents by accounting experts, interrogatories, subpoenas and depositions
- If the debts and assets of the divorcing partners can be easily ascertained and both partners accede with each other regarding this issue, then, they might waive the discovery process
- If an agreement is reached regarding the marital estate determined above, the lawyers draft a Marital Settlement Agreement. Both partners review and sign it
- This Agreement and a proposed Judgment for Dissolution of Marriage are presented to the court
- The court confirms that the above mentioned documents are equitable and enters a final Divorce Decree. If this procedure is followed, the partners appear in a court only once
- An identical process to reach an agreement regarding other issues of the divorce is conducted. However, if the parties fail to reach this agreement, the below mentioned process is observed
- The lawyers of the divorcing partners present the issues (regarding which agreement has failed) to the Judge in the chambers of the Judge. This is called as a Pretrial Conference
- The judge offers pretrial recommendations that are not compulsory for the partners. However, they provide an idea regarding how the judge intends to solve the case
- When a pretrial conference fails, the only solution is to undergo a trial. The divorcing partners need to wait approximately 5 to 6 months to be allotted a trial date
- Preparation for trial comprises of the following
- Review of discovery
- Taking depositions
- Review of reports by experts
- Interviews of potential witnesses
- Preparation of exhibits
- Depending on the complexity and nature of the issues, the trial phase may extend to several weeks. When this phase concludes, the judge enters a final divorce judgment
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