When clients ask me how to prepare for divorce mediation, I always send them my crash course on IL law and Divorce.
Anyone seeking a divorce in IL should be well versed on the basic statutes governing an IL Petition for Dissolution (Divorce), and/or Allocation Agreement (Parenting Plan). Goals and expectations for any type of divorce strategy should be based on whether it is statutory, or it deviates from the statutes.
Now, if you actually refer to Il Marriage and Marriage Dissolution Act, you will need a translator to decipher the “legalese”, so I am outlining the main areas of focus in plain old English. Here we go:
“Equitable” Distribution of Property: The Division of Marital Assets
Illinois distributes marital property equitably (i.e., fairly), rather than equally. What is “equitable” is determined by a host of factors, set forth in 750 ILCS 5/503, that a court must consider in distributing the marital assets. These factors include:
● The length of the marriage;
● The health, age, station and occupation of the spouses;
● The amounts and the sources of income of each spouse;
● The employability of each spouse after the divorce; and
● The financial liabilities and the needs of each spouse.
Additionally, a court may consider:
● The contribution of each spouse toward the acquisition, preservation or appreciation in value of their respective estates; and
● The contribution of each spouse as homemaker to the family unit.
Many Illinois attorneys believe that out of the factors above, the single most important factor is the length of the marriage. For long-term marriages over 15 years, most divorces result in an equal (50/50) division of all property. For shorter-term marriages of less than 7 years, a
spouse who brought significantly more assets into the marriage may receive a larger share of the marital estate. For medium-term marriages between 8 and 14 years, the apportionment of assets is open for negotiation. The difference between what is “equitable” and what is “equal” is important to remember during a mediation session. If you got married with $10,000 in your checking account and your spouse brought $10 million into the marriage, then a court may find that it is not equitable for you to leave the marriage with $5 million. This is especially true if you were only married five years.
Many attorneys believe that a good rule of thumb is that assets that were purchased or acquired during the marriage are likely to be divided equally, even after a relatively short marriage. Meanwhile, assets that were acquired by one spouse before the marriage – or after the spouses have separated – are more likely to be divided unequally or excluded from the division of assets altogether.
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