In Illinois, you can avoid the court system by mediating your Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA) and filing as an “uncontested divorce”. A divorce is uncontested when all the issues for a settlement are resolved prior to filing.
In fact, Illinois mandates mediation for certain issues (primarily parenting plans) when the parties can not come to agreement through the courts in a timely manner. In mediation, a neutral third party meets with the divorcing couple to help them settle any disputed issues, such as property being divided up, whether any financial support will be granted to either spouse, and any child custody issues. The mediator can provide some perspective to the parties on how a court might rule on the matters in dispute, and also help them draft a divorce settlement agreement.
Once all the issues are resolved, the mediator drafts a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This outlines all the issues involved in a legal MSA. Once the parties have their MOU, they can file the legal documents on their own, or hire an attorney in a limited capacity to draft and file their legal documents. Only one spouse files the documents.
For an uncontested divorce to be finalized, the spouse who petitioned for divorce by filing with the county court must appear at the final hearing. The other spouse is not required to attend, as long as he or she has signed all the necessary documents regarding the marital settlement agreement.
The petitioner, or plaintiff, is required to testify as to the identity of both parties, as well as the terms of the settlement. If they are represented by an attorney, that may ask the spouse questions to acknowledge they fully understand the terms of the settlement. If the defendant has an attorney, they can also be present, and verify the agreement with the judge. When there are no attorneys, the judge will ask the questions.
Once the judge is satisfied, he or she will sign the divorce judgment indicating the divorce has been made final. This hearing usually lasts between five and ten minutes.
Take control of your divorce, stay out of court, and mediate. When two people actively craft their own settlement agreement it is much more resilient and long lasting.
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