What You Need to Know About Divorce in Illinois

While it’s not advised to consider divorce for trivial disagreements, you may still need to face it coming from your spouse. When the court gets involved, the process can become pretty complicated. Before responding to your spouse’s decision, you must be aware of Illinois divorce laws. This guide discusses what you need to know about divorce in Illinois.
 
What Happens When Your Spouse Files for Divorce?
When your spouse files a divorce, you’ll receive a summons and a petition informing you about their decision and listing what they want from the divorce. This can include how the debt and property should be split and, if there are any children, what happens to them.
 
The summons guides you on how to file an Answer to the petition and an Appearance before the court. You’ll have 30 days to do this. If you fail to respond, your spouse will receive a divorce by default and get everything they requested for.
 
Let’s now take a look at when your spouse qualifies for filing a divorce:
 
Eligibility for Filing a Divorce
Under Illinois divorce law, your spouse must be living in the state for the past 90 days to qualify to get a divorce. Your place of marriage doesn’t matter here; they can file for divorce at the circuit court in the county where either spouse resides.
 
More importantly, your spouse must prove to the jury that there are ‘irreconcilable differences’ between you two. The court will accept that such differences exist if you and your spouse have been living apart for six months or more.
 
Grounds Your Spouse Needs for Filing a Divorce
While highlighting ‘irreconcilable differences, the plaintiff must prove fault-based grounds for divorce or the specific reason to end the marriage. Here is a list of some common legal grounds for divorce in Illinois:
 

• Conviction of a felony or other crime
• Impotence at the time of the marriage and afterward
• Adultery conviction
• Habitual drunkenness for over two years
• Gross habits due to excessive use of drugs for two years
• Continuous mental or physical cruelty
• Diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease in the other spouse
• The partners living separately for a continual period of 2 years, and any attempts of reconciliation will fail
• The partners living separately for a continual period of 6 months, and both agree to waive the above-stated 2-year requirement.

What Should You Do?
The issues addressed in your divorce case will have a long-term, significant impact on your life. Plus, the proceedings can be overwhelming and complex. You may not even fully understand the applicable divorce law in the first place.
 
The best course of action is to hire Michael D. Ettinger & Associates, a divorce lawyer in Palos Heights, who helps you prepare for the litigation process, represents you throughout the case, and assists you in reaching your desired outcome.