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General information about the procedures to obtain a Dissolution of Marriage, Legal Separation, Declaration of Invalidity of Marriage, or Dissolution of Civil Union in Lake County, Illinois. It includes legal references, instructions for filing and serving documents, and information on discovery and personal identity restrictions.
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The materials contained herein are accurate as of the publication - October 2016, but are subject to legislative or administrative amendments after this date. By
PREPARED BY
THE JUDGES OF THE
NINETEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT AND THE
LAKE COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
Information about the Courthouse and the court system can be found online at http://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/. You can also find information under “Frequently Asked Questions” located at http://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/1250/Frequently-Asked- Questions.
parents in cases which involve minor children. There is a fee to take this class. The fee is waived if the Court grants a Petition to Sue or Defend as an Indigent Person. Enrollment forms are located in each courtroom and at the Clerk’s Office. You may obtain the enrollment form on line at http://www.clcillinois.edu/programs-and -classes/court-programs. If you are prepared to pay for the class by credit card you may also enroll by phone at (847) 543.2185 or Fax (847) 543.2188.
LEGAL REFERENCES: The following is a list of the laws and relevant rules pertaining to family cases:
Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act: 750 ILCS 5/ et seq.
Illinois Parentage Act of 2015, 750 ILCS 45/1 et seq. Civil Union Act 750 ILCS 75/1 et seq. Local Court Rules of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Supreme Court Rules
The Statutes and the Supreme Court Rules can be located at the Lake County Law Library or at http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/ SUPREMECOURT/Rules/default.asp.
The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act can be found at http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp? ActID=2086&ChapterID=59.
The Local Court Rules can be found online at the Lake County Law Library or at http://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/1955/Local-Court- Rules.
Before you can file a case in court to start the process, you need to determine what you need to file, or what is your “cause of action”. The Family Law Division handles many types of cases involving families including dissolution of marriage (commonly known as a “divorce”), legal separation, declaration of invalidity of marriage (commonly known as an “annulment”), dissolution of civil union, and parentage and child support for unmarried persons. Throughout this booklet, when a reference is made to “dissolution” it means both a dissolution of marriage and a dissolution of a civil union, unless it specifically excludes one or the other.
1.1 Dissolution of Marriage (“Divorce”): If you are married and no longer wish to be, you must start the process by filing a written Petition asking the Court for a Dissolution of Marriage. See Section III below for specific guidelines to pursue the dissolution of a marriage.
1.2 Legal Separation: Any person living separate and apart from his or her spouse during the marriage may petition the Court for reasonable support and maintenance while they live apart. See Section IV below for specific guidelines to pursue a legal separation.
If you want to file a Petition to Sue or Defend as an Indigent Person or an Application for Waiver of Court Fees you will need to provide the following information:
Amount of money that you make Value of property that you own Number of people that you care for Monthly expenses and debt
After you complete the form you must appear before a Judge to ask that your request be granted. You do this by obtaining a case number from the Clerk’s Office, then requesting Court Administration for assistance in assigning a Judge to hear the Petition. This typically occurs on the same date that you file the form, so please plan your day accordingly. The Judge will review the application and either grant or deny your request. If the Judge grants the application, the Judge will provide an order waiving your court fees for the dissolution suit. If the Judge denies the Petition, you will have to pay the filing fee before your case can proceed.
Fees for Dissolution, Invalidity, or Legal Separation that can be waived include:
Fee for filing a petition Fee for filing your appearance/response Fee for service of the petition by the Sheriff Fee for publication notice, if necessary Fee for a court reporter for the prove up hearing Fee for the Lake County Parenting Class
2.3 Obtaining Financial Information about your spouse/partner: There are several ways to obtain financial information regarding your spouse/partner. The process of obtaining information during the legal process is referred to as discovery. Each party is required to respond truthfully and completely to discovery requests. Discovery can be obtained by the following:
Marital Interrogatories (requests the other party to answer questions) (see Illinois Supreme Court Rule 213).
Notices to Produce (requests the other party to produce copies of documents, objects, or access to real estate and personal property) (see Illinois Supreme Court Rule 214). Subpoenas (requests a non-party to produce documents or appear in court to testify) (see Illinois Supreme Court Rule 204 and Local Court Rule 3.09). Depositions (requests a party to give testimony on the record) (see Illinois Supreme Court Rules 202 through 208, and Local Court Rules 3.05 and 3.06).
If financial issues are involved in your case, you must comply with Local Court Rule 11.02. You must comply with this Rule even if you are the person requesting or receiving child support, maintenance, or other forms of financial relief. Sanctions can be imposed for failure to accurately disclose your income, assets, expenses and debt on your financial affidavit.
For additional rules regarding discovery in general, and other forms of discovery allowed, see the Illinois Supreme Court
County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service can be reached online at www.lakecountylawyer.info/ or you may call (847) 244.3143.
2.4 Ex Parte Communications: Ex parte communication is communication with the Judge when only one party is present. Judges are not allowed to engage in ex parte communication. If you have something you need to tell the Judge, you must ask for a hearing and give notice to the other party or file a written statement in the court file and send a copy of the written statement to the other party.
2.5 If you need something from the Judge before a settlement or trial is reached: a. Prepare a Motion: The title of your Motion must state the exact relief you are requesting (for example, temporary child support, temporary maintenance, etc.). This Motion must:
e. Appear in Court. You must appear in court on your assigned court date and time. At that time, you will present the Judge with your Motion and request a hearing date. Your spouse will be given time to respond to your Motion and the Judge will set a future date for that hearing. Whenever you appear in Court, you should bring several copies of all the papers you have filed in your case, as well as several copies of any other documents to support your request. Court begins at 9:00 a.m. and ends at 12:00 p.m. Thus, for a 9:00 a.m. court call you should typically be completed with court by 12:00 p.m. But this does not always occur. Sometimes, you are asked to return for the afternoon court call which begins at 1: p.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m. Sometimes you are given another court date in the future.
2.6 How to determine which courtroom to appear: When a case is filed, it is assigned to a Judge and his/her name will be stamped on the Petition. Sometimes, Judges switch courtrooms or Judges are assigned to another area of law. When you get to the courthouse you can ask Court Administration in what courtroom your case will be heard or you can look at the television screens that are mounted to the walls near the entrances. The screen will have a list of case names and the courtroom in which each is being heard.
2.7 What to do when you arrive in the courtroom: When you arrive at the appointed courtroom approach the Clerk to check in. This is the person sitting at the front of the courtroom next to the Judge. Tell the clerk your name and for what case you are there. Ask the clerk to put the case in front of the Judge. After checking in you will sit down and wait for your case to be called. While waiting for your case to be called, remain quiet and silence and put away all electronic devices. When your case is called, approach the bench and plead your case to the Judge.
2.8 Personal Identity Information: Supreme Court Rule 138 imposes important restrictions on the use of Personal Identity Information in any document filed in the Court record as the record is public information. Personal Identity Information is
defined as: Social Security and Taxpayer-identification numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account numbers, or debit and credit card numbers. Personal Identity Information must only use the last four digits of the actual number. Willfully failing to comply with this Rule could result in monetary sanctions, including attorneys’ fees and court costs.
III. DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE
3.1 Joint and Simplified Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. A Joint and Simplified Dissolution of Marriage is a court procedure that allows parties to get divorced faster and more easily if they meet certain specific criteria.
(a) Do you qualify? You can file a Joint and Simplified Divorce Petition if all of the following are true:
You and your spouse BOTH agree to get a divorce. You and your spouse BOTH fill out the paperwork together. You and your spouse BOTH attend court. You OR your spouse were an Illinois resident for at least 90 days before filing your petition asking for a Joint and Simplified Dissolution of Marriage. The duration of the marriage does not exceed 8 years. You and your spouse do NOT have any children together and have not adopted any children together. You or your spouse are NOT currently pregnant. You and your spouse do NOT have any interest in real property (house or land). You and your spouse do NOT have any interest in retirement benefits, unless the retirement benefits are exclusively held in individual retirement accounts and the combined value of the accounts is less than
Neither you nor your spouse will receive spousal support from the other. The total fair market value of all property owned by you and your spouse, including pensions and after
Once you have completed the required documents as listed above, file them with the Lake County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office and to set a date to appear in court while you are at the Clerk’s Office. Additionally, pay the required filing and court reporter fees. Both you and your spouse will need to be present in court on the as signed date received from the Clerk’s Office. Make sure you have an original and at least two copies of all of your documents. On the day and time specified by the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, you will appear in court to present your Joint Petition for Simplified Dissolution of Marriage and the proposed Judgment for Dissolution of Marriage for the Judge to read, approve, and sign. You may be asked to
(c) If Not, What Do You Do? If you do NOT satisfy all of the criteria listed above in Paragraph 3.1(a), you must proceed with a standard Dissolution of Marriage.
3.2 Standard Dissolution (“Divorce”) Proceedings
(a) Jurisdiction (can you file in Illinois?): The first step is to make sure that the Court has jurisdiction over your case. One or both spouses must be a resident of Illinois (or stationed in Illinois while a member of the armed services) for at least 90 days prior to the filing of the case, or not less than 90 days before the final judgment is entered.
(b) Venue (where do you file in Illinois?): You can file for divorce in the county in which you reside or the county in which your spouse resides. Filing in a county where neither you nor your spouse resides requires a written request (Motion) and hearing to proceed. The Motion must be filed at the same time that you file for divorce (see Paragraph (c), below).
(c) Starting the Process. Prepare a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, which will be filed with the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office. Note: In any and all petitions filed with the court, you must tell the truth, and must sign the petition as your certification of its truth.
(d) W hat must be included in a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage: A Petition for Dissolution of Marriage must be in writing and you must sign it. Each Petition for Dissolution of Marriage should include the following information:
Caption, including the filing party’s name as Petitioner
Each spouse’s age, occupation, and residence with the length of residence within Illinois; Date of marriage and county in which it was registered; Whether any other court action is pending for a dissolution of marriage in any other county or state; That the Court has jurisdiction (see above); That irreconcilable differences have caused an irretrievable breakdown of your marriage and that efforts at reconciliation were not or would not be successful; Names, addresses and ages of all living children of the spouses, and whether a spouse is pregnant; (Note: it is preferable to use the initials of all minor children instead of full names and only the year of each child’s birth and age as opposed to the actual date of birth of a
Whether any arrangement has been made between the spouses as to support, parental responsibility allocation and parenting time; Whether any arrangement has been made between the spouses as to the support or maintenance of each spouse; and The relief sought (what you want the Judge to award to you and/or your spouse).
(e) Filing with the Clerk: Filing the case is when you deliver the petition to the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office. You can file documents at the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office located in the lower level of the court house. A case number and a Judge will be assigned and an official court file will be opened.
action to the other party. A party may be served by the
Service by the Sheriff: The Lake County Sheriff can attempt to serve your spouse if he or she lives or works in Lake County. To hire the Sheriff’s Office, you must take two copies of the file stamped summons and Petition for Dissolution of Marriage to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. There is a fee, which varies depending on where your spouse lives within the county. You should call the Sheriff’s Office to determine the exact fee. If you cannot afford the fee, follow the steps in section 2.2. The Sheriff only accepts cash or checks.
If your spouse lives outside of Lake County, Illinois, then you need the Sheriff of that county to serve your spouse. You should contact the Sheriff of that county to determine the exact procedure and fees.
Service by Publication: If you do not know where your spouse lives or works, or if the Sheriff has tried and failed to serve your spouse, then you may be able to serve the Respondent by publishing a notice in a local newspaper.
To serve by publication, you must fill out two court forms and file the forms at the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office. If you have obtained an Order to Sue or Defend as an Indigent Person allowing you to sue as an indigent, you must also present this court order to the court clerk when you file your forms for publication to waive the publication fee.
The first form is called a Notice of Publication. This form notifies the Respondent that he or she must file an appearance with the court by a particular date. The clerk will provide the date and courtroom to be listed on the form. The second form is called an Affidavit for Service by Publication. This form must be notarized. Fill out the form but do not sign it until you
have a notary to witness your signature. The Clerk’s Office does provide a notary free of charge.
After you file the two forms with the clerk, a representative of the newspaper will call you for payment of the publication fee (unless you had the fee waived as stated above). Upon payment of the publication fee, the newspaper will publish the notice. The newspaper will mail you a Certificate of Publication listing the days that your notice ran. You must file that Certificate of Publication with the Clerk’s Office. If the newspaper fails to send you the certificate, you must contact the newspaper and obtain the certificate. The certificate is required to show the Judge that service was completed.
The court clerk must mail a file stamped copy of the Notice of Publication form to your spouse/partner at his/her last known address and file a Certificate of Mailing, stating that the Notice to of Publication was mailed. You should check with the court clerk to make sure that this was done.
(g) After your spouse has been served: Your spouse has 30 days after being served to file an “Appearance” in your case.
(i) If your spouse has filed an Appearance and you have reached an agreement on all issues, you can request a prove-up hearing date. You can obtain a date by submitting a Motion and Notice of Motion to the Clerk’s office or from your Judge if you are already in court for a previously scheduled appearance. A prove- up hearing is the court date when you appear before the Judge and request that the Judge grant you a divorce based on the terms of your agreement. You must bring to court all of the necessary documents for the prove up and follow Paragraph 3.2(g), below.
(ii) If your spouse does not file his or her Appearance within those 30 days, you can ask for a
