Divorce Attorney Naperville

Obtaining a divorce can be a complicated endeavor, as it also requires the resolution of a number of related legal matters. For instance, Illinois family law judges will only grant a divorce to a couple who has decided how to divide their marital assets, determined whether one party will pay alimony to the other, and if a couple has children, decided how parenting time will be divided. While many couples are able to reach an agreement on these issues by negotiating in an out-of-court setting, doing so is not always possible, in which case, a court will be required to step in and make the decisions before finalizing the divorce. In either case, divorcing couples should strongly consider retaining an experienced divorce attorney in Naperville who can negotiate with the other spouse’s legal team or litigate the divorce in court.

Contested vs. Uncontested Divorce

A divorce can either be contested, meaning that the parties do not agree on one or more divorce-related legal matters, including:

Whether or not to end the marriage;
Where the couple’s children should live;
How much child support one party owes the other;
How marital assets and debts will be divided upon divorce; and
Whether one spouse is entitled to spousal maintenance.

Uncontested divorces, on the other hand, occur when both spouses agree on all of the aforementioned issues. Although a judge will still need to review the terms of an uncontested divorce to ensure that they are reasonable, these proceedings tend to go much more quickly than their contested counterparts. It is important to note that regardless of whether a divorce is contested or uncontested, a couple will only be permitted to legally end their marriage in Illinois if one of the parties has lived in the state for at least 90 days.

Irreconcilable Differences

Illinois is a no-fault divorce state, which means that divorcing spouses are not required to provide proof that the other party was at fault for the union’s failure in order to end their marriage. Instead, divorcing spouses need only prove that:

Irreconcilable differences have led to the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage; and
Efforts at reconciliation have failed or would otherwise not be in the family’s best interests.

In situations where two spouses have been living in different residences for at least six months, judges are generally willing to presume that this burden of proof has been met and that irreconcilable differences do exist. Fortunately, this does not necessarily mean that two spouses must be living in different homes in order to qualify for a divorce based on irreconcilable differences. This is because a number of courts have confirmed that rather than referring only to physical locations, the term separate and apart also covers instances where a couple has decided to live separate lives, which could include everything from opening separate bank accounts to going by a maiden name.