If you are considering filing for divorce or legal separation, or if your spouse has filed family court petitions to which you must respond, please contact the experienced, discreet attorneys at Mullen, Winthers & Kollias for a confidential consultation. Our goal is to use our legal knowledge and advocacy skills to help you limit the time, expense, and stress entailed by such proceedings.

Divorce often involves a stressful mix of emotional upheaval and detailed paperwork, disputes and negotiations, and conflicting views about child custody or personal finances. Any divorce, whether contentious or amicable, requires a succession of steps that culminates in a final judgment. As your attorneys, we would help you understand the laws and the lingo involved, guide you through the process, and ensure that your interests are protected.

In Illinois, either spouse, or both, may file for divorce through a petition to the court. The spouse who files the petition must allege that there are legal grounds for the divorce. Most of the time, he or she will simply allege irreconcilable differences, although Illinois law does recognize other legal grounds as well. Those other grounds include repeated acts of physical or mental “cruelty,” a spouse’s addiction to drugs or alcohol that lasts more than two years, or a spouse’s felony conviction. However, those distinct legal grounds for divorce must be proved to the court.

In cases where the spouses claim irreconcilable differences, the couple is supposed to have lived apart for a period of two years before the judgment is granted. However, some exceptions apply to this requirement. If you are considering filing for divorce, please contact us to discuss the best way to proceed, given your particular circumstances.

After the filing of a petition for dissolution, the other spouse must be served—i.e. given proper notice of the beginning of the divorce, and an opportunity to respond to the petition. If the other spouse does not respond within 30 days of being served, the process may turn into an “uncontested” divorce; however, the person who initiated the divorce must still take several procedural steps in order to finalize the divorce.

During the divorce process, spouses may reach temporary agreements or request temporary orders from a judge regarding the physical and legal custody of children; visitation for the parent who doesn’t have physical custody; financial support for either the children or the spouse; and other issues that may be in dispute.

Agreements or orders regarding such issues may also be requested by filing for legal separation, rather than divorce. For a variety of reasons, some people are unwilling to get divorced, but still want to live separately from their spouses, with legally-delineated boundaries to that separation. Legal separation enables a married person to get child custody and/or visitation, as well as child support and spousal support, without legally ending the marriage. In Illinois, the spouse requesting a legal separation must show that the other spouse bears the fault for the separation.

At Mullen, Winthers & Kollias, we take pride in helping clients understand every aspect of divorce or legal separation. If you would like more information about the substance of the laws, the procedural steps, or the local family courts, please contact us for a free 30-minute consultation.