Legal Separation Laws in Chicago

All states in the United States completely revamped their divorce laws in the 1970s. Illinois passed their new statute, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, in 1977. The political battled in our state was quite fierce, and one of the main opponents to liberalized divorce laws was the Roman Catholic Church, amongst others. One compromise contained in our current state statute was to allow parties to settle divorce type issues (relating to, for example, property and children) without asking for a divorce. Although divorce has become quite common in our society, there are still a number of people who object to completely dissolving their marriage, either because they want or need some of the protections afforded in a divorce or are opposed to divorce based upon religious grounds. Many people do not get divorced because they need the health insurance provided by the other spouse, or they have been married many years and are elderly, etc.

The compromise in Illinois was to allow “legal separation.” Essentially, any person living separate and apart from his or her spouse without fault may have a remedy for reasonable support and maintenance while they still live apart. Hence, by filing a Petition for Legal Separation with a circuit court in any county in our state, the court can award support and deal with other issues between the parties without terminating the marriage. Once the Judgment for Legal Separation is entered by the court, property can be subsequently acquired and held separately as non-marital property.

It is important to understand that the other spouse is not prohibited from filing his or her own Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and requesting that the court completely dissolve the marriage.

Contacting experienced legal separation Attorneys

Let the attorneys at Gordon & Perlut, LLC help you with your legal separation. Contact our Chicago divorce lawyers online or call 312.360.0250 for our Chicago office or 847.329.0101 for our Skokie office.