The only ground for divorce in Illinois is irreconcilable differences. All other grounds for divorce have been abolished.

If you and your spouse agree that you have irreconcilable differences, you can get divorced at any time, with no waiting period. If your spouse disagrees with you, then you must wait for six months before you can finalize your divorce. After you have been separated for six months, the law presumes that you have irreconcilable differences. That means there is nothing left to prove. You can be divorced.

You can’t. Illinois no longer allows divorces based upon anything other than irreconcilable differences. So, you can’t get a divorce based upon adultery in Illinois.

An uncontested divorce generally costs between several hundred and several thousand dollars, depending upon whether you use divorce professionals (lawyers, mediators, financial advisors and coaches) to help you get through your divorce process or not. 

The cost of an uncontested divorce includes: 

• court filing fees (which are generally several hundred dollars),  

• attorney’s fees (which can range from a few thousand to several thousand dollars), and  

• fees for other divorce professionals (including divorce coaches, financial advisors (CDFAs), therapists, mediators, realtors, and more). 

To discover what your county's filing fees are, check out the website for the Clerk of the Court in your county. 

An Illinois divorce will take anywhere between a few months and many years, depending on whether your divorce is contested or not, whether it’s complicated or not, and what county you live in. 

Here are the factors that make divorce take longer: 

Conflict. The more you and your spouse fight, the longer your divorce will take.  

Complexity. If you or your spouse: 

• owns a business, or 

• has an executive compensation package, or 

• has assets that need to be valued (real estate, collectibles, art, jewelry, wine etc.), or 

• owns complicated financial assets, or 

• has significant debt, or 

• has other legal issues that complicate your divorce, 

your divorce WILL take longer.   

Custody Battles. Fighting over parenting time, decision-making, residential custody, child-support, payment of your children’s expenses, and other parenting issues will drag your divorce out. It will make your divorce take longer and cost more. 

Non-Disclosure of Financial Information. If you or your spouse is hiding financial information, your divorce can drag on for years instead of months. A court can subpoena your financial information, but that takes time and costs money. The same is true for forensic accounting evaluations. Voluntarily disclosing financial information is always faster and cheaper. 

In Illinois, property in a divorce is divided equitably. It is not necessarily divided equally.

Generally speaking, dividing property "equitably" means dividing it "fairly."

What is considered to be "fair" depends on all of the facts and circumstances of your case. 

(NOTE: What a judge thinks is equitable may be very different from what you think is equitable! To figure out what is actually equitable in your divorce, it’s best to talk to a divorce attorney in your area.)

No, as long as you didn’t “comingle” that inheritance with marital funds.

Money that you inherit and money that you receive as a gift is not considered to be marital property in Illinois. However, if you deposit your inheritance into a joint bank account with your spouse, then you may be deemed to have “made a gift” to the marriage.

Also, once you spend your inheritance to pay marital bills, it’s gone. You are generally not entitled to get reimbursed by the “marital estate” if you divorce.

The issue of what is and is not marital property in Illinois can be complicated. If you’re not sure whether what you own is marital property, the smartest thing you can do is to consult with an Illinois divorce attorney. S/he should be able to answer any questions you may have.

Typically, no. However, to know for sure whether you can be held responsible for your spouse’s student loan debt you need to know when the debt was incurred and what it was incurred for.

Debt that your spouse incurred before you were married is generally your spouse’s separate debt. So, your spouse’s premarital student loans should be your spouse’s responsibility after your divorce. 

If your spouse took out student loans WHILE you were married, however, the answer could be different. If your spouse used the loans to pay for his/her tuition, books and fees, then that debt, too, may be deemed to be your spouse's sole responsibility. But if your spouse took out loans and then the two of you used that money to live on while your spouse was going to school, then those loans may be deemed to be marital debt.

If the student loans are determined to be marital debt, then both you and your spouse may be responsible for paying those loans after your divorce.

Yes, IF your spouse contributed to their retirement account during your marriage with money they earned while they were married, that will be considered to be marital property. 

If your spouse had a retirement account BEFORE marriage, then that account (or the portion of that account that’s attributable to their pre-marital contributions) will be your spouse’s separate, non-marital property. That will not be subject to division in a divorce. 

There are some exceptions to this rule, however. Any property your spouse got through a gift or inheritance, even during your marriage, is considered to be your spouse’s separate, non-marital property. (So, if your spouse funded his/her IRA with inherited funds, then that IRA may NOT be marital property.)

Also, if you and your spouse entered into a valid pre-marital agreement that said that money in a retirement account is NOT to be considered as marital property, then the money in your spouse’s retirement account may be non-marital.

The issue of whether property is marital or non-marital can be complicated. If you have questions about this, it’s best to consult with a good Illinois divorce lawyer in your area.

Each spouse is generally responsible for getting his/her own health insurance after a divorce. In some cases, one spouse can agree to pay for another’s health insurance premiums for a certain period of time after a divorce. The payment of those premiums may or may not be considered to be “maintenance.” 

If a couple gets their health insurance through one spouse’s employer, it may be possible for the other spouse to get continued coverage through COBRA. That coverage can last up to 36 months after a divorce. However, COBRA premiums are usually expensive, as the spouse seeking COBRA coverage must pay BOTH the employer and the employee portions of the premium. 

Most health insurers do NOT allow divorced (or even legally separated) spouses to stay on the same health insurance policy, regardless of whether that’s an employer-sponsored or individual policy. It’s important to check with your current health insurance provider to see if they’ll allow you to stay on the same policy or not. 

When it comes to children, one parent or the other will generally be required to get health insurance for the children until they graduate from college, or, if they don’t go to college, until they graduate from high school or turn 18. However, the other parent may be required to reimburse part of the cost of the kids’ health insurance premiums to the parent paying those premiums. 

No.

To get your maiden name back you must include a provision in your final divorce judgment that gives you the right to resume the use of your maiden name. You should obtain a certified copy of that judgment. From there, you will have to change your name on your social security card, passport, driver’s license, credit cards, etc. by contacting each individual agency or company and providing proof of your divorce together with whatever forms and fees they may require. 

A joint and simplified divorce in Illinois is a special divorce process that’s available under Illinois family law if you have no children, little money, and you and your spouse agree on everything in your divorce. To get a joint and simplified divorce you must meet these requirements: 

• You or your spouse must have lived in Illinois for at least 90 days before you filed for divorce; 

• You and your spouse have to agree that irreconcilable differences have arisen between you and that you want a divorce; 

• Neither you nor your spouse can ask for maintenance (spousal support); 

• You can’t have children; 

• The wife can’t be pregnant by the husband; 

• You’ve been married for less than 8 years; 

• Neither you nor your spouse owns any real estate; 

• You and your spouse have NO joint retirement benefits and the combined amount of any individual retirement benefits you have is less than $10,000; 

• The value of all marital property you own (after subtracting what you owe on that property) is less than $50,000; 

• Neither you nor your spouse earns more than $30,000 per year, gross; 

• As a couple, you and your spouse do not earn more than $60,000 per year, gross; 

• You and your spouse have each disclosed all of your assets and debts to each other; 

• Both you and your spouse have copies of all of the tax returns either of you filed during your marriage; 

• You and your spouse have both signed a written settlement agreement dividing all of your property worth more than $100 and all of your debts; 

• You and your spouse have both signed a written settlement agreement outlining who will own and be responsible for all of your pets.