Posted on December 00, 0000 in Division of Property

My spouse and I have been married 15 years. I want to get a divorce, but I have been a stay-at-home mom for the past 10 years. I have no money, and everything is in my spouse's name. I do not know how I will be able to start over from scratch.

Questions similar to the one above are often posted to social media and divorce-related websites, and understandably, those in these situations are concerned. When it comes to divorce, there is a difference between marital and separate property, and separate property is not involved in the division of property. But simply because one spouse's name is not on a title does not make it separate property.

Property Division in Illinois Divorce

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Division of Property

Taboos regarding cohabitation are quickly becoming passe as many of today’s couples are opting to live together before – and sometimes in lieu of – marriage. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, unmarried couples comprised 45 percent of all U.S. households in 2010. But until recently, unmarried Illinois couples who ended a relationship had no rights to enforce property claims against an ex-partner, or otherwise divide assets, due to their unmarried status.

Blumenthal v. Brewer: Allowing Property Claims against Unmarried Ex-Partner

In Blumenthal v. Brewer, the Chicago couple had been in a committed relationship for 26 years. They lived together, commingled assets, and raised three children. In all ways, they acted as a married couple. Yet they were unmarried due to same-sex marriage being illegal in Illinois. Brewer, an attorney, had stayed home for several years to raise the children. Her partner, however, built a lucrative medical practice. At the end of the relationship, Blumenthal’s net worth was $500,000 more than Brewer’s.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Division of Property

If you have been following the divorce saga of Illinois’ richest man, hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin, you may have read that his wife recently filed Court documents alleging that Griffin plans to end her exclusive occupancy of the couple’s marital home and will no longer pay upkeep costs.

While many of us cannot relate to the lives of the very wealthy, the case raises a question that comes up almost every time when meeting with a client for the first time — who gets to live in the marital home during the divorce?

Temporary Relief for Possession of Marital Home

In most divorces, typically one party voluntarily moves out of the marital home until the Court awards it as part of the division of assets, or the couple sells it — whichever comes first. If children are involved, usually the parent who serves as the children’s primary caregiver retains possession of the house.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Division of Property

Many couples, especially those with a high-net worth, own a business that is not only their largest asset, but their sole source of income. When these couples divorce, difficult issues arise such as how to value the business, whether it should be sold or divided and, if divided, which spouse should receives the business and how should the other spouse be paid for his share.

Illinois Business Valuation

In order determine the division of assets in a divorce, the assets must first be assigned a value. However, determining the value of a business is not as easy. For an investment account, you simply look at the balance on any given day, or for a vehicle, you can look up the Kelley Blue Book value.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Division of Property

Locating Hidden Assets in a Palatine Divorce

Illinois law requires that parties in a divorce disclose all financial information to the other spouse in order to facilitate the division of assets. Most of the time this information exchange is done in the spirit of the law, since both parties have full knowledge of both the marital asset and their spouse’s non-marital assets.

However, in certain cases, one spouse purposely hides assets from his or her spouse. This may be done in anticipation of divorce, or a spouse may have secretly stashed money away throughout the marriage in the event of a divorce.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Division of Property

Someone contemplating divorce is likely to hear this piece of advice from friends and family: “Before you file, make sure you start putting money away in a separate account for yourself. You do not want to be left with nothing.”

Although well-meaning, this is actually bad advice. Illinois prohibits intentional dissipation of a marital estate, and doing so could result in you receiving less when the marital estate is divided.

Use of Marital Funds during Palatine Divorce

Illinois is an equitable distribution state—marital assets are divided in a fair and equitable manner. While a 50-50 split is presumed to be the most equitable division, equitable does not always mean equal. A number of different factors go in to the Court’s determination of what constitutes an equitable distribution, and any one factor can tip the property division into an unequal division of a marital estate

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Division of Property

Your divorce decree is signed; however, the signature does not mean your work is finished. The signed order may end the marriage, but your responsibility is to tie up the loose ends.

Change Your Name

While your divorce decree may have included a provision allowing you to use a former name, there are steps you must take in order to legally change your name. To begin, you will first need to officially change your name with the Social Security Administration. A new Social Security card under your new name will be issued. Only then can you obtain a new driver’s license or state identification card and begin changing your name elsewhere.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Division of Property

All U.S. states now have no-fault grounds for divorce. However, Illinois is somewhat unusual — in that Illinois also currently provides for fault-based grounds for divorce. Obtaining a no-fault divorce in Illinois generally requires a two-year waiting period. Fault divorces are quicker, however, and require no waiting period. Still, the spouse seeking a divorce does have to prove fault, which can be difficult.

Grounds

Illinois law provides for several different fault-based grounds for divorce and include the following:

• One spouse is impotent at the time of the marriage, and continues to be impotent;

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Division of Property

In Illinois divorces, Courts divide spousal property, according to the principles of equitable distribution. Therefore, marital property is divided fairly between spouses. Equitable distribution, however, does not necessarily mean equal property division.

Waste

One instance in which marital property will not be equally divided is in the event of marital waste. Marital waste, or the dissipation of property, occurs when one spouse dissipates assets prior to the divorce. Dissipation of both marital and separate property is taken into account. If the Court finds that one spouse has committed waste, the Court will take the waste into account when determining a fair division of property.

Marital waste occurs when one spouse used marital or non-marital property:

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Marital Property

Getting divorced means negotiating an equitable division of marital assets. Marital assets are any assets a couple acquired together during a marriage; everything else — assets either spouse came in to the marriage with, or assets received during the marriage by gift or inheritance — is separate. However, separate property can become a marital asset and is thus subject to division if the property is commingled with marital assets.

The following scenarios explore the concept of commingling and identify the types of situations in which separate property can become marital property.

Scenario 1: Pete and Rose have been married for 10 years. When married, the couple moved into Pete’s home, which he had purchased eight years prior to the marriage. Pete never put Rose’s name on the home’s title, however, nor was her name ever placed on the mortgage. The couple did open a joint checking account that they both contributed to, and the mortgage was paid from the joint account. If they divorce, will the home be considered separate or marital property?

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