
Determine the total child support obligation and each parent’s percentage of that obligation according to the “income shares” model used in Illinois. Allocate parental responsibilities and/or. Award spousal maintenance based on the guidelines or otherwise. Determine whether spousal maintenance is appropriate. Under the IMDMA, filing a petition for legal separation in Illinois allows a party to ask the court to do all these things: When you file a petition for legal separation, you may be seeking spousal maintenance, or you may have minor children from your marriage, which means that the court will need to allocate parental responsibilities and determine the child support obligation. In many Chicago legal separation cases, both spouses will live in Cook County, so the question of where to file the petition might not be an issue.Īsking the Court to Decide About Support and Custody County where you last lived together with your spouse as a married couple. Like filing a petition for the dissolution of marriage under the IMDMA (i.e., a petition for divorce), either spouse who wants to seek a legal separation can file a petition for legal separation “in the circuit court of the county in which the petitioner or respondent resides or in which the parties last resided as husband and wife.” In other words, if you want to file a petition for a legal separation, you will need to file that petition in one of the following three court locations: So, how do you file for a legal separation in Illinois? We will provide you with more information.
In Illinois, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act ( IMDMA) specifically provides terms for a legal separation. These are just a couple of examples of reasons for a legal separation instead of a divorce.
In other situations, spouses might realize that, for healthcare reasons and health insurance needs, a divorce is not practical at the time.Īccordingly, they might decide to ask the court for a legal separation in which the court decides issues concerning maintenance, child support and makes decisions about parental responsibilities while the parties remain legally married. Sometimes a couple has religious reasons for wanting to avoid a divorce, but the parties still want to live apart from one another and to ask the court to decide about support and maintenance. Legal separation in Illinois is often preferable to married couples over divorce for a wide variety of reasons. How Do I File for Legal Separation in Illinois?