New Illinois Divorce Laws Pushes More Collaborative Divorces

 Posted on January 10, 2018 in Family Law

A divorce does not have to lead to a courtroom battle filled with emotions. With collaborative divorce, divorcing couples can avoid this and work together to come to an agreement. In recent years, this type of divorce has become more common. In fact, it’s been recognized by the Illinois Collaborative Process Act which will go into effect on January 1st, 2018 and was passed to promote the use of the collaborative process to settle more cases in Illinois. Let’s take a closer look at the meaning of the Collaborative Process Act.

The Collaborative Process Act Defined

A collaborative divorce involves spouses working together with their lawyers to come to a resolution on outstanding issues that need to be settled. The Collaborative Process Act states the following:

• Marriage, divorce, legal separation, annulment, property distribution, child support, spousal maintenance, parenting time, and other family or domestic issues can be resolved through the collaborative process.
• A collaborative process agreement must be signed by both spouses during a collaborative divorce. The agreement will describe their commitment to resolving family or domestic matters through a collaborative process, establish the attorney of each spouse, and state that the spouses will discharge their attorneys in the event the collaborative process does not work out.
• Each spouse should voluntarily reveal any information that is requested during the process in a timely manner and update any information that has changed.
• When an agreement is reached and sent to the court, the collaborative process will come to an end. In the event some issues cannot be settled during the process, the spouses may send the court a partial resolution which states that outstanding issues will be settled in a process other than the collaborative one.

Who Is the Collaborative Process for?

The collaborative divorce process is an appropriate option for couples who value privacy, would like to resolve their issues in a civilized and respectful way, and are willing to focus on coming to resolutions rather than blaming one another. It also makes sense for couples who will be co-parenting and wish to protect their children from the negative impacts of litigation and would like greater control over their divorce.

Consult Our DuPage County Divorce Attorneys

If you would like to reach an agreement without taking your case to court, you should reach out to our DuPage County divorce attorneys. We can guide you through the collaborative divorce process and ensure your rights are protected. Call us at 630-932-9100 today.