There are different areas of the Illinois divorce process that can have a significant impact on how a divorce turns out. One of those areas is discovery. Discovery is the process that is used to help both sides gather evidence to ensure that both spouses have the same financial information in order to be in a better position to negotiate a fair divorce settlement.

Discovery is considered a legal process and there are rules that both parties are required to follow, both in the gathering of evidence and the supplying of evidence that is requested. Failure to adhere to these rules can result in sanctions from the court. The following is a brief overview of some of the tools your attorney or your spouse’s attorney may use during the divorce.

Interrogatories

As part of the discovery process, attorneys may send the other side a set of interrogatories. These documents are a list of questions that the other side is required to respond to under oath. Generally, these questions are about the spouse’s background and often include questions about their education and work history. There are also often questions about any income, financial accounts, assets, and debts the spouse may have. The goal of interrogatories is to determine whether or not the spouse is hiding assets in order to avoid including them in the marital estate and equitable distribution.

If you have decided to end your marriage, there are important steps you should take in order to protect your financial interests. Even if you think that your divorce will be a friendly one, the reality is that all it takes is one disagreement over what may seem a minor issue and your divorce can quickly turn into a remake of the old movie The War of the Roses, in which a divorcing couple’s possessions become the focus of a contemptuous divorce battle.

Dividing the Marital Estate

Illinois is an equitable distribution state, which means that all of the assets and property the couple owns will be divided between them in an equitable manner. In order to make sure this division is equitable, it is important to have an accurate accounting of how much the marital estate is actually worth.

Unfortunately, this can sometimes result in one spouse trying to hide assets. This can be especially easy to do if one spouse leaves the handling of all of the couple’s finances up to the other spouse.

Child support is a topic that can easily make emotions run high, especially in the context of an already embittered divorce. While most parents are happy to financially support their children, making payments to a disliked ex who may not be raising your children the way you hoped can be a challenging process. Being the parent who receives child support is often no easier, especially if you feel as though you are under constant scrutiny regarding how you handle the support payments. 

Regardless of personal differences between parents, and unlike other parts of negotiating a divorce, child support payments in Illinois are generally not negotiable and are established according to a formula known as the “income shares” model. Understanding which factors can affect this model and the overall support payments is important for parents who are approaching child support for the first time. 

Both Parents’ Incomes

Rather than placing the financial burden on just one parent, Illinois child support laws expect both parents to contribute financially toward their children’s wellbeing. The incomes of both parents are, therefore, part of the overall calculation. 

Creative and inventive individuals who get divorced may be surprised to learn that the products of their creativity are considered part of the asset division process in Illinois. Just as physical property must be assessed and divided, intellectual property must be valued and split between spouses as well. Read on to learn more about how intellectual property is handled in an Illinois divorce, and then call an attorney with experience in high-asset and complex divorce who can help. 

What is Intellectual Property? 

Intellectual property is a term that describes intangible (nonphysical) assets that are owned by a person or a company and cannot be used without the owner’s permission. Intellectual property rights are covered by laws that provide legal protection to products of human creativity, just as real property rights are protected. Examples of intellectual property include:

• Patents, copyrights, and trademarks 

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Generally, when a couple or individual decides to end their marriage, one spouse will file for divorce, and the other spouse will respond. Spouses will spend the remainder of the divorce process negotiating over things like asset division and child custody. However, when one spouse has gone missing, serving divorce papers can be difficult or impossible. Other times, a spouse may simply decide to be uncooperative, refusing to respond to divorce papers or attempt to resolve divorce issues. 

People who want to get divorced but do not know where their spouse is are not doomed to stay stuck in their marriage. There are ways to get divorced, even if your spouse is missing or uncooperative, and an experienced Illinois divorce attorney can help. 

How Does a Missing Spouse Change the Divorce Process? 

Illinois provides an alternative pathway to divorce for people whose spouses are missing. This is called “divorce by publication.” To qualify for a divorce by publication, one spouse must convince a judge that the missing spouse cannot be located, despite making serious efforts to do so.