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Contact a Chicago area Divorce Attorney

If you are going through a divorce in Chicago, Cook / Lake or Du Page Counties,  and want to better understand how it will affect you, contact the Chicago area Divorce attorneys at M. Scott Gordon & Associates, and see how we can help and support you through the divorce proceedings.

M. Scott Gordon & Associates - Chicago Divorce Attorney

Contact a Chicago area Divorce Attorney

If you are going through a divorce in Chicago, Cook / Lake or Du Page Counties,  and want to better understand how it will affect you, contact the Chicago area Divorce attorneys at M. Scott Gordon & Associates, and see how we can help and support you through the divorce proceedings.

Default Divorce in the Chicago area

Default Divorce in the Chicago area

By M. Scott Gordon

 When a marriage starts “going downhill”, a spouse can decide to leave the marriage without seeking a divorce, separation, or an annulment. But if one spouse proceeds to file for divorce without knowing where the other spouse is to be found, questions may arise as to whether or not the divorce can proceed. Generally though, if one spouse wants the marriage to end, and the other one is absent, a judge may grant the former a default divorce where certain procedures are followed.

Divorce by Default

After a party files for Divorce in Chicago or the surrounding counties, the divorce paperwork has to be served upon the other spouse. This basically means the other spouse has to receive the paperwork “in hand” in order to have notice of the case and appropriate “service of process”.  There are several ways that service may be achieved. Once the paperwork has been served, the party that is served has 30 days to respond and file an appearance informing the court that he or she will be participating in the proceedings.  However, a spouse may not be able to locate their partner and serve the paperwork.  In that case, the filing spouse may ask the court to grant the divorce by default.  How is that achieved?

llinois law authorizes judges to grant divorces by default in some cases even when one spouse has not been served with notice of the proceedings. This is called granting a default judgment for dissolution of marriage. When a judge considers granting a default judgment, he has to listen to the testimony of the filing spouse, and many times rely on that testimony alone, when granting the divorce. Because granting a default judgment under these conditions can seem unfair to the other spouse, the law requires the judge to first make sure that every effort has been made to give the absent spouse notice of the case. The judge can even order additional efforts to be made to provide notice to the spouse.  However, if the Court is satisfied that diligent efforts to locate the other spouse have been made and were unsuccessful, then service of the divorce upon other spouse may be allowed by “publication”.

Another situation in which a judge can grant a default judgment of divorce is if one spouse refuses to participate in the divorce after having appeared before the judge.

Publication

When a spouse cannot be found to be served, the filing spouse can ask the court to allow them to serve the absent spouse by publication. This means that the notice of the divorce is published in a newspaper for a period of time. If there is no response, the filing spouse can ask the court to grant a default judgment. The notice has to be published for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper in your county.  Your attorney can tell you which newspaper would be acceptable for this kind of service.

Default Judgments Are Legally Binding but Can Be Contested

 Though you will be legally divorced after a default judgment is granted, default judgments of divorce do not address certain matters, such as alimony or spousal support.  Why?  Because the Court needs “personal jurisdiction” to order certain things from the other spouse, and the court does not obtain that personal jurisdiction in a divorce through publication.  In addition, if the absent spouse later shows up and can prove that there was never an effort to properly serve them, they may be able to get the default judgment vacated and reversed.

Contact a Chicago area Divorce Attorney

If you are going through a divorce in Chicago, Cook / Lake or Du Page Counties and your spouse is not participating in the divorce, contact the Chicago divorce attorneys at M. Scott Gordon & Associates, to learn more about default judgments in divorces.

How to Handle College Expenses after a Divorce

How to Handle College Expenses after a Divorce

By M. Scott Gordon 

With annual tuition costs ranging from over $15,000 for Illinois in-state tuition to over $40,000 at a private university, paying for a child’s college expenses can be quite expensive. Parents may have some savings set aside to pay for college, but these do not always cover all the costs of a college degree. Taking out student loans may be one way to pay for the expenses, but that may saddle a college graduate with a large unmanageable debt after graduation. Therefore, whether you have teenagers about to go to college, or younger children who may not go to college for a few years, college education funds may be planned for in a final divorce decree if you and your spouse decide to separate.

Funds May Come from Both Spouses

According to section 513 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, a court can allocate finances from either parent’s income or property to pay for their children’s educational expenses. The court can order financial contributions for tuition, books, room and board and other similar educational expenses, and also for medical and dental insurance coverage.

In determining how to allocate expenses between the parents, a court considers the following factors, amongst others:

·         The parents’ financial resources;

·         The child’s standard of living, had the parents stayed married;

·         The child’s financial resources; and

·         The child’s academic performance.

Who Can Ask For Financial Contributions?

Petitions for financial contributions can be made by either parent during a divorce and after a divorce.

When Can Petitions For Financial Contributions Be Made?

 A parent can ask the court for educational contributions during the divorce, but can also reserve a petition until later after the divorce petition has been finalized. A parent seeking to reserve the issue of college financial contributions should be careful about when they later ask the court to order the contributions.

According to the Illinois Supreme Court, a parent who petitions a court for financial contributions is only entitled to assistance for expenses that come after the petition. That means that if a parent starts paying for college expenses, and then makes a petition for a court to order the other parent to contribute, the court can only order the other parent to contribute to future expenses. The petitioning parent has to bear the pre-petition costs alone.

Contact an Attorney

If you are going through a divorce and need assistance working out the details of your children’s educational expenses, contact M. Scott Gordon & Associates, and see how we can help you in this important aspect of your divorce. We are located in Skokie and in Chicago, and we are prepared to help you today.