Illinois

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 35 out of 100

Illinois leaves property division to the judge, but maintenance for most couples follows a statutory formula for both amount and length, and fault is excluded. Interim fee awards follow a parity rule, and each side can substitute the judge once without cause. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Illinois ranks 1 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	15 / 20	The court assigns non-marital property to its owner and divides marital property in just proportions considering listed factors, with no presumption of equal division. 750 ILCS 5/503(d)
Alimony	0 / 20	When combined gross income is under $500,000 and the payor owes no prior-relationship support, guideline maintenance is 33 1/3% of payor net income minus 25% of payee net income (capped so the payee ends with no more than 40% of combined net income), for a term equal to the marriage length times a statutory factor, and the court must state its reasons to deviate. 750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(A)-(B), (b-2)(2)
Fault	0 / 20	Marital property is divided and maintenance is awarded without regard to marital misconduct. 750 ILCS 5/503(d), 5/504(a)
Lawyers’ fees	10 / 20	Interim fee awards must achieve substantial parity in the parties’ access to funds for litigation, and final contribution awards are discretionary after considering both parties’ financial resources. 750 ILCS 5/102(8), 5/501(c-1)(3), 5/508(a), 5/503(j)
Second opinion	10 / 20	Each party is entitled to one substitution of judge without cause before trial or a substantial ruling, and there is no jury trial under the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. 735 ILCS 5/2-1001(a)(2); 750 ILCS 5/103

Getting in

A one-day wait. Both partners appear together before the county clerk and pay the fee. The license takes effect one day after it is issued, unless a court orders it effective at once, and expires 60 days later. It is good in the county that issued it, though a ceremony held by mistake in another Illinois county is still valid.
750 ILCS 5/203, 5/207; 55 ILCS 5/4-4001, 5/4-12003

Who can marry you. A judge, retired judge, Court of Claims judge, county clerk in a county of 2 million or more, sitting mayor or village president, other authorized official, or a person acting under a religious group’s or tribe’s rules may officiate. If those rules need no officiant, the couple files the certificate themselves. The statute does not address online ordination, but a reasonable belief in the officiant’s authority protects the marriage.
750 ILCS 5/209(a), (b)

Common-law marriage: Not available here. Common-law marriages contracted in Illinois after June 30, 1905 are invalid. A marriage valid where it was contracted is valid in Illinois unless it is contrary to Illinois public policy. A short trip does not qualify: a 1973 appellate decision rejected a claim by an Illinois couple who spent three days in Texas, because they never made Texas their home.
750 ILCS 5/213, 5/214; In re Estate of Stahl (Stahl v. Chuhak), 13 Ill. App. 3d 680 (1973)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Illinois is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Property acquired by either spouse after the wedding and before the divorce judgment is presumed marital. Gifts, inheritances, premarital property and property excluded by agreement stay non-marital. Growth in non-marital property stays non-marital whatever caused it, but the marital estate can claim reimbursement for contributions or significant effort. A judgment of legal separation also stops accumulation.
750 ILCS 5/503(a), (b)(1), (c)(2)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

Putting it in joint names usually makes it marital. Moving non-marital money into joint title makes it presumptively marital. The owner can rebut that with clear and convincing evidence that the transfer was not meant as a gift. Money that loses its identity in a marital account becomes marital, though the contributing estate can be reimbursed if the contribution is traced by clear and convincing evidence and was not a gift.
750 ILCS 5/503(b)(1), (c)(1)-(2)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. The expenses of the family and of the children’s education are chargeable on the property of both spouses or either of them, and creditors may sue the spouses jointly or separately; hospital bills have been pursued under this family expense statute.
750 ILCS 65/15(a)(1); St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital v. Kuczaj, 174 Ill. App. 3d 268 (1988)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

A surviving spouse who renounces the will takes one-third of the entire estate if the decedent left a descendant, or one-half if not, after payment of claims; the share is measured against the probate estate, and assets in a revocable trust are not reached unless the trust is illusory or a fraud on marital rights.
755 ILCS 5/2-8; Johnson v. La Grange State Bank, 73 Ill. 2d 342 (1978)

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

Two looks, under UPAA (1983), 750 ILCS 10, with a modified support clause. Property terms are tested only at signing (involuntary, or unconscionable when signed with inadequate disclosure), but if a support waiver causes undue hardship because of circumstances not reasonably foreseeable at signing, the court may order support anyway. Postmarital agreements are enforced as contracts that need consideration, and their unconscionability is judged by the parties’ circumstances immediately after signing.
750 ILCS 10/7(a), (b); In re Marriage of Tabassum, 377 Ill. App. 3d 761 (2007)

What an agreement needs. A premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties and needs no consideration; no notarization, witnesses, waiting period or independent counsel is required, disclosure matters through the unconscionability defense, and a spousal-support waiver can be overridden for unforeseeable undue hardship.
750 ILCS 10/3, 10/7

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. A judge adds both parents’ net incomes, finds the amount on a state schedule, and gives each parent a percentage share. An order cannot end before 18, or for a child still in high school, before graduation or age 19, whichever comes first. A judge may also order contributions to college costs, generally through age 23 and limited to about University of Illinois costs.
750 ILCS 5/505(a)(1.5), (g); 5/513(a), (d), (g)

Moving away with a child. A parent with majority or equal parenting time must give at least 60 days’ written notice and file it with the clerk. If the other parent signs, the move proceeds. If not, the judge decides on the child’s best interests after a petition. Covered moves, in road miles from the child’s home: over 25 from six Chicago-area counties, over 50 from elsewhere in Illinois, over 25 out of state.
750 ILCS 5/609.2; 5/600(g) (as amended by P.A. 103-967, eff. Jan. 1, 2025)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: 90 days. One spouse must have lived in Illinois, or been stationed there with the armed forces, for 90 days before filing or before the court’s finding. The statute adds no county period and does not turn on where the couple married or where the breakdown happened.
750 ILCS 5/401(a)

How long it takes. Irreconcilable differences is the only ground, and either spouse can seek it without proving fault. No waiting period or required separation applies. If the spouses have lived apart for 6 months before judgment, the ground is conclusively met and an objecting spouse cannot contest it. Before 6 months, the judge must find that reconciliation has failed or is impracticable.
750 ILCS 5/401(a), (a-5)

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 90 days from arrival to a final decree (90 days of residence; 180 days apart makes the ground conclusive). Courts often take longer.

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Illinois and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Illinois lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Illinois” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.