Family law rewrite goes to the governor
A major overhaul of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act ("IMDMA"), years in the making, was finally passed by the Illinois General Assembly in May and sent to the governor. If signed into law, SB 57 will eliminate grounds for divorce, shift the focus away from custody and toward allocation of parental responsibilities, and make other important changes in Illinois divorce law.
It would amend not only the IMDMA but also the Intergovernmental Missing Child Recovery Act of 1984, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act ("UCCJEA"), the Illinois Domestic Violence Act, the Probate Act, and other statutes. The governor has not acted on the law. Find out more in the July Illinois Bar Journal.
Member Comments (3)
very bad legislation for families and the state of illinois
This will take many hours to study to compare what all is changed. My concern is that considering what a miserable failure the new maintenance statute is, that this will be equally so and not at all well-thought out.
Although nothing is perfect, this bill has the advantage of moving toward a more child friendly approach to parental rights and responsibilities, disposes of so called "heart balm" actions, cleans up the admittedly horrible maintenance guideline statute, and clarifies in many respects the authority of the court to act in temporary and final orders. It was toyed and tinkered with for nearly six years, was vetted by the CBA and ISBA, whose members donated hundreds, if not thousands of hours to it, and represents a giant step forward in family law. We can all find something not to like about it, but overall, it is a positive outcome and contains many much needed revisions.