First, Illinois is considered an equitable distribution state. What equitable distribution state means is when the judges are looking at the marital assets as a whole, they will start at 50/50 and then they may go up or down from there as they see fit in order to arrive at an equitable division of the estate. Rarely do they go past 60/40 but there can be some variation and change in there and again, it’s very fact specific and it’s what the judge thinks and the factors he looks at.
A community property state is a separate community property state in which it’s 50/50 and everything is viewed as just split down the middle.
Sean Sullivan is a family lawyer practicing in the Elmhurst, Illinois area at the law offices of Laura M Urbik Kern, specializing in child custody and dissolution in divorce. Visit his website, www.laurakern.com, and Divorce Magazine profile.
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