After hearing evidence regarding a request for a divorce or a legal separation, an Illinois judge will enter a court order or, as some call it, a decree of divorce or legal separation.
Among other things, this decree will spell out how the couple will divide their property equitably, whether and to what extent one of the parties will pay alimony to the other, and how parental responsibilities and child support will be allocated. Many times, the court will merely be approving a settlement that the couple has already negotiated between the two of them, usually with the help of their family law attorneys.
When it comes to parenting or child support, as this blog has discussed on previous occasions, it is a relatively straightforward process to make a change to the decree, as Illinois law has built in processes to make sure courts can review these sorts of issues from time to time. After all, circumstances can change, and the goal with respect to these issues is to make sure that the best interests of the children involved are being served. Albeit for different reasons, similar processes are available to modify alimony payments.
On other hand, a post-divorce modification with respect to how a couple has chosen to divide their property can be difficult to get, but it can still be done under limited circumstances. For instance, if one of the parties discovers that the other had hidden property or had otherwise been deceptive during the course of negotiating the original agreement, the agreement can be re-visited.
There are occasions in which a Rockford, Illinois, resident will discover or come to realize that his or her divorce or separation decree either never was or is no longer fair and equitable. As a result, these people may desire to make changes to the decree. While this is possible to do, it may be beneficial to seek out the advice of an experienced family law attorney before proceeding.