Illinois Divorce Law...

Illinois Law - Examples

Here are some cases involving the division of a business.

Cases:

Marriage of Werries, App. 4 Dist.1993, 186 Ill.Dec. 747, 247 Ill.App.3d 639, 616 N.E.2d 1379 (In this case the court determined that the husband's interest in his family's farming operation (a partnership) was his separate property. As a result, the wife did not get to share in its value on the divorce. The property had been acquired in part prior to the marriage and in part during the marriage, but in the form of a gift from the husband's father. Both these types of acquisition allow the property to remain the separate property of the husband. The property was operated as separate property. The husband did some work on the farm, but he was compensated for that work. And so there is no need for reimbursement now from the farm to the marriage. The wife had personally co-signed a mortgage that the business had taken out. But the court concluded that merely co-signing a mortgage does not give the marriage any rights in separate property. The couple had raised corn that the farm had used. But, again, the farm had paid fair market value for the corn, so there was nothing that required reimbursement or indicated any marital ownership in the farm. The court divided the marital assets in such a way as to favor the wife, by giving her half the assets but very little of the debt. The court also awarded the wife maintenance for four years, with a hearing to be held at the end of that time. Nonetheless, the wife ended up far worse off than if the husband's interest in the farm partnership had been considered a marital asset. The parties were married for 21 years and had two children who were emancipated at the time of divorce. Although trained as a nurse, the wife was unemployed at the time of the divorce.)

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