Family & Safety

 

Divorce with children

Rate
3.8
Average: 3.8 (20 votes)
This program will help you prepare your documents. It will ask you questions and you will enter your answers. At the end of the program, you will get a completed set of court forms with instructions that you can save and print.

Form completion time: 45 minutes to 90 minutes

You will be able to stop and save your work in the middle of the program.

Begin: Divorce with children program

This program will help you avoid mistakes when filling out the court forms. Your case could be delayed if there are errors in your forms. If you want to download and print a PDF version, visit the Illinois Courts Standardized State Forms website. Use Adobe Reader to fill in the PDF forms.

Qualifications

NOTE: If you do not have children with your spouse, use the Divorce without children program instead.

You cannot use this program if:

  1. You have filed a divorce petition in any other state or county;
  2. You plan to ask your spouse for financial support (other than child support);
  3. You bought any real estate while you were married;
  4. You or your spouse have a pension, retirement account, or 401(k);
  5. You or your spouse is pregnant;
  6. You have minor children with your spouse who have lived somewhere other than Illinois in the past 6 months; OR
  7. Your minor children with your spouse are not all living at the same address.

Learn more about getting a divorce.

Information Needed

To complete this program, you will need to know:

  1. Information about personal property that you and your spouse got during the marriage;
  2. Information about bank accounts held by you and your spouse;
  3. Information about debts taken on by you and your spouse during the marriage;
  4. How you and your spouse will split parenting time with the children;
  5. How you and your spouse will share parental responsibility; AND
  6. The addresses where your children have lived in the past 5 years, if they lived somewhere other than the current address of you or your spouse.

Documents Produced

This program prepares the forms listed below. The forms you get will depend on your answers.

  1. Stipulation to Waiver of Two-Year Requirement
  2. Affidavit for Service by Publication
  3. Affidavit of Military Service
  4. Certificate of Mailing of Judgment of Dissolution
  5. Affidavit of Service of Notice to Withhold Income for Child Support
  6. Entry of Appearance Waiver and Consent
  7. Order for Publication
  8. Certificate and Motion for Default
  9. Certificate and Motion for Default Prove-Up in Suburban Municipal District
  10. Affidavit and Waiver of Two-Year Waiting Period
  11. Domestic Relations Cover Sheet
  12. Summons Instruction Sheet
  13. Summons Form
  14. Certification and Agreement by Counsel
  15. Affidavit for Service by Publication
  16. Child Support Information
  17. Court Reporter's Information Sheet
  18. Illinois Summons Form
  19. Return of Service
  20. Pro Se Divorce Instructions
  21. Parenting Plan
  22. Judgment - Agreed
  23. Judgment - Default
  24. Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage - Publication
  25. Entry of Appearance Waiver and Consent - Military
  26. Notice to Withhold Income for Children Support
  27. Order for Free Transcript
  28. Order on Prove-Up
  29. Order for Publication and Waiver of Filing Fee
  30. Petition for Dissolution with Children
  31. Instructions for Letter to Sheriff
  32. Letter to Sheriff (Summons)
  33. Statement of Efforts to Locate

Updated: June 2017

Ratings & Comments

(13)
0
Pregnant Getting Divorced
By Sean Mahoney on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 1:59pm |
Why cant we use either program if my wife is pregnant? Both Divorce with and without children say you cannot use it if your pregnant. What program do I use?
0
re: Pregnant Getting Divorced
By Chris Alfano on Wed, 08/03/2016 - 10:31am |
Pregnancy raises issues during a divorce that our Easy Form programs were not designed to address. For help finding a lawyer, please use the "Get Legal Help" button at the top of the page.
0
pension and 401k
By jennifer chacon on Sun, 10/02/2016 - 9:57pm |
If our spouse has a pension and 401k but otherwise qualifies for this program what program should we do instead?
0
re: pension and 401(k)
By Chris Alfano on Mon, 10/03/2016 - 11:10am |
Unfortunately, this program does not allow pensions or 401(k) retirement accounts. If you do not have children without spouse, you can use our Divorce without Children program instead. Otherwise, please use the Get Legal Help button at the top of the page to find an attorney who may be able to help you.
0
Pro se with retirement plans?
By Rebecca Weaver-Gill on Tue, 11/21/2017 - 10:27am |
Am I atill able to file & represent myself for divorce in which both parties have retirement plans? We have a child, and have made equitable decisions as to custody & all finances on our own.
0
Is there a form to get out of appearing?
By Adrienne Cowgill on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 10:56am |
Is there a form my soon to be ex could sign and file with the court basically saying he knows what's going on, but doesn't want to appear on his own behalf?
0
Reply
By Andrew Sharp on Fri, 02/10/2017 - 11:28am |

Hi Adrienne,

Thanks for your question. You and your spouse might qualify for Joint Simplified Divorce. However, you will both have to appear in court for that.

Otherwise, you can just file for divorce, serve your spouse, and then leave it to him as to whether or not he wants to show up. "Doing nothing" is an OK response to divorce.

Sincerely,

Andrew Sharp, Content Manager

0
filing the petition of dissolution of marriage
By robert pena on Mon, 05/08/2017 - 3:08pm |
i am starting the process of divorce. my kankakee county office asked me to have the forms ready for them. and guided me to this website. the divorce with children program says not use if children live in a different state. do these form not apply to me. and where can i locate the correct forms?
0
Re: filing the petition of dissolution of marriage
By Matt Newsted on Tue, 05/09/2017 - 8:48am |

Thanks for your question. Unfortunately, the Divorce with children forms currently on this website require that the children live in Illinois. A lawyer can help prepare the necessary court forms if the children are living out-of-state. To find a lawyer, click Get Legal Help at the top of this page.

0
We have a house
By Julia Bradbury on Tue, 05/16/2017 - 10:37am |
I'm not sure where to go from here. We bought a house last year. We've already decided that I'll be keeping the house, and have come to an agreement on every other aspect as well. Neither of us wants to deal with hiring a lawyer. Is there a way to file our divorce (with children and real estate) without lawyers?
0
Re: We have a house
By Stephanie Villinski on Tue, 05/16/2017 - 6:26pm |

Thank you for your question, Julia. While helpful, you do not have to have a lawyer to file for divorce. You can file on your own. Every county in Illinois has a legal self-help center. This may be a good place to start. You can find your closet self-help center on this list.

0
forms
By Danielle Hutcheson on Tue, 10/24/2017 - 2:04pm |
I cannot find the needed forms on your website. We have a child and piece of land that was purchase, but all information is agreed upon. Your questionnaire says I cannot use the form listed, but I don't see any others available.
0
Divorce with Children
By Natanya Pope on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 12:01pm |

Hi Danielle. Here is the form that creates a divorce petition when you have children. Please let us know if you have any problems accessing it. Thank you and good luck!