Filing for Divorce in Illinois

90 days. At least one spouse must have been a resident of Illinois, or stationed in Illinois as a member of the armed services, for 90 days immediately preceding the commencement of the dissolution action. Confirmed both in the statute and on the Illinois Supreme Court's own statewide petition form (ATJ 103.4), which asks the petitioner and respondent to confirm they have lived in Illinois for longer than 90 days.

750 ILCS 5/401(a)

Sources: ilga.gov, ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net

No fixed pre-filing waiting period; a 6-month continuous separation creates an irrebuttable presumption of grounds, but is not itself a mandatory prerequisite if both spouses agree. Post-2016-reform law does not require spouses to be separated for any minimum period before filing. To prove the sole ground (irreconcilable differences), either: (1) the spouses have lived separate and apart for a continuous period of 6 months or more immediately preceding entry of the judgment, which creates an irrebuttable presumption that irreconcilable differences exist, OR (2) if they have not been separated 6 months, the court can still grant the dissolution if it determines efforts at reconciliation have failed or would be impracticable and not in the family's best interest (commonly satisfied by both parties' agreement/testimony). This replaced the pre-2016 rule, which required 2 years of separation (reducible to 6 months only by written stipulation of both parties).

750 ILCS 5/401(a)

Source: ilga.gov

No single statewide filing fee exists. Illinois circuit court filing fees are set and collected at the county/circuit clerk level and vary significantly by county. The Illinois Supreme Court's own statewide petition form (ATJ 103.4) explicitly instructs filers: 'There are fees to file court forms like this one, but you may qualify to file for free. Check with your Circuit Clerk for cost and fee waiver information.' No Illinois .gov source publishes one authoritative statewide dollar figure; the exact fee must be confirmed with the county circuit clerk where the case is filed.

Illinois filing fees are set at the county/circuit clerk level (105 circuit clerks statewide) rather than by uniform statute or a single statewide court rule. Presenting any single county's fee as the statewide figure would be inaccurate, so amount is set to null per sourcing rules.

Sources: ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net, illinoiscourts.gov

Petition for Divorce (Divorce No Children Under 18), ATJ 103.4, approved 03/2025. Statewide standardized petition form approved by the Illinois Supreme Court for divorces with no children under 18. A separate parallel statewide suite exists for divorces involving children ('Petition for Divorce with Children,' part of the 'DWC' form suite, same forms hub), which adds parenting-plan and child-related petition components. Both are part of Illinois's standardized, plain-language 'Divorce, Child Support, and Maintenance' statewide form suite.

Sources: illinoiscourts.gov, ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net

Application for Waiver of Court Fees (Civil), ATJ 601.9, approved 08/2025. Statewide standardized form approved by the Illinois Supreme Court, required to be accepted in all Illinois circuit courts. Used to ask a judge to waive court fees, costs, and charges in a civil case (including divorce) based on inability to pay, household size, and/or receipt of public benefits (SSI, SNAP, TANF, AABD, General Assistance).

Sources: illinoiscourts.gov, ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net

Mandatory statewide for civil cases (including divorce) via eFileIL, effective January 1, 2018 for circuit courts, with specific automatic and good-cause exemptions for self-represented litigants. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 9 requires that 'all documents in civil cases shall be electronically filed with the clerk of court using an electronic filing system approved by the Supreme Court of Illinois,' effective July 1, 2017 for the Supreme and Appellate Courts and January 1, 2018 for circuit courts. Self-represented litigants are NOT automatically exempt merely by being pro se. Automatic exemptions apply only to: incarcerated self-represented litigants, Juvenile Court Act filings, and filers with an ADA-qualifying disability that prevents e-filing. A self-represented litigant may otherwise obtain a good-cause exemption (filed on the standardized 'Certification for Exemption From E-Filing' form) if they lack home computer/internet access or technological literacy, lack an email account, lack a credit card or bank account, face a language/literacy barrier, or attempted e-filing and could not complete it with no local technical support available. Absent exemption, pro se divorce petitioners are expected to e-file through eFileIL (efile.illinoiscourts.gov), a statewide system built on the Tyler Technologies platform used by all Illinois circuit courts.

Sources: ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net, efile.illinoiscourts.gov, illinoiscourts.gov

How property is divided

Equitable distribution. Illinois is an equitable distribution state, not a community property state. Under 750 ILCS 5/503(d), the court assigns each spouse their non-marital property, then 'divide[s] the marital property without regard to marital misconduct in just proportions' considering statutory factors (contribution of each party, duration of marriage, economic circumstances, custodial provisions for children, etc.). 'Just proportions' does not require a 50/50 split.

Source: ilga.gov

Spousal support

Statutory maintenance guideline formula applies when combined gross annual income is under $500,000. Under 750 ILCS 5/504(b-1), where the court orders guideline maintenance and combined gross annual income of the parties is less than $500,000 (and the payor has no prior support obligations from another relationship), the amount is calculated as 33 1/3% of the payor's net annual income minus 25% of the payee's net annual income, except that the resulting award cannot increase the payee's income above 40% of the parties' combined net income. Duration is calculated by multiplying the length of the marriage by a statutory factor that increases with marriage length (from 0.20 for marriages under 5 years up to 0.80 for marriages of 19-20 years); for marriages of 20+ years the court may order maintenance for a period equal to the marriage's length or for an indefinite term. Most recent amendment: P.A. 103-967, eff. 1-1-25.

Source: ilga.gov

Child support guideline

Income Shares model. Illinois calculates child support under 750 ILCS 5/505 using an Income Shares model, based on the parties' combined adjusted net income applied to a statutory schedule of basic child support obligations, then allocated between the parents in proportion to each parent's percentage share of combined income (approximating what the child would have received if the household were intact).

Source: ilga.gov

Residency exceptions

Military service counts toward residency. A spouse who was stationed in Illinois as a member of the U.S. armed services for the requisite 90-day period satisfies the residency requirement the same as an ordinary Illinois resident, per 750 ILCS 5/401(a).

Source: ilga.gov