Is Illinois a community property state?

When marriages are good, nobody worries about the material part behind it. Both partners invest in the future of their families and give their best to contribute. However, it is when things go south that both partners need legal help to fairly sort everything out.

These are the cases where community property and equitable property splits differ greatly. Still, both of them have their pros and cons, which we’ll discuss more in further detail. So if you’re in Illinois and are curious about local property regulations, this piece takes a deep dive into your and your spouse’s rights during a divorce. What happens to the assets? What happens to potential wins from 5 dollar deposit casinos that can pay out big sums of money despite having such a low minimum deposit limit? What about savings, 401Ks, and other types of properties?

We answer all those questions right here, so keep reading to learn more.

Is Illinois a Community Property State?

Illinois is not a community property state. Every divorce is handled differently depending on several different factors. It mostly comes down to both partner incomes among other things, which directly affects who will get which part of the property.

That’s completely different compared to community property laws, which split everything equally in half. In an equitable property case, splitting everything in half is rarely the case unless there’s a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement that needs to be respected.

Illinois Property Laws in Divorce

Illinois property laws in divorce are very clear. The whole process of dividing property starts by establishing what is separate property and what is marital property.

As you might assume, separate property is everything that a spouse has owned before being married. This includes savings accounts, properties, inheritance, and all the other possessions they already had.

Marital property is everything that they have earned during their time in marriage. This includes savings, 401Ks, properties, businesses, and everything else, even potential winnings such as those from the Aviator casino game. As per the Illinois property laws, all these assets are split among the spouses.

There are also cases when separate properties become marital properties. These are the cases when one spouse helps remodel a property and effectively becomes a part owner of it. Another example is moving money from a personal savings account to a mutual one where both spouses deposit and withdraw funds.

Community vs Equitable Property Rules

Community vs equitable have some similarities and differences. The only similarity comes down to separate and marital property classification. During a divorce, only marital property is being split up.

However, the main differences are how they are split up. In the community property states, all marital property is split up equally. On the other hand, equitable property is split up based on numerous criteria, which we will explain in more detail in the next section. This means that after the process is over, the split most likely won’t be equal. It all depends on the circumstances.

How Illinois Divides Property Legally

Illinois property division process uses equitable property rules. In this regard, lawmakers use creativity to ensure that fair division happens in every case. That’s why they take multiple factors into consideration before splitting up the assets during a divorce. The most important factors include:

• Each partner’s contributions when buying assets.
• Did any partner sell any assets close to the divorce?
• Marriage length.
• An annual income of each spouse.
• Overall financial situation including non-marital properties.
• Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements.
• Age and health of each spouse.
• Future work prospects of each spouse. (this includes education and line of work)
• Who is going to take care of children after the divorce?
• Tax costs of share property distribution decisions.
• Any existing obligations that a person might have from a previous marriage(s).

The list goes on, as every divorce is a different case with unique circumstances. One important note to mention is that the fault for the divorce of a spouse does not carry any weight on the division decision made by the judge.

Marital Property Basics in Illinois

To make things simple, everything that both spouses have acquired during their marriage is considered marital property. That includes:

• Physical assets like homes and other types of rental properties.
• Savings are established during marriage.
• 401Ks
• Separate property that has become mixed property as another spouse invested their personal money to remodel the property.
• Vehicles in spouses’ possessions.
• Debt acquired during the marriage.

The good news is that the divorce rates in Illinois are down, so the majority of people won’t have to worry about their assets division.

What Happens to Assets in Illinois Divorce

There are two ways to split up assets during a divorce in Illinois. A spouse can “buy out” the other spouse’s assets by trading his own. For example, one person can get a complete home if the other person gets to keep the savings, 401Ks, and vehicles. This will, of course, depend on the value of the assets in question and how big are the savings.

If there are not enough assets for a “buyout,” then the home and other assets will go on sale, and the proceedings will be split fairly among spouses.