Legislation Alert!
The Chicago Council of Lawyers is urging its members to submit Witness slips in opposition to HB 0861, which removes the court’s discretion to award maintenance without consideration of “marital misconduct”. HB 861 specifically prohibits an award of support if the spouse paying support (obligor) is the petitioner and the spouse receiving support (obligee) is the respondent in an order of protection proceeding under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986. Under existing law, 750 ILCS 5/504, the court may award appropriate maintenance, based upon a variety of factors, without requiring it to deny maintenance in families with a history of violence.
The change would have significant negative consequences on survivors of domestic violence and people living in poverty. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act consciously moved away from including considerations of marital misconduct in the award of maintenance. HB 861 is contrary to that position and complicates the process of divorce for people navigating the courts without attorneys.
If HB 861 passes, courts hearing petitions for orders of protection will be unable to focus simply on the allegations of violence or the need for protection. A court will now be required to contemplate the potential impact on divorce settlement in the future, as well as consider ulterior motives in the petition for an order of protection. There is the possibility that false petitions for orders of protection could be filed to foreclose an award of maintenance.
HB 861 requires the court to find a maintenance order “unconscionable” where an order of protection has been issued between the parties. This fails to consider the complexities of people’s lives where domestic violence courts and domestic relations courts overlap and prohibits courts from doing the same.
A similar measure, HB4759, failed in 2020.
Submit your witness slip here: https://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/129455?committeeHearingId=17908&LegislationId=129455&LegislationDocumentId=163054&GridCurrentCommittees-page=2
Choose “Self” for representation and “Opponent”, “Record of Appearance” only