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1. #ILLINOIS TEMPLATE PETITION DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE KIDS HOW TO#
2. #ILLINOIS TEMPLATE PETITION DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE KIDS TRIAL#

The appellate court disagreed and held that the trial court could not order the husband to pay for college expenses that predated the notice of filing of wife’s petition to allocate college expenses. The trial court granted the wife’s petition and ordered the husband to pay 75% of the college expenses for all three children (regardless of whether the expenses were accrued or paid before or after the filing of the wife’s petition). Specifically, she requested the following contributions from her ex-husband: (1) all previously paid tuition and expenses for her oldest child who attended college in 2002 and graduated in 2006 (2) all previously paid and future tuition and expenses for the second child who began college in 2004 and was still in school at the time of the wife’s petition and (3) all future tuition and expenses for the parties’ youngest child who was set to graduate from high school in the days following the wife’s petition.Īs illustrated, the wife’s petition requested her ex-husband to contribute to expenses that were accrued and paid by the wife prior to her petition as well as future expenses yet to accrue and yet to be paid. That later day arrived on May 17, 2007, when the wife petitioned the trial court to allocate the college expenses of the parties’ children. Their obligations were instead reserved for a later day.

In other words, neither parent had an obligation to contribute a specific amount of money towards their children’s college expenses upon entry of the divorce decree. With respect to college expenses, the divorce decree contained a standard reservation provision: “The Court expressly reserves the issue of each party’s obligation to contribute to the college or other education expenses of the parties’ children pursuant to Section 513 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution Act.” Id. Upon entry of the divorce decree, the wife received sole custody of the parties’ three children (none of whom had yet begun college).

In Petersen, the trial court entered the parties’ divorce decree on August 27, 1999. The implications of such a rule are evident upon review of the facts in Petersen. 22, 2011), holds that a divorced party, whose divorce decree reserves the issue of college expenses and who wishes to later petition a court to force their ex-spouse to contribute to said expenses, cannot obtain contributions for expenses that predate the petition. To the contrary, In re the Marriage of Petersen, No. Most recently, the Supreme Court of Illinois recognized that reservation provisions are not the equivalent of a blank check to be cashed at any time.

#ILLINOIS TEMPLATE PETITION DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE KIDS HOW TO#

Given the popularity of these reservation provisions in divorce decrees, family law practitioners must understand the ramifications of these provisions, and how to best convert the “reservation” into actual college expense contributions.

In other words, a party can petition the court to allocate college expenses at a later date (usually when their children are closer to college age). Rather, the issue of each party’s respective obligation to contribute to their children’s college expenses is instead often “reserved” for future determination pursuant to Section 513 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (“IMDMA”). For individuals with children, they may enter their divorced lives with a particularly crucial financial question unresolved-who will pay for college? Courts do not always require divorcing parties to expressly allocate the cost of their children’s college expenses between themselves upon termination of their marriage. When two individuals obtain a divorce, all of their financial issues are not necessarily fully and finally resolved upon entry of the divorce decree.