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Here's a little backround info: I have a have a friend who began living with
her X in 1985. They were legally wed in 1998 and are still married but are
now separated. Her husband has a pension from the Steel Workers Union in
Cook County Illinois. Also when the separated he kept $50,000 of their
savings. She left with nothing. Now out of the blue he is asking for a
divorce. She's in her 50's, he's in his 60's and in poor health.
She wants to know would the 13 years of cohabitation from 1985 to 1998 be
counted as a common law marriage as far as his pension is concerned? If he
were to pass away would those 13 years of cohabitation count towards the 10
years marriage require by the pension plan and entitle her to his Union
pension, or do they need to stay married till 2008?
And her second question is, upon the divorce would she be legally entitled
to half of their $50,000 savings the he kept when they separated?
Third question, can he still divorce her even if she doesn't want to grant
him a divorce?
Mind you, they are on good terms and she just wants to know her options. He
would probably wait till 2008 if ABSOLUTELY necessary so she won't lose
entitlement to his pension, but that's alot to ask IMO.
Thanks for your help,
SJH
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The obvious answer is that your friend should get her own attorney ASAP. It
will cost little or nothing for the initial consultation. In many cases,
the attorney can get a temporary support order for your friend and can get
an order requiring her ex to pay her legal fees.
I am not a lawyer..
Here's a little backround info: I have a have a friend who began living
with
her X in 1985. They were legally wed in 1998 and are still married but are
now separated. Her husband has a pension from the Steel Workers Union in
Cook County Illinois. Also when the separated he kept $50,000 of their
savings. She left with nothing. Now out of the blue he is asking for a
divorce. She's in her 50's, he's in his 60's and in poor health.
She wants to know would the 13 years of cohabitation from 1985 to 1998 be
counted as a common law marriage as far as his pension is concerned? If he
were to pass away would those 13 years of cohabitation count towards the
10
years marriage require by the pension plan and entitle her to his Union
pension, or do they need to stay married till 2008?
And her second question is, upon the divorce would she be legally entitled
to half of their $50,000 savings the he kept when they separated?
Third question, can he still divorce her even if she doesn't want to grant
him a divorce?
Mind you, they are on good terms and she just wants to know her options.
He
would probably wait till 2008 if ABSOLUTELY necessary so she won't lose
entitlement to his pension, but that's alot to ask IMO.
Thanks for your help,
SJH
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"SJH" <reply@this_newsgroup.com> wrote in message news:<ZDGXc.25705$N11.18096@bignews5.bellsouth.net>...
Here's a little backround info: I have a have a friend who began living with
her X in 1985. They were legally wed in 1998 and are still married but are
now separated. Her husband has a pension from the Steel Workers Union in
Cook County Illinois. Also when the separated he kept $50,000 of their
savings. She left with nothing. Now out of the blue he is asking for a
divorce. She's in her 50's, he's in his 60's and in poor health.
She wants to know would the 13 years of cohabitation from 1985 to 1998 be
counted as a common law marriage as far as his pension is concerned? If he
were to pass away would those 13 years of cohabitation count towards the 10
years marriage require by the pension plan and entitle her to his Union
pension, or do they need to stay married till 2008?
I'm not a lawyer, and you raise a lot of questions that require
knowledge specific to Illinois law, the details of the pension plan,
and family court practices in Illinois to answer with any degree of
certainty. This is just my opinion and reading-between-the-lines
guesswork.
Illinois hasn't had common-law marriage for many years. If they lived
together in a state that did countenance common-law marriage, and met
that state's requirements, Illinois would recognize that as a valid
marriage. But it sounds like they resided in Illinois the whole time,
which would mean no common-law marriage.
And her second question is, upon the divorce would she be legally entitled
to half of their $50,000 savings the he kept when they separated?
Illinois is an "equitable distribution" state; property acquired
during the marriage would be divided according to what a court finds
to be fair. If the $50,000 were separate property (money that was his
before 1998, or came to him in a way that made it his alone, such as
an inheritance), it would be his; however, the court might order
marital property distributed in a way that made up for the difference.
Part of the fair division of property would be a fair division of the
eventual proceeds of the pension. While credits to the pension plan
while they were married, and gains and income that result from those
credits, would be marital property, what's attributable to earlier
credits might be his alone. But if the pension is all or largely his,
she would probably be awarded other assets to make the overall
division of property a fair one.
The court is free to take into consideration the long time they spent
living together without being married in deciding what is or isn't
fair. A good lawyer will do his best to make sure that the court does
so.
Third question, can he still divorce her even if she doesn't want to grant
him a divorce?
Illinois allows "no-fault" divorce; the party who wants the divorce
has the rather low hurdle of proving "irreconcilable differences". If
the other party doesn't go along with a no-fault divorce, you have to
have been separated two years.
Mind you, they are on good terms and she just wants to know her options. He
would probably wait till 2008 if ABSOLUTELY necessary so she won't lose
entitlement to his pension, but that's alot to ask IMO.
Thanks for your help,
SJH
If it's a big deal to her, and she really wants to be sure, now would
be a good time to see a local lawyer who does family law.
--
Not a lawyer,
Chris Green
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On 27-Aug-2004, "Artless Dodger" <AD@ad.ad> wrote:
The obvious answer is that your friend should get her own attorney ASAP.
It
will cost little or nothing for the initial consultation. In many cases,
the attorney can get a temporary support order for your friend and can get
an order requiring her ex to pay her legal fees.
I am not a lawyer..
with
10
He
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Thanks for you reply but where we come from family doesn't hire lawyers to
go after family.
Good one.
So, her ex is going to file divorce papers without a lawyer and she is going
to file her answer to the divorce complaint without a lawyer? But you and
she want to know what her legal rights are and what she is and is not
entitled to in terms of the pension, the house, the $50,000 etc. Sounds
great. Good luck.
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Thanks for you reply but where we come from family doesn't hire lawyers to
go after family.
Doesn't sound like it'll be a family for much longer.
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On 28-Aug-2004, "Artless Dodger" <AD@ad.ad> wrote:
Good one.
So, her ex is going to file divorce papers without a lawyer and she is
going
to file her answer to the divorce complaint without a lawyer? But you and
she want to know what her legal rights are and what she is and is not
entitled to in terms of the pension, the house, the $50,000 etc. Sounds
great. Good luck.
There's a difference between knowing what can or can't be done in order to
get peace of mind versus actually doing it. C.J. Greens answer gave her the
peace of mind she was looking for. Your mindless, effortless, egotistical
"get a lawyer" reply was of course obviously worthless. Any moron can say
get a lawyer. And one did. How stupid. But then again CJ. Green is not a
lawyer. You probably are.
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You posted the question about your friend. You said her ex left her with
nothing, her ex kept $50,000, and now her ex sudenly decided he wants a
divorce. And you wrote that she just wants to know what her options are.
I wrote back:
"The obvious answer is that your friend should get her own attorney ASAP.
It
will cost little or nothing for the initial consultation. In many cases,
the attorney can get a temporary support order for your friend and can get
an order requiring her ex to pay her legal fees."
"I am not a lawyer.."
I assumed that because you said he left her with no money (which happens
often, especially to women), she might not know that she can get free or
low-cost legal information, and that she might be able to have him pay her
legal fees and temporary support instead of leaving her with no options and
no money. So, I was just pointing out 2 or 3 options she has that she might
not know about (and which you might not know about either).
But, no-o-o-o..., smart-ass you has to point out that people where you are
from don't get lawyers to help them with family legal matters such as
divorce.
And, no, I am not a lawyer. I just posted a response as a way of trying to
help you and your friend out.
On 28-Aug-2004, "Artless Dodger" <AD@ad.ad> wrote:
There's a difference between knowing what can or can't be done in order to
get peace of mind versus actually doing it. C.J. Greens answer gave her
the
peace of mind she was looking for. Your mindless, effortless, egotistical
"get a lawyer" reply was of course obviously worthless. Any moron can say
get a lawyer. And one did. How stupid. But then again CJ. Green is not a
lawyer. You probably are.
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