spouses rights when judgement against other spouse

My spouse is being sued by a former employer. My question is if he loses how will they collect the judgement against him? Can they go after joint assets i.e. - house, joint savings accounts, my IRA, his IRA etc? Is there anything I should be doing or we should be doing to protect my and our children's "stake" in these assets? If I should consult an attorney what type of attorney do I need? My spouse is being sued in the state of Missouri. We live in Illinois.

We would need to know more information. For example:

1) Did the alleged violations or damages occur in MO or IL??
2) How are two states involved?? Did heu live in MO and move to IL? or is the company based in MO and he working in IL? Etc.
3) What is the basis for their claim of damages?

We need to know these things in order to determine jurisdiction, both judicial and statutory.

The quick answers to your question, assuming that the judgment is valid, are:
1) If the MO court judgment is default, then it is much harder to pursue your assets in IL. In fact, IL will NOT accept a judgment from MO if you were not served in the state of MO.
(735 ILCS 5/12-622) Personal jurisdiction over defendant.
"(a) The foreign judgment shall not be refused recognition for lack of personal jurisdiction if
(1) the defendant was served personally in the foreign state;"

2) Neither MO or IL are community property states. This means that the judgment creditor can, unless you are a party to the suit, only go after the debtor directly. He cannot sieze your, or your childrens, assets. The creditor can go after the debtors portion ONLY of any joint accounts.

spouses rights

The alleged violations occurred in Missouri. He has been accused of taking monies from cash receipts of employer. I think it would be considered fraud. The employer collected from their insurance company ($16,000) for monies missing. He is actually being sued by the insurance company (for $25,000 plus punitive etc.). This all supposedly occurred in 1994 and 1995. Although I feel certain he didn't commit any fraudulant act, I don't feel confident they he will not lose.

We have always lived in Illinois and he has worked in Missouri as we live close to the border.

Thanks for your help. I'm really petrified.