divorce in chicago il

i filed for divorce from my wife of 8 years about a year ago the judge at a pretrial offered us to take a 60/40 split her getting 60 because she made more then me so i said thats fine but she ended up not wanting to give me 40percent. my question is do i have anything to fear at a trail which is where we are heading in a few weeks .

monfredgary said:

i filed for divorce from my wife of 8 years about a year ago the judge at a pretrial offered us to take a 60/40 split her getting 60 because she made more then me so i said thats fine but she ended up not wanting to give me 40percent. my question is do i have anything to fear at a trail which is where we are heading in a few weeks .

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That doesn't make sense. It should be 50:50 unless there's a good reason. Her making more money isn't a very good reason - in fact, it would argue for you getting more than her.

That aside, did the judge give a particular date for her to turn over your share? Since you haven't had your final hearing, I'm guessing that there's no date and she's not in contempt until after the final hearing. Make sure that you ask for a specific date for her to comply when you get to the hearing. Better yet, see an attorney. Since she makes more than you, have the attorney petition the court to have her pay his fees. It may not work, but if it gets you 50% of the assets instead of 40, it may be worth his fee. It's certainly worth an initial consultation.

monfredgary said:

i filed for divorce from my wife of 8 years about a year ago the judge at a pretrial offered us to take a 60/40 split her getting 60 because she made more then me so i said thats fine but she ended up not wanting to give me 40percent. my question is do i have anything to fear at a trail which is where we are heading in a few weeks .

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It would be really tricky to predict an outcome without quite a few more facts. Would it be accurate to say that the judge's offer never became a final order (if only temporary until the hearing)?

How large was the discrepancy between the two salaries?

Do you have any legal aid?

(I do think that you need an attorney for this)

mistoffolees said:

That doesn't make sense. It should be 50:50 unless there's a good reason. Her making more money isn't a very good reason - in fact, it would argue for you getting more than her.

That aside, did the judge give a particular date for her to turn over your share? Since you haven't had your final hearing, I'm guessing that there's no date and she's not in contempt until after the final hearing. Make sure that you ask for a specific date for her to comply when you get to the hearing. Better yet, see an attorney. Since she makes more than you, have the attorney petition the court to have her pay his fees. It may not work, but if it gets you 50% of the assets instead of 40, it may be worth his fee. It's certainly worth an initial consultation.

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IL is an equitable distribution state. While I agree that generally it should be 50/50, I have seen orders before where the higher income spouse gets a somewhat higher share of the assets because the judge feels that they contributed more towards the assets. Its somewhat rare, but maybe not rare for this particular judge.

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i do have a attorney although i dont think he is aggressive enough she makes around 130,000 a year i make mid 20,000's the 60/40 split was the judges attempt to get us to avoid trial my wife turned it down

we were married for 8 years she didnt start makeing that kind of money till we were married i have 2 bad disks in my back which cut down my money makeing abilty by a lot since i dont have a lot of college i use my back and hands to make a liveing where she has 5 years of college couldnt i argue that since she makes that much money and i dont that she will be fine after this where i wouldnt?

and thanks for all the replies so far

monfredgary said:

i do have a attorney although i dont think he is aggressive enough she makes around 130,000 a year i make mid 20,000's the 60/40 split was the judges attempt to get us to avoid trial my wife turned it down

we were married for 8 years she didnt start makeing that kind of money till we were married i have 2 bad disks in my back which cut down my money makeing abilty by a lot since i dont have a lot of college i use my back and hands to make a liveing where she has 5 years of college couldnt i argue that since she makes that much money and i dont that she will be fine after this where i wouldnt?

and thanks for all the replies so far

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Your problem is that you have a relatively short term marriage, you are in an equitable division state, and you apparently have a judge that considers splits other than 50/50 in favor of the higher earning spouse.

You could try for some short term alimony in addition to the division of assets, however if you get that you should take the opportunity to go to school yourself so that you can earn a living without needing to do physical labor.

monfredgary said:

i do have a attorney although i dont think he is aggressive enough she makes around 130,000 a year i make mid 20,000's the 60/40 split was the judges attempt to get us to avoid trial my wife turned it down

we were married for 8 years she didnt start makeing that kind of money till we were married i have 2 bad disks in my back which cut down my money makeing abilty by a lot since i dont have a lot of college i use my back and hands to make a liveing where she has 5 years of college couldnt i argue that since she makes that much money and i dont that she will be fine after this where i wouldnt?

and thanks for all the replies so far

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Under that scenario, there's no way I'd accept 60/40. Since you've only been married 8 years, alimony isn't likely (although if you have been diagnosed with a disability, it might become possible). But I would argue that you don't have her ability to support yourself and you need MORE than 50%. With that kind of income discrepancy, I'd be asking for her to be paying your legal expenses, as well.

What do you base your statement that the attorney isn't aggressive enough on? Some are low key but still fairly aggressive. Has he failed to do something you requested? if so, you should ask for an explanation.

One other thing just occurred to me. I don't see why she wouldn't accept 60% of the assets - UNLESS SOME OF THEM WERE HERS BEFORE THE MARRIAGE. If that's the case, it might be entirely reasonable, but I'd need a lot more details to sort it out.