Property Rights

What is Marital Property?
750 ILCS 5/503 (a)(b) presumes that all property acquired during the marriage is in fact, marital property and therefore, subject to equitable allocation by the court. This presumption may only be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence

What is Non-Marital property?
Non-marital property is property that was typically acquired prior the marriage and never converted to marital property. These include property acquired by a spouse through gift, inheritance or prior to the marriage and kept in the owner's sole name.

Placing non-marital property into a form of co-ownership between the spouses raises a presumption that a gift of the non-marital property has been made to the marital estate.

What is Dissipation of Property?
Dissipation arises when property is improperly used for the sole benefit of one spouse, for a purpose unrelated to the marriage at a time when the marriage is undergoing an irreconcilable breakdown. Expenditures held to constitute dissipation are extraordinary expenses that clearly do not further common marital interests. Most cases hold that the party charged with dissipation has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that he or she did not dissipate the assets at issue. Two examples of dissipation included gambling losses and the payment of legal fees from marital assets.