Statute of Limitations on a Divorce Judgement

[time2go]

No lawyer yet so got a question for you all -

Need to know if there is an SOL to divorce judgements in IL and if not can the judgement state something to the effect of: no other claims can be made to marital or premarital property on the basis of prior marriage after say 3 or 6 months?

No kids, only assets and debt to write into the agreement, none of which we want to contest between the two of us.

I want us to disclose as much as possible so there is no hidden property etc. so none of can say we were mislead and resurect the case. And i also want to put in the above to make sure we're 100% done in some defined amount of time.

Actually second question comes to mind. Are these docs public. Can someone pull them up and see all my assets/debts? ways to hide?

Thx

[mmmagique]

The docs are not public.

Why not put something in like: "both parties swear that there are no other assets that are not listed in this document. No suits can be brought against one of the parties by the other regarding this case unless they can prove that the above averments are untrue."

That way, you are totally covered. (unless you are hiding something) And the same is true for your stbx.

Good luck.

[aaron]

Which documents aren't public? You should be able to keep settlement agreements out of the divorce judgment, making reference to an external document in the judgment, but typically anything you file with the court is a public document.

[time2go]

thank you both

that is something i would really like to know -
how to refer to some external sheet of assets/debts that wont get submitted along with all the filings for the public to dig into at some point

on the first reply the intent is not to hide but to finalize (loosly said) make it as hard as possible to reopen any claims post judgement .. we're more than happy to disclose at this point as we know so much of each other .. the key is to get it done right and not worry about the wind blowing something back several years later

[queenie2]

This doesn't make any sense to me.

In Illinois, I don't believe the final judgment can be modified unless it can be shown that assets were hidden prior to the judgment. Even with the stipulation that no other claims can be made later, if it's later proven that assets were hidden, that stipulation may not be enforced.

Experts, am I wrong?


(btw, the tone of this thread sure sounds like, "I have assets hidden, and I need help in keeping them." Not judging, just making an observation.)

[time2go]

never mind the tone .. i've read enough posts on cases coming back to you years later and that is what id like to avoid .. very small chance at this point as we're on good terms but as complicated as the process is we may as well spent a bit more time to close any gaps

on the keep it out of courts filing question - we simply dont want to have public record of our private stuff .. id hate to show up on google with a divorce record and on top of that a doc that would list my accounts and balances .. not to exaggerate but i think you get my point

thx

[seniorjudge]

...

In Illinois, I don't believe the final judgment can be modified unless it can be shown that assets were hidden prior to the judgment. Even with the stipulation that no other claims can be made later, if it's later proven that assets were hidden, that stipulation may not be enforced.

...

This is correct.

[aaron]

Keeping personal information out of a court record is something quite different from concealing them from a spouse during divorce.

You can probably enter into a settlement contract and reference or incorporate it into your divorce judgment without actually making it part of your judgment. Your divorce lawyer, if you have one, should be able to help you with the details.

[time2go]

thanks for your responses

so say we write a simple contract saying mine, yours, mine, yours, state that it contains all assets/debts to the best of our knowledge and we have no interest in anything else not listed, get it notarized, etc

im still assuming the judge would have to review it for true up, which would be fine, but how would we ask not to have it filed as part of the case? does everything handed over to judge get included in the case paperwork?

i'd like this document to remain only between the two of us at the end