A personal injury accident can happen at any time and under a variety of circumstances. Neither single individuals or married couples are immune from the risk of being injured in a personal injury accident. Depending on the extent of the victim’s injuries and associated expenses, the victim can be awarded a substantial sum of money (sometimes called “damages” or a “compensation award”). These awards are meant to compensate the injury victim for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering (amongst other losses). But will an Illinois divorce court order such an award to be divided if the victim and his or her spouse divorce? The answer: It depends.

When You Receive Your Personal Injury Award before Marriage

If you win your personal injury lawsuit and are awarded damages before marriage, the damages you are awarded will most likely be considered separate property and remain your property if you subsequently marry and divorce. In other words, your personal injury damages would be treated in the same manner as any other property you received prior to the marriage. The divorce court would generally not consider the award’s value when dividing the marital estate between you and your spouse.

An otherwise forgettable New York divorce case made national news after the judge in the case ruled that the woman seeking a divorce from her husband could serve him with the divorce summons using a private message through Facebook. When the couple split, the man left his residence without leaving a forwarding address. Not only this, but he has no address on file with the Department of Motor Vehicles and is not employed. The only contact the woman has had with her estranged husband is an occasional message via Facebook. Based on this, the judge found that service by Facebook of the divorce summons was the method most likely to apprise him that a divorce petition had been filed and what he needed to do to respond.

Service of Process – The What and the Why

When you initially file a divorce petition, your spouse must be informed of the petition and the date the petition is set for hearing. This is because the law grants your spouse a limited amount of time to respond to your petition and assert any claims he or she may have against you as it pertains to the divorce action. In most circumstances, you pay a service fee so that a process server can deliver a copy of the divorce petition and summons to your spouse in person. This delivery can be made at your spouse’s residence or at his place of employment, or anywhere else he or she may be found.

In a previous post we discussed the process of substituting a judge in your divorce case. You may recall that a judge who is assigned your divorce case has an obligation to automatically recuse him- or herself if he or she believes that he or she cannot be fair and impartial to either party. Also, the law of Illinois allows each party in a civil case an opportunity to request a substitution of judges without having to provide an explanation or reason as to why the substitution is requested. This must be done, however, before the judge you are wanting to be substituted has made any substantive rulings in your case.

Even where a judge has made substantive rulings, it is still possible to have the judge substituted and a new judge appointed. However, you must be able to show cause as to why the substitution should be granted.

What Does It Mean to Show Cause?

Sometimes it appears as if one party in a divorce case just cannot seem to get anything to go his or her way. Although a court cannot choose to favor one side of a divorce action over another simply because one side is represented by counsel and the other party is proceeding pro se, it does appear that pro se divorce litigants have a more difficult time having motions and requests approved by the court.

This situation may lead the party against whom the court is constantly ruling to conclude that there is only one logical explanation as to why he or she just cannot seem to get the court to rule in his or her favor on any matter: the judge must hate him or her. If you feel as if a judge is biased or prejudiced against you, is it possible to get a new judge appointed to your case? The answer is “yes,” but it does take some work on your part.

How Judges Are Appointed to Hear a Case

Marital assets and property are not the only things that are divided between divorcing spouses: the court must also divide any marital debts the couples may have at the time of the divorce. Like the division of assets, a court is also guided by principles of fairness and equity when dividing debts and liabilities. There is more to this inquiry than simply seeing which spouse’s name is on a particular bill: instead, a court must first determine what debts of the parties are marital debts and then divide them between the parties in a fair and equitable manner. So how exactly does a court do this?

The Starting Point: Is it a Marital Debt?

Marital debts are those obligations and liabilities that one or both spouses incurred during the course of the marriage for household or living expenses. This would include (for example) credit card balances reflecting purchases for food, clothing, and gas, loans or leases for cars, medical debts, and other similar obligations. The test used by the court is whether the obligation was incurred during the marriage and for the benefit of the couple: thus, a liability is generally not considered to be a marital debt if it: