Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

Technically the issue of marital vs non-marital property does not arise unless and until a dissolution of marriage action is filed. And once it is filed there is a presumption that all of the property is marital. Further unless you paid cash for the property, the mortgage payments are being paid for with marital funds. There is a line of cases that say that such payments are for the use and occupancy of the property, but there is also a line of cases that says if the property is owned fro many years, improved etc, the property is transmuted into marital property. This is one of the reasons to have a prenuptial agreement or even a post nuptial agreement regarding this property.