Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

1. A court will decide what you are going to get out of the marriage. Since you are not a record owner of the house, and are not a co-owner of the business, you will have what are called special "equities" that can translate into money for you. How he owned the house may be irrelevant. But then again your married only 6 years and if you came to it with any money of your own, these are all factors.... An attorney can give you a better sense of things once all the facts are laid out.

2. Based on your husband's statements, a court could require him to pay for you to have an attorney.

3. The pre-nuptial was thoughtful considering his children, but you may not realize that if you had signed one, you may very well have contracted yourself out of any share of anything...so if you didn't get one, you may be lucky.

You sound pretty reasonable. You may wind up being able to negotiate (through an attorney) a relatively "amicable" settlement with your husband since you are taking his children into account. You may want to consult with an attorney about whether to let your husband know a divorce is about to happen too -- sometimes being blind-sided can really tick people off....... And even if you're reasonable, he may not be..... Sorry to hear but good luck.

The response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an ongoing duty to respond to questions. The response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to be anything other than the educated opinion of the author. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change. Attorney is currently licensed to practice law actively only in the State of Illinois, inactively in Florida. Responses are based solely on Illinois law unless stated otherwise.