Nobody goes into marriage wanting to get divorced. And if you have to get a divorce lawyer in Illinois someday, you will want things to go quickly and amicably if possible. Nobody wants to get divorced, have it take many years and cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Unfortunately this does happen. It usually occurs because there are a lot of contentious case issues. You might be fighting over the value of a business, custody, visitation schedules or other marital assets like a 401k, bank accounts, houses, etc.
Other times a delay happens that is completely out of your control and sucks. There’s one big reason that happens in Illinois divorces and it’s shocking and shameful.
That reason is because your spouse’s attorney drags the case on. Sometimes they do it to try to milk a case for all that it’s worth. Sometimes they do it because they are lazy or incompetent. Sometimes they just have too much work to do and choose which cases to prioritize.
There’s one infamous Chicago divorce lawyer who does this a lot and a few firms that like to run up large bills in general. But this one in particular is awful. In fact, in a recent case we consulted on, a caller had a mostly uncontested Cook County divorce and we estimated the fee would be $2500.
We connected the caller with a lawyer who wanted to help. But once he learned that this scummy lawyer was representing the spouse, he said the case would likely cost $15,000. That’s because that gross attorney never returns phone calls, files tons of wasteful motions and continuously drags his feet.
So what should be a simple case is now a difficult one. And this caller has to come up with extra money to get the case started. It’s all very unfair.
Of course it could be your attorney who is dragging things out without need. There’s no way to know for sure if they will do that when you hire them. That’s one reason people come to us. We would never recommend those types of attorneys.
If you notice that the attorney you hired is delaying your case, you should confront them on it and fire them if you don’t get a good answer. Divorce cases can take years, but if you know you and your spouse agree on everything, it should go quickly.
We have helped thousands of people get through an Illinois divorce as painlessly as possible. If you have a case in the Chicagoland area and would like a referral to a great Illinois divorce attorney, please call us any time at 312-346-5320.
