The only way to make one of the most challenging times of your life worse is by getting into a massive legal battle with your former spouse. However, divorces don’t always have to devolve into testy hearings and courtroom showdowns. To learn a little more about how the uncontested divorce approach can help you keep things as amicable and straightforward as possible, let’s spend some time delving into the particulars of this approach and what it could mean for your pending legal separation.

What Is an Uncontested Divorce?

The core of any divorce proceeding revolves around four basic claims; custody of children, debt allocation, division of community and marital property, and finally alimony and child support payments. Naturally, these subjects come with plenty of strife and unrest inmost divorces due to extended legal battles and countermeasures. However, this unwanted scenario isn’t your only option. The New York State Unified Court System’s divorce resource page explains that an uncontested divorce is when two parties have no outstanding disagreements in these areas. Essentially, there’s enough common ground between the two parties to avoid the more serious litigation that comes with such a dispute.

The Benefits of This Process

Aside from the obvious goodwill and dignity that comes with avoiding a lengthy spat in the legal system, the experts at HG, an online legal resource center, point out that uncontested divorces come with a variety of other benefits. By keeping the allocation of assets and custody rights amicable and out of court, former spouses can save quite a bit of money in court fees and lost time at work attending sessions. Additionally, for those who wish to keep the particulars of this former marriage private, the uncontested route steers clear of airing dirty laundry and grievances in an open venue.

Making Sure You’re Prepared for Every Step

Before filing for an uncontested divorce in Chicago, Illinois Legal Aid Online – a partnership between The Chicago Bar Foundation, the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, and ITT Chicago-Kent College of Law – suggests going over a quick checklist that can help avoid serious roadblocks along the way to resolution.

First, make sure you, or your former spouse, haven’t already filed for divorce in another state. Additionally, both participants must hold legal residence in the state of Illinois for longer than 90 days. Finally, gather as much information as possible about yourself, your former partner, and any children involved in the dispute. By having this information on hand, as well as the rest of what you’ve learned about uncontested divorces, you’ll be well on your way to a private and amicable split that avoids the less than savory attributes normally associated with a legal separation