Freeport, IL asked in Divorce and Appeals / Appellate Law for Illinois

Q: if I didn't request maintenance at the end of court. can I file a motion and bring it back into court and request it?

1 Lawyer Answer

A: The most likely answer is no. Without knowing more about what exactly happened at trial, under most normal circumstances, you are responsible for raising issues you know about or should have known about at or before the time of trial. By failing to raise it properly, you may be deemed to have "waived" or abandoned that issue. This rule especially applies to maintenance; under the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, the court has to make certain specific factual findings about whether maintenance is appropriate or else the maintenance award will be barred.

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