Elmhurst Divorce Litigation Attorney

What Happens During a Divorce Trial?

During your divorce, you will need to resolve various issues, including but not limited to the division of marital property, the allocation of parental responsibility and parenting time, the determination of whether spousal maintenance is appropriate, ownership of family businesses, and tax considerations for each of these scenarios. You and your spouse may be able to reach an agreement about some of these issues, but anything that cannot be resolved will need to be decided through litigation.

A divorce trial will involve the following steps:

1. Discovery - After filing for divorce, you and your spouse will provide each other with a full disclosure of your finances. You and your attorney will also gather any other relevant information using methods such as interrogatories, depositions, or subpoenas.
2. Disclosure - Before the beginning of the trial, both parties will file a pre-trial memorandum summarizing the arguments they will make (known as "pleadings") and disclosing the evidence they plan to present and the witnesses they intend to call to testify.
3. Pre-trial conference - Prior to the trial, the judge will meet the attorneys of record to review the outstanding issues that need to be resolved. At this time, the judge may encourage the parties to reach a settlement on some or all of the remaining issues, and he or she will make recommendations to assist the parties in doing so.
4. Opening statements - At the beginning of the trial, each party's attorney will make a statement summarizing the facts of the case and detailing why the judge should rule in their favor.
5. Evidence and witness testimony - Each party will present evidence related to the case, such as financial documents, possibly medical records, or other information that supports their claims or defeats the claims of the other party. Witnesses may be called, including the spouses, family members, financial appraisers, or child custody evaluators. Both parties' attorneys will be able to ask questions of any witnesses.
6. Closing arguments - Each party's attorney will make a final statement summarizing their arguments.
7. Ruling - The judge will make a final decision on all of the outstanding issues, and a divorce judgment will be issued. At this point, your marriage will be legally dissolved.
8. Appeal - If the judge did not rule in your favor, you may be able to appeal the verdict.