PRINT, PDF, EMAIL

The Illinois Appellate Court, considering a question certified by the appellate court, found that under 750 ILCS 5/503(f) (2010), the proper valuation date for marital property in a bifurcated dissolution of marriage proceeding was the date of trial on ancillary matters. The state supreme court granted petitioner husband’s petition for leave to appeal. The husband petitioned for dissolution of marriage and respondent wife responded. The trial court found that grounds to dissolve existed and made a docket entry order that a judgment dissolving the marriage be entered; it also expressly reserved ancillary issues. The matter was then continued multiple times. More than three years after the docket entry order was made, the trial court entered a judgment that dissolved the marriage and reserved ancillary issues. However, disputes extended resolution of the ancillary issues. The parties disputed the date to be used to determine the valuation: the date the dissolution judgment was entered or a much later date when the ancillary issues were tried. On a certified question, the appellate court found that under 750 ILCS 5/503(f) (2010), the proper valuation date in a bifurcated proceeding was the date of trial on ancillary matters. The state supreme court disagreed with the appellate court and determined that the language of 750 ILCS 5/503(f) (2010) dictated that the date of valuation for marital property was the date the court entered judgment for dissolution following a trial on grounds for dissolution or another date near it. The state supreme court reversed the appellate court’s judgment, vacated the order of the trial court, and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings.