# Illinois grounds for divorce and the six month rule > Illinois has one ground for divorce: irreconcilable differences. What the six month separation presumption does, and what happens if you have been apart less. If someone tells you that you need grounds for an Illinois divorce, they are working from a version of the law that stopped existing on January 1, 2016. Adultery, desertion, habitual drunkenness, cruelty and impotence all came out of the statute that day, along with the two year separation requirement that used to strangle contested cases. What is left is one sentence, and it rewards a close read: half of it is about your marriage and half of it is about the calendar. ## What are the grounds for divorce in Illinois? Irreconcilable differences, and nothing else. [Section 401(a)](https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&ChapAct=750%2BILCS%2B5%2F&SeqStart=3900000&SeqEnd=5400000) says the court enters judgment when irreconcilable differences have caused the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, and the court determines that efforts at reconciliation have failed, or that future attempts at reconciliation would be impracticable and not in the best interests of the family. That is two findings, not one. The differences have to be irreconcilable, and reconciliation has to be off the table. In practice a judge takes both from your testimony at the final hearing, and the whole exchange takes about ninety seconds. Nobody has to accuse anybody of anything. Your spouse cannot defend the case by proving they behaved well, and you do not get a better property split by proving they did not. Illinois divides marital property [without regard to marital misconduct](https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&ChapAct=750%2BILCS%2B5%2F&SeqStart=6200000&SeqEnd=8675000), in as many words. ### Can your spouse stop the divorce in Illinois? No. There is no ground your spouse can disprove, because irreconcilable differences is a statement about the marriage rather than about either person in it. A spouse who does not want the divorce can slow the case down by fighting about money or children, but they cannot keep the marriage alive. The one thing the court may do is send you to a conciliation conference. Under [section 404](https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&ChapAct=750%2BILCS%2B5%2F&SeqStart=3900000&SeqEnd=5400000), if the judge concludes there is a prospect of reconciliation, they can order one on a party's request or on their own motion. Nothing said in that conference can be used in this case or any later one, and no report from it goes into the record unless you both agree in writing. ## What is the six month separation rule in Illinois? It is a presumption, not a waiting period, and the difference matters. [Section 401(a-5)](https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&ChapAct=750%2BILCS%2B5%2F&SeqStart=3900000&SeqEnd=5400000) says that if the parties live separate and apart for a continuous period of not less than six months immediately preceding entry of the judgment, there is an irrebuttable presumption that the requirement of irreconcilable differences has been met. Irrebuttable means exactly what it sounds like. Neither your spouse nor the judge can go behind it. Read the timing carefully. The six months runs to the entry of the judgment, not to the day you file. You do not have to be separated for six months before starting a case. You have to have been separated for six months by the time it ends, and most contested Illinois divorces take longer than that anyway. ### What if you have been separated less than six months? Then you prove the breakdown instead of presuming it. The court's [self-help instructions](https://www.illinoiscourts.gov/forms/approved-forms/forms-circuit-court/divorce-child-support-maintenance/) put it plainly: if you have been separated less than six months at the time of your divorce hearing, you have to show the judge that you separated because you cannot get along anymore, and that you tried to fix the problems in your marriage and could not, or that the problems are bad enough that trying to fix them is not best for your family. This is testimony, not evidence. You are not filing exhibits or calling witnesses. You are answering a handful of questions at the prove-up, and judges hear these answers all day. ### Does living in the same house count as separated? Illinois courts have treated "separate and apart" as a question about the marital relationship rather than about two addresses, and couples who cannot afford two households sometimes qualify while still under one roof. It is fact-specific, and it is the one part of the grounds analysis that is genuinely worth a lawyer's read of your situation before you rely on it. If you are close to the line, the safer move is to prove the breakdown rather than argue about the presumption. The testimony is easy and the argument is not. ## Do you still need a legal separation in Illinois? Rarely, and for narrower reasons than people expect. [Section 402](https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&ChapAct=750%2BILCS%2B5%2F&SeqStart=3900000&SeqEnd=5400000) lets a person living separate and apart from their spouse sue for reasonable support and maintenance while they live apart, in the county where either party lives or where the two of you last lived together. A legal separation does not end the marriage and does not divide property the way a dissolution does. What it does is create a support order and a date: property acquired after a judgment of legal separation is [non-marital property](https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&ChapAct=750%2BILCS%2B5%2F&SeqStart=6200000&SeqEnd=8675000). For a spouse who needs support now and cannot divorce for religious or insurance reasons, that is the whole point of it. ## How does a contested Illinois divorce handle grounds? It splits the trial in two. [Section 403(e)](https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&ChapAct=750%2BILCS%2B5%2F&SeqStart=3900000&SeqEnd=5400000) requires contested trials to be bifurcated, with the irreconcilable differences question tried first, whether or not anyone is contesting it. Once the court finds the marriage has irretrievably broken down, it can give you more time to settle the rest amicably, or go straight to trial on the money and the children. Either way, no judgment gets entered until the whole case is finished. The court may not dissolve the marriage after hearing only the grounds testimony and leave the property fight for later, except where the parties agree to reserve an issue or the court finds appropriate circumstances. That structure explains the shape of most Illinois cases. Grounds are settled early and cheaply, and everything after that is an argument about [how the property gets divided](https://www.counselpro.ai/divorce-guide/illinois/property-division) and what happens with the children. The [contested divorce chapter](https://www.counselpro.ai/divorce-guide/illinois/contested-divorce-and-trial) covers what the second half of that trial looks like. ## What does the judgment have to resolve before it can be entered? Four things. Under [section 401(b)](https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&ChapAct=750%2BILCS%2B5%2F&SeqStart=3900000&SeqEnd=5400000), no judgment may be entered until the court has considered, approved, reserved or made provision for: - The allocation of parental responsibilities - The support of any child of the marriage entitled to support - The maintenance of either spouse - The disposition of property "Reserved" is the escape hatch. The court can enter a judgment that leaves an issue open, but only on the agreement of the parties or on a motion plus a finding that appropriate circumstances exist. It is not the default and you should not plan around it. Source: https://www.counselpro.ai/divorce-guide/illinois/grounds-for-divorce