If you want an uncontested divorce in Illinois, you probably realize it’s the quickest and most affordable way to get divorced in Illinois. That’s the great benefit of actually amicably handling matters with your spouse. As an Illinois divorce lawyer, I routinely help couples who know that peacefully divorcing is the way to go. But know this: sometimes, a desire to get along can create risks for the future.
The point of a divorce is to cut ties – not to make yourselves business partners in your future post-divorce life. I wrote this article about that aspect of divorcing.
Why continue ties?
You may wonder why someone would keep more ties than necessary with an ex-spouse after a divorce. The answer is really very simply – people often think doing so will make a divorce easier. 
For example, suppose spouses agree that the marital home will be sold after divorce. They tend to want to make the agreement regarding the house no more specific than that. Why? Because they trust the other person, don’t want to fight in the divorce, and all that. So what they think will happen is that they will get divorced, then simply work with the other person when it comes time to sell the house. For example, cooperating on choose a broker, paying for repairs, accepting an offer, etc.
When people tel me that, I’m thinking “So you want to end your marriage, but you get along so good you want to make yourselves business partners after the divorce?”
Often people want to create vague marital settlement agreements that require both spouses to cooperate after a divorce. They simply don’t understand what types of problems can occur.
Potential problems
There are many problems that can occur by assuming divorced former spouses can work together.
Take a house, for example.
If two people who couldn’t stay married plan on making joint decisions on a house after a divorce, I’d expect trouble. For example, one person will think a repair is necessary, the other won’t. One will want to hire a friend who is a real estate broker to sell the place, the other won’t. I could go on.
In other words, when ex-spouses are in business together by jointly owning a house, have to make decision together. How do you think that will work out?
Also, jointly owning assets after a divorce can create liability. Do you want to be responsible for what your ex-spouse does after a divorce? Probably not.
What to do
An Illinois divorce lawyer can draft a marital settlement agreement which can help you clearly define each person’s responsibilities, and can reduce risk.
Remember, the point of getting divorced is to severe ties. Not to create ill-defined new ones.