10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Divorce Attorney in Illinois

Part of my guide to divorce in Illinois

If you are reading this, you are probably in the early stages of one of the most consequential decisions of your life. Not the divorce itself (though that is significant), but the decision of who is going to guide you through it.

Choosing a divorce attorney in Illinois is not like choosing a contractor or an accountant. The person you hire will have a direct impact on your financial future, your relationship with your children, and your ability to move forward with stability and confidence. The stakes are that high.

And yet, most people have no idea how to choose a divorce attorney in Illinois. They ask friends for recommendations. They read a few online reviews. They book a consultation and hope for the best. That approach works sometimes. But "sometimes" is not good enough when your family's future is on the line.

After more than twenty years of practicing family law in Chicago, I have seen what happens when people hire the wrong attorney. I have also seen the difference it makes when they hire the right one. The gap between those two outcomes is enormous, and it almost always comes down to what happened during the initial divorce consultation in Illinois.

Here are ten questions I recommend asking every prospective attorney before you sign anything. I will tell you exactly what each question reveals and what a good answer sounds like.

1. What percentage of your practice is family law?

This is where you start, because it establishes a baseline. You want an attorney who practices family law full-time, not someone who handles divorces alongside real estate closings and personal injury cases.

Illinois family law has its own body of case law, its own procedural rules, and its own judicial expectations. An attorney who dedicates their entire practice to this area will know the current judges, understand the latest statutory changes, and have the courtroom instincts that only come from doing this work day in and day out.

If the answer is anything less than "family law is all I do," it is worth asking why, and whether that is really what you need for your situation.

2. How do you typically approach a case: litigation, mediation, or both?

This question reveals more about an attorney's philosophy than almost anything else you can ask. Some attorneys default to aggressive litigation. Others push mediation regardless of the circumstances. Neither approach is universally right.

What you want is an attorney who is fluent in both. Someone who can negotiate skillfully at the table and try a case effectively in the courtroom, and who picks the approach based on the facts in front of them rather than their own comfort zone. An attorney who is both a certified mediator and an experienced trial lawyer can negotiate from a position of real strength, because the other side knows what happens if negotiation breaks down.

What you are listening for is flexibility and judgment, not a rigid playbook.

3. Who will actually be handling my case day to day?

This is a question people often forget to ask during a divorce consultation in Illinois, and it matters more than you might expect.

At some firms, the attorney you meet during your consultation is not the attorney who handles your case. Your file gets handed to a junior associate, and you hear from the senior partner only when something goes wrong.

That is a very different thing from a real team approach. I work with a team by design. It is efficient, it keeps costs sensible when a task does not require a partner's rate, and it means more than one person knows your case well enough to answer the phone. What matters is not whether a firm uses a team. It is whether the attorney you hired is still directing the strategy and still accountable to you for it.

So ask how the team works: Who will I call when I have a question? Who will be in the courtroom? Who reviews documents before they are filed? Who is setting the strategy, and how often will I hear from that person? There is no single correct answer, but there is a correct answer for you, and you should hear it before you sign anything.

4. What is your experience with cases like mine?

Not all divorces are created equal. A straightforward dissolution with no children and limited assets is a fundamentally different case than a high-net-worth divorce involving business valuations, stock options, and complex parenting arrangements.

When hiring a family law attorney in Chicago, or anywhere in Illinois, ask about their experience with the specific issues in your case. If you own a business, ask how many business-owner divorces they have handled. If there are international dimensions, ask about cross-border experience. If you have a prenuptial agreement, ask how many prenup challenges they have litigated.

Experience in general family law is necessary. Experience with your specific type of case is what actually makes the difference.

5. How do you communicate with clients, and how quickly can I expect to hear back?

During a divorce, few things are more stressful than feeling like you cannot reach your own attorney. I have heard this complaint more times than I can count from people who come to me after leaving another firm.

Ask about their communication practices upfront. Do they return calls within 24 hours? Do they provide updates proactively, or only when you ask? Will you have access to them by email, phone, or both? A good divorce attorney in Illinois will set clear expectations about response times and then actually meet them.

The consultation itself is a preview. If the attorney is hard to reach before you have even hired them, that is a data point you should take seriously.

6. How do you bill, and what should I expect the total cost to look like?

Money is one of the most stressful aspects of divorce, and not understanding your attorney's billing structure only adds to that stress.

Most family law attorneys in Illinois bill by the hour, with rates varying significantly based on experience, location, and the complexity of the case. Ask for a clear explanation: What is the hourly rate? Is there a retainer? How is the retainer replenished? What expenses are billed separately: filing fees, expert witnesses, court reporters?

Ask how time is recorded, too, because hourly billing is almost never billed in whole hours. Most firms track work in tenth-of-an-hour increments. A six-minute phone call bills as 0.1. A forty-minute document review bills as 0.7. Understanding that makes your invoices readable instead of mysterious, and it gives you a little control: saving up three questions for one call costs you less than three separate calls.

No ethical attorney can guarantee a total cost, because every case has variables. But an experienced one can give you a realistic range based on similar cases they have handled. If someone is vague about money, or dismissive when you raise the subject, that tells you something important about how the rest of the relationship will feel.

7. What is your approach to protecting assets during a divorce?

Illinois is an equitable distribution state, which means marital assets are allocated fairly, not necessarily equally. How your attorney approaches asset identification, valuation, and allocation can dramatically affect your financial future.

Ask how they handle complex assets like business interests, retirement accounts, stock options, and real estate. Ask whether they work with financial experts, forensic accountants, or business valuators. The answer will tell you whether they are equipped to protect what you have built, or whether they are likely to leave money on the table.

This is especially important if you suspect your spouse may be hiding assets or undervaluing business interests. An experienced attorney will know exactly how to investigate and exactly what to look for.

8. How do you handle situations involving children?

If children are involved, this question is non-negotiable. It is also the place where an attorney's language will tell you the most about them.

Start with the word itself. Illinois no longer uses "custody." The legal term is "allocation of parental responsibilities," and it covers two separate things: decision-making authority (education, healthcare, religion, extracurricular activities) and parenting time. People still say "custody" out of habit, including attorneys, and there is nothing wrong with using the word you already know. But an attorney should be able to explain what replaced it, because the change in language reflects a real change in how Illinois courts think about children. The court's focus is the best interest of the child, and responsibilities get allocated between two parents rather than awarded to one.

Which brings up the second thing to listen for. Nobody wins. There is no verdict that declares one parent better than the other, no trophy at the end. An attorney who talks about "winning custody" is either using loose shorthand or telling you something real about how they will handle your family, and it is worth asking which one it is.

This is not pedantry about vocabulary. Precise language is a reasonable proxy for how an attorney works. Someone who is careless with the terms is often careless with the details, and someone who takes a minute to explain them is showing you exactly how they will handle the rest of your case.

Then ask the practical questions: How do you approach parenting plans, decision-making authority, and parenting time schedules? How do you handle it when parents cannot agree? What is your experience with guardian ad litem appointments and child representatives? What you want is an attorney who will prioritize outcomes that keep children out of the middle of their parents' conflict.

9. What is the likely timeline for my case?

Illinois requires a minimum waiting period, but the actual timeline of a divorce depends on many factors: whether the case is contested, how many issues need to be resolved, the court's calendar, and whether both parties are willing to negotiate in good faith.

Ask your attorney for a realistic range based on the specifics of your situation. An honest attorney will not promise a quick resolution if the facts do not support it. They will give you a timeline that respects the reality of your case, and they will explain the factors that could speed things up or slow things down.

Beware of anyone who promises certainty. The only thing certain about a divorce timeline is that it depends on the choices both parties make along the way.

10. Can you tell me about a case that did not go the way you expected?

This is the question most people do not think to ask, and it is one of the most revealing.

Any attorney who has practiced for more than a few years has had cases that surprised them: a judge who ruled in an unexpected way, a negotiation that fell apart at the last moment, a client who changed course mid-case. What you are looking for is not a perfect record. You are looking for honesty, self-awareness, and the ability to adapt when things do not go according to plan.

An attorney who can openly discuss a challenging case and what they learned from it is an attorney who has the maturity and humility to handle yours. An attorney who claims everything always goes perfectly is either too inexperienced to know better or too proud to tell you the truth. Neither is what you want.

One More Question Worth Asking: Why Should I Hire You?

After you have asked the ten questions above, ask one more: Why should I hire you over another divorce attorney in Illinois?

The right answer is not a sales pitch. It is a direct, honest explanation of what this particular attorney brings to your particular case. Listen for specificity. Listen for an attorney who talks about your situation, not their accolades. The best attorney for you is the one whose experience, communication style, and strategic approach align with what your case actually needs.

Your initial consultation is not a formality. It is the first decision in a process that will shape your financial future, your family's stability, and the next chapter of your life. Use it wisely.

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