Assessing the impact of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) amendment on divorce processes and outcomes

The interrelationship between law and society, and the contribution of social science to the mutual shaping of the two, are most apparent when statutes undergo comprehensive reform. Reforms ensure laws reflect social change, incorporate social science evidence, and achieve their intended social ends. After decades of maintaining outdated provisions, the Illinois state legislature recognized the need for a comprehensive update of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA). Family law overhauls, such as the IMDMA amendment in 2015, can have a profound impact on family and interpersonal relationships. However, their effectiveness is rarely studied, if at all, due to their complexity. Examining whether changes to the law result in their intended effects is essential to inform legislatures of directions for future law reforms and the affected public of foreseeable legal outcomes. Further, timely assessment is crucial to alert practitioners and judicial officers of potential unintended consequences that could be avoided during implementation. The purpose of the current study was to assess the extent to which the IMDMA amendment achieved its legislative intent for divorcing parents, which was to make divorce processes less adversarial and divorce outcomes more equitable. Because the amendment overlooked the relevance of intimate partner violence (IPV) when making provisional changes to facilitate cooperation between divorcing parents, this study also explored potential unintended consequences for families with IPV. The study used a quasi-experimental design to compare 120 divorce cases filed before (2009-2013) and 120 divorce cases filed after (2016-2019) the amendment in a large Illinois county for indicators of reduced adversarial processes (shorter divorce length, fewer post-dissolution filings and orders) and increased equity in outcomes (more equally shared parenting agreements in terms of significant decision-making and parenting time), which were the intended outcomes of the amendment. In addition, indicators of adversariness and equity in divorces with IPV were compared to those without IPV both before and after the amendment to explore potential unintended consequences. For the full sample, results showed more equitable divorce outcomes but no changes in divorce processes after the amendment. For cases with IPV, divorces were lengthier than those without IPV after the amendment, but divorce outcomes did not differ. However, divorcing parents returned to court more often after the amendment than those without IPV. Study findings and their implications are discussed through the lens of family systems theory and feminist perspectives.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Dvlpmt & Family Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Park, So Young

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hardesty, Jennifer L
• Ogolsky, Brian G
• Barton, Allen W
• Holtzworth-Munroe, Amy

• Family Law
• Divorce
• Intimate Partner Violence

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 So Young Park

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121333

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F121333