Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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705 ILCS 130/5

(705 ILCS 130/5)

Sec. 5.

Legislative findings.

The General Assembly finds that the
domestic relations area of law frequently involves individuals who are indigent
and unable to obtain legal representation; the courts of Illinois are
backlogged
with both pre-judgment and post-judgment domestic relations cases involving
dissolution of marriage, legal separation, declaration of invalidity of
marriage, visitation, custody, child support, paternity, and maintenance issues
that
require
numerous court appearances and lengthy hearings caused in part by individuals
who are not represented by legal counsel and who do not understand the
proceedings; the resolution of these cases where one or both parties have not
been represented by counsel results in the unrepresented party not following
the court procedures and orders, many times causing multiple court proceedings,
leading to costly and time consuming judicial
proceedings revolving around the same issues; providing legal representation to
the indigent party in domestic
relations cases has a great potential for efficiently reducing the volume of
matters which burden the court system in this State; there are social and
economic benefits in reducing the number of court proceedings in domestic
relations cases; many seemingly minor disputes between individuals may escalate
into major social and legal problems without the intervention of legal
representation and education about the legal system for all parties; there are
compelling reasons for providing legal representation to indigent individuals
in domestic relations matters; and not-for-profit charitable organizations have
in the past and can continue to make a substantial contribution to the
expeditious operation and maintenance of the courts in domestic relations cases
pending in this State.

(Source: P.A. 89-56, eff. 1-1-96.)