(735 ILCS 5/2-1401.1)
Sec. 2-1401.1. Relief from default judgment; military personnel in military service.
(a) In this Section:
"Military service" means any full-time training or duty, no matter how described under federal or State law, for which a service member is ordered to report by the President, Governor of a state, commonwealth, or territory of the United States, or other appropriate military authority.
"Service member" means a resident of Illinois who is a member of any component of the U.S. Armed Forces or the National Guard of any state, the District of Columbia, or commonwealth, or a territory of the United States.
(b) Relief from and vacation of final orders and judgments after 30 days from the entry thereof entered by default against a service member that has entered military service may be had upon petition as provided in this Section. All relief heretofore obtainable and the grounds for such relief heretofore available shall be available in every case, by proceedings commenced pursuant to this Section, regardless of the nature of the order or judgment from which relief is sought or of the proceedings in which it was entered. Except as provided in Section 6 of the Illinois Parentage Act of 1984, there shall be no distinction between actions and other proceedings, statutory or otherwise, as to availability of relief, grounds for relief or the relief obtainable.
(c) The petition must be filed in the same proceeding in which the order or judgment was entered but is not a continuation thereof. The petition must be supported by affidavit or other appropriate showing as to matters not of record and show that the service member did not appear in the proceeding, the person's military service materially affected the service member's ability to defend the case, the person has a meritorious or legal defense to the action, and the petition must be filed within 90 days after the service member's date of release from military service. All parties to the petition shall be notified as provided by rule.
(d) Except as provided in Section 20b of the Adoption Act and Section 2-32 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 or in a petition based upon Section 116-3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963, the petition must be filed not later than 90 days after the service member's release from military service. Time during which the person seeking relief is under legal disability or duress or the ground for relief is fraudulently concealed shall be excluded in computing the period for filing.
(e) The filing of a petition under this Section does not affect the order or judgment, or suspend its operation.
(f) Unless lack of jurisdiction affirmatively appears from the record proper, the vacation or modification of an order or judgment pursuant to the provisions of this Section does not affect the right, title or interest in or to any real or personal property of any person, not a party to the original action, acquired for value after the entry of the order or judgment but before the filing of the petition, nor affect any right of any person not a party to the original action under any certificate of sale issued before the filing of the petition, pursuant to a sale based on the order or judgment.
(g) Nothing contained in this Section affects any existing right to relief from a void order or judgment, or to employ any existing method to procure that relief.
(Source: P.A. 97-913, eff. 1-1-13.)
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Last modified: February 18, 2015