- 9 -
First, “Article XIV, General Provisions, Section D”
unequivocally applies Illinois law irrespective of the fact that
the case is before this Court. Second, we note that under
section 504(a) of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of
Marriage Act, the court may grant maintenance payments (alimony)
only if it finds that the spouse seeking maintenance lacks
sufficient property to provide for her reasonable needs and is
unable to support herself otherwise. 750 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann.
5/504(a) (West 1999); see also In re Marriage of Lees, 587 N.E.2d
17, 20 (Ill. App. Ct. 1992). In this case, there was no evidence
presented that the circuit court made such a finding with respect
to the payments defined in “Article VI.”
Lastly, and with respect to petitioners’ argument that we
should disregard the language of the operative marital settlement
agreement and Illinois law in favor of their intent that the
payments at issue be alimony or maintenance of the type for which
a deduction under section 71 applies, petitioners provided no
factually credible evidence to support that these payments were
nothing more than their attempt to comport with Mr. Zakrzewski’s
legal obligations then-existing under the terms of the marital
settlement agreement. As previously stated, we believe that the
payments under the marital settlement agreement do not comport
with the requirements of section 71(b)(1).
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 10, 2007