In 1979, the Illinois Supreme Court held that granting unmarried cohabitants an equitable distribution violates public policy and the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Hewitt v. Hewitt, 77 Ill.2d 49 (1979). Since this landmark decision, Illinois courts have further upheld that cohabitants cannot bring common-law claims against each other to enforce property rights (see Blumenthal v. Brewer, 2016 IL 118781 (2016)). As the rate of unmarried cohabitation has exponentially increased throughout the years, Illinois legislators are attempting to expand the rights of cohabitants seeking an equitable distribution when cohabitation comes to an end.
House Bill 4404 (hereinafter “HB4404”) was first introduced on January 8, 2024, and it creates the Uniform Cohabitants’ Economic Remedies Act, which allows for a cohabitant to commence an equitable action against the other cohabitant.
What does this mean for unmarried people living together? If passed, non-married couples living together may be able to proceed against one another in the future upon a break-up in Court and cohabitation agreements for couples wanting to live together may be the new “prenup.” In an age where the younger generations are wearier of marriage, this might just be their answer. On the flip side, this will create much more litigation in an already overloaded court system and create more business for family law professionals.
On April 19, 2024, HB4404 passed the House and was sent to the Senate. Subsequently, on April 24, 2024, HB4404 was sponsored by Senator Michael W. Halpin and HB4404 was referred to assignments. Stay tuned to see if this bill passes into state law.
For more on Ms. Stogsdill, please visit:
www.beermannlaw.com/team/morgan-l-stogsdill.
