7th Judicial Circuit Court, Macoupin County, Illinois Document Filing Requirements

CRITICAL

Applies to

Motion to vacate

A mediating party seeking to vacate a provisional order must file a motion and affidavit within 21 days after the Clerk transmits the order, asserting evidentiary facts supporting one of the stated grounds.

For good cause, the mediating judge may, in his or her discretion, vacate a provisional order or any portion thereof, and resume judicial mediation for such period as said judge determines, upon the basis of motion and affidavit filed by a mediating party within 21 days after the Clerk’s transmittal of such provisional order and asserting evidentiary facts indicating that (1) the affiant misunderstood substantial practical or legal implications of the agreement forming the basis of such order or (2) there exists as to the agreement underlying the provisional order grounds recognized under Illinois law for rescission of a contract.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Parenting education compliance

At the initial case management conference, parents must show completion of an approved parenting education program, provide a fixed compliance schedule, or show cause to excuse compliance.

The parents shall show proof of completion of an approved parenting education program as required by Supreme Court Rule 924, provide a fixed schedule for compliance, or show cause to excuse compliance.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Dissolution forms with children

Parties with adult children must use the forms for a dissolution of marriage with children.

Parties with adult children shall use the forms appropriate with a dissolution of marriage with children.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Discovery service certification

The certification of service must be filed with the clerk of the circuit court.

Certification shall be filed with the clerk of the circuit court.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Attorney written appearance or other pleading

An attorney must file a written appearance or other pleading before addressing the court, unless presenting a motion for leave to appear by intervention or otherwise.

An attorney shall file their written appearance or other pleading before they address the court unless they are presenting a motion for leave to appear by intervention or otherwise.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Initial case management order

At the end of the initial case management conference, the parties must submit a completed order addressing the listed subjects.

At the conclusion of the initial case management conference, the parties shall submit to the court a completed initial case management order in a form consistent with Appendix A to these rules, which shall provide, at a minimum, the following: a. The status of the parties; b. Parenting class compliance; c. The temporary residential status of the children of the parties; d. Any temporary agreements with regard to child support; e. Whether parental responsibility allocation or parenting time is at issue; f. Mediation; g. Discovery issues; h. A date and time for the next case management conference.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Objection or discovery motion

Must include

certificate of conference

An objection to a discovery request or motion to enforce compliance must be filed with a certificate describing the consultation and resolution efforts or opposing counsel’s unavailability or unreasonable efforts.

Prior to filing any objection to any requests or filing a motion to enforce compliance with any request, the party so filing is required to file with the objection or motion a certificate that states that counsel have been unable to resolve discovery differences after personal consultation and reasonable attempts to resolve differences have been unable to reach an accord or that opposing counsel has made himself or herself unavailable for personal consultation or was unreasonable in attempts to resolve differences, as required by Supreme Court Rule 201 (k).

CRITICAL

Applies to

Petition for dissolution with children

The form petition for dissolution with children must comply with 750 ILCS 5/403.

The contents of the form Petition for Dissolution of Marriage/Civil Union-with Children shall comply with the provisions of 750 ILCS 5/403.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Objection

A party objecting to a remote hearing or its platform must file a written objection as soon as practicable and notice it for hearing before the remote hearing.

If any party objects to conducting the noticed hearing remotely or to the platform designated, that party, as soon as practicable, shall file the party's objection in writing and notice the objection for hearing before the noticed remote hearing.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Pleadings

Using the Clerk's parentage form does not excuse an individual from filing pleadings and proceeding in conformity with 750 ILCS 45/1 et seq.

The use of the form made available by the Clerk shall not excuse an individual from filing pleadings and proceeding in conformity with 750 ILCS 45/1 et seq.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Memorandum of understanding

The mediator must draft a memorandum of understanding for participant review and send a copy to each participant and their attorney after final review.

Upon the reaching of an informal agreement through the mediation process, the mediator will draft a memorandum of understanding for review by the participants. Upon final review, a copy of this memorandum shall then be sent to each participant and each respective attorney.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Child support data sheet

A party filing an action that may result in child support must file a child support data sheet with the Clerk when filing the action.

At the time of the filing of any action that may result in the payment of child support, the party filing the action is required to file a child support data sheet with the Clerk, in a form as provided by the Clerk.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Report of fees

State's Attorneys must report the payment and collection of fees, fines, forfeitures, and penalties when required by court rule and satisfy the court that collected funds were paid to the county treasurer.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, that pursuant to 55 Illinois Compiled Statutes, 5/4-2006, all State's Attorneys have a duty to report to the Circuit Court, at such times as the court shall determine by rule, the payment and collection of all fees, fines, forfeitures and penalties and to satisfy the court that said monies collected have been paid over to the county treasurer, as required by 5/4-2005, ILCS; and,

CRITICAL

Applies to

Mediation program operating rules

Before establishing a mediation program, the Chief Judge must submit its operating rules to the Supreme Court for review and approval through the Administrative Office.

Prior to the establishment of such a program, the Chief Judge of the circuit shall submit to the Supreme Court for its review and approval, through its Administrative Office, rules governing the operation of the circuit's program.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Family mediation referral form

The parties must send the family mediation referral form to the mediator within three days after entry of the Order for Mediation.

The parties shall send a family mediation referral form to the mediator in all cases within three (3) days of the entry of the Order for Mediation.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Jury instruction

When news media is present during a criminal or civil trial, the judge must give the specified jury instruction.

The judge shall give the following instruction to the jury when news media is present at any portion of a criminal or civil trial: In this case, the news media was permitted to [video] [record] [photograph] [livestream] [blog] the proceedings pursuant to the Illinois Supreme Court Policy for Extended Media Coverage in the Circuit Courts of Illinois. In your deliberations, you should not draw any inferences or conclusions from the fact there was extended media coverage at this trial or proceeding. Nor should you concern yourself with why certain witnesses were filmed or photographed and others were not. Whether a particular witness was filmed or photographed is not any indication as to the value of, or weight to be given to, that witness's testimony.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Written venue motion

In the specified dissolution cases, petitioner’s counsel must file a written venue-waiver motion with the initial pleading, and the motion must be heard and decided before any other issue.

In any case brought pursuant to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act where neither petitioner nor respondent resides in the county; where the initial pleading is filed, counsel for the petitioner shall file with said pleading a written motion, which shall be set for hearing and ruled upon before any other issue is taken up, advising that the forum selected is not one of proper venue and seeking an appropriate order from the court allowing a waiver of the venue requirements of the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, 750 ILCS 5/104.

CRITICALCriminal cases

Applies to

Judgment

Must include

judge name

The judgment form instructs that the judge’s name be printed.

(PLEASE PRINT JUDGE'S NAME HERE)

CRITICAL

Applies to

Discovery motion

A party objecting to a discovery request, seeking to enforce compliance, or moving over response sufficiency must attach and file all relevant discovery with the motion.

Whenever any party has objection to any requests, or seeks to enforce compliance with any request or otherwise addresses a motion to the sufficiency of a response, they shall attach to their motion and file with the Circuit Clerk, a copy of all relevant discovery in order that the court may properly consider the motion.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Mediation cost application

Each application for a determination of ability to contribute to mediation costs must include a financial affidavit consistent with the affidavit form described in section 3.

Each application shall be accompanied by a financial affidavit, in a form consistent with the financial affidavit set forth in section 3 hereinabove.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Notice

In the stated circumstances, the Notice must explain the opposing party’s in-person option and how to request remote participation from the Clerk at least three full business days before the hearing.

If an opposing party has not appeared and/or the party providing Notice does not have an opposing party's e-mail address or telephone number, the Notice shall also inform the opposing party that the party may participate in the hearing personally at the designated time and place, and alternatively, that if the party prefers to participate in the hearing remotely, the party should inform the Clerk of the Court at least three (3) full business day before the hearing of the party's desire to participate remotely and provide the Clerk the party's e-mail address or, if none, a telephone number. The Clerk will then forward that information to the presiding judge.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Mediation referral form

The moving party’s attorney—or the judge when both parties are self-represented—must complete and forward the Mediation Referral form to the selected mediator(s).

The moving party's attorney, or Judge when both parties are self-represented, shall be responsible for completion of the Mediation Referral form and for forwarding that form to the mediator(s) selected.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Objection

The objection must assert that extended media coverage would materially interfere with a fair trial and provide supporting facts and circumstances.

2. There is good cause to believe that the presence of extended media coverage, under the circumstances of the proceeding, would materially interfere with the right of the parties to a fair trial. The specific facts and circumstances in support of the allegation are described as follows:

CRITICAL

Applies to

Formal agreement

The attorneys will review the memorandum, give advice and opinions, and draft a formal agreement to submit to the court.

The attorneys will review the memorandum, give advice and opinions, and draft a formal agreement to submit to the court.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Remote hearing notice

If the Court agrees to hear the matter remotely, notice of the remote hearing must be provided as specified in subparagraph B.

If the Court agrees to hear the matter remotely, notice of the remote hearing shall be provided as set forth in subparagraph B above.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Joint parental responsibility allocation order

Joint parental responsibility allocation orders must include the listed decision-making, parenting-time, access, notice, communication, and other child-related provisions, subject to stated exceptions and conditional requirements.

All joint parental responsibility allocation orders are required to conform to the requirements of the provisions of 750 ILCS 5/602.10, including, at a minimum, the following: i. an allocation of significant decision-making responsibilities; ii. provisions for the child's living arrangements and for each parent's parenting time, including either: (A) a schedule that designates in which parent's home the minor child will reside on given days; or (B) a formula or method for determining such a schedule in sufficient detail to be enforced in a subsequent proceeding; iii. a mediation provision addressing any proposed reallocation of parenting time or regarding the terms of allocation of parental responsibilities, except that this provision is not required if one parent is allocated all significant decision-making responsibilities; iv. each parent's right of access to medical, dental, and psychological records (subject to the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act), child care records, and school and extracurricular records, reports, and schedules, unless expressly denied by a court order or denied under Section 602.11; v. a designation of the parent who will be denominated as the parent with the majority of parenting time for purposes of Section 606.10; vi. the child's residential address for school enrollment purposes only; vii. each parent's residence address and phone number, and each parent's place of employment and employment address and phone number; viii. a requirement that a parent changing his or her residence provide at least 60 days prior written notice of the change to any other parent under the parenting plan or allocation judgment, unless such notice is impracticable or unless otherwise ordered by the court. If such notice is impracticable, written notice shall be given at the earliest date practicable. At a minimum, the notice shall set forth the following: (A) the intended date of the change of residence; and (B) the address of the new residence; ix. provisions requiring each parent to notify the other of emergencies, health care, travel plans, or other significant child-related issues; x. transportation arrangements between the parents; xi. provisions for communications, including electronic communications, with the child during the other parent's parenting time; xii. provisions for resolving issues arising from a parent's future relocation, if applicable; xiii. provisions for future modifications of the parenting plan, if specified events occur; xiv. provisions for the exercise of the right of first refusal, if so desired, that are consistent with the best interests of the minor child; provisions in the plan for the exercise of the right of first refusal must include: (i) the length and kind of child-care requirements invoking the right of first refusal; (ii) notification to the other parent and for his or her response; (iii) transportation requirements; and (iv) any other provision related to the exercise of the right of first refusal necessary to protect and promote the best interests of the minor child; and xv. any other provision that addresses the child's best interests or that will otherwise facilitate cooperation between the parents.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Notice of motion

A notice of motion must state whether the appearance is in person or by Zoom and, if it is by Zoom, include the required attendance language and available meeting details.

- • Notices of Motions. Notices of motions shall contain language indicating whether the appearance is in-person or over Zoom pursuant to the court's standing orders or adopted remote hearing instructions. If noticed for Zoom, the notice shall contain language "Parties shall attend the presentment of this motion remotely on Zoom" and shall provide the Meeting ID, Password, call in information or link to the meeting, if the Zoom link information is known.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Pre mediation questionnaire

Before a case may be referred for judicial mediation, the parties must complete a pre-mediation questionnaire in a form approved by the Chief Judge.

At any time after completion of discovery or, in self-represented cases, after filing of financial affidavits, and after completion by the parties of a pre-mediation questionnaire the form of which shall be approved by the Chief Judge, the trial judge as to an indigent case in which parental responsibility allocation or parenting time or removal of a child from Illinois is at issue may, upon request of either party or on the trial judge’s own motion, refer that case for judicial mediation by entry of a Judicial Mediation Order in form to be provided by the Chief Judge;

CRITICAL

Applies to

Mediation referral form

A mediation referral form must be completed by the minor’s counsel or another court-directed party and sent to the mediator within three days after entry of the Mediation Order.

A mediation referral form shall be sent to the mediator within three (3) days of the entry of the Mediation Order, and shall be completed by counsel for the minor or such other party as the court directs.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Family mediation referral form

A family mediation referral form must be sent to the mediator within 3 days after entry of the Order for Mediation.

A family mediation referral form shall be sent to the mediator in all cases within 3 days of the entry of the Order for Mediation.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Summons or petition

Every summons or petition must state whether the appearance will be in person or on Zoom and include the appropriate Notice of Rights.

In every summons or petition, the State's Attorney shall provide notice of whether the appearance is in-person or on Zoom and shall provide the appropriate Notice of Rights.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Extended media coverage request notice

The request notice must identify the case and proceeding, describe the requested coverage, confirm notice to specified recipients by name, and provide the coordinator’s contact and employer information.

The notice shall contain: - a. The title and docket number of the case, and the date and time, if available, of the proceeding. - b. The type of extended media coverage requested with a description (e.g. the number of television cameras, still photographers). - c. A statement that appropriate notice is being provided to all counsel of record, parties appearing without counsel, the appropriate court media liaison, the trial court administrator and the judge, along with the names of each. - d. The name, address and telephone number of the media coordinator making the request, and the media coordinator's employer.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Judicial mediation order

A judicial mediation referral must be made by entering a Judicial Mediation Order in the form provided by the Chief Judge.

by entry of a Judicial Mediation Order in form to be provided by the Chief Judge;

CRITICAL

Applies to

Witness list

At least three days before a hearing, the parties must file a list of attending attorneys, parties, and witnesses with their names and email addresses.

At least three (3) days prior to a hearing, the parties shall file a list containing names and e-mail addresses of the attorneys, parties, and witnesses (if any) who will attend the hearing.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Objection to extended media coverage

An objection to expanded media coverage must be written and state the reasons for the objection.

A party objecting to expanded media coverage shall file a written objection, stating the reasons, at least three (3) days before commencement of the proceeding.

CRITICALCriminal cases

Applies to

Judgment order

The attached Illinois Department of Corrections judgment-and-sentence order must be entered in every case involving a defendant sentenced to IDOC confinement.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, that the attached Judgment – Sentence to the Illinois Department of Corrections orders shall be entered in all cases that involve a defendant who has been sentenced to confinement in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the term of years and months specified for each offense.

CRITICALCivil cases

Applies to

Appeal

A removed attorney may appeal the removal in writing to the Chief Judge within ten days.

A removed guardian ad litem, child representative, or attorney for children may appeal the decision in writing within ten (10) days to the Chief Judge who shall decide the appeal after allowing the individual an opportunity to be heard.

WARNING

Applies to

Mediator application

The applicant should set forth his/her background and experience in mediation and should show that the Minimum Qualifications of Matrimonial and Family Dispute Mediators are met.

The applicant should set forth his/her background and experience in mediation and should show that the Minimum Qualifications of Matrimonial and Family Dispute Mediators are met.

WARNINGCivil cases

Applies to

Mediator list request

Requests for the certified mediator list must be made in writing.

NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, that a list of certified mediators approved to serve as a Family Mediator before courts of the Seventh Judicial Circuit shall be maintained by the Office of the Chief Judge and made available by request in writing.

WARNING

Applies to

News media request for extended media coverage

The request includes the media coordinator’s statement that they will abide by the applicable extended-media-coverage policy and local rule.

- 6. I will abide by all the provisions of the Policy for Extended Media Coverage in Circuit Courts of Illinois and the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court Local Rule on Extended Media Coverage as Amended Circuit Administrative Order 24-29.

WARNING

Applies to

Extended media coverage objection

The witness’s objection form calls for the witness to state a reason for objecting to extended media coverage.

I object to extended media coverage of my testimony for the following reason:

WARNING

Applies to

Extended media coverage objection

The party’s objection form calls for an allegation that extended media coverage would materially interfere with a fair trial and supporting specific facts and circumstances.

There is good cause to believe that the presence of extended media coverage, under the particular circumstances of the proceeding, would materially interfere with the right of the parties to a fair trial. The specific facts and circumstances in support of the allegation are described as follows:

WARNING

Applies to

Financial records

No other financial records may be filed with the clerk.

No other financial records may be filed with the clerk.

WARNINGCivil cases

Applies to

Application

The Chief Judge or designee may require an applicant to provide biographical or other relevant information.

The Chief Judge or his/her designee in his/her discretion may require any biographical or other relevant information from an applicant in order to determine the applicant's qualifications for inclusion on the list.

WARNING

Applies to

Objection

An objection must state specific reasons for opposing extended media coverage of the witness's testimony.

I object to extended media coverage of my testimony for the following reasons (please be specific):

WARNING

Applies to

Mediator application

Any person seeking to become a mediator should apply in writing to the Presiding Judge of that County or in Sangamon, Chief of the Family Division. The applicant should set forth his/her background and experience in mediation and should show that the Minimum Qualifications of Mediators are met.

Any person seeking to become a mediator should apply in writing to the Presiding Judge of that County or in Sangamon, Chief of the Family Division. The applicant should set forth his/her background and experience in mediation and should show that the Minimum Qualifications of Mediators are met.

WARNING

Applies to

Extended media coverage request

The requester must attest that the information is true and accurate and acknowledge that they are not a party and that the request cannot be appealed.

The above information is true and accurate, and I understand that I am not a party in this case and the request for media coverage cannot be appealed.

WARNING

Applies to

News media request for extended media coverage

The request form provides for the media coordinator’s signature and printed name.

Respectfully submitted, _____ Signature _____ Media Coordinator (Print Name)

WARNINGCivil cases

Applies to

Continuing education verification

Attorneys must submit verification of continuing-education attendance to the designated office at the time of attendance or upon request.

Each attorney shall attend continuing legal education courses consisting of at least ten (10) hours every two (2) years and submit verification of attendance to the Office of the Chief Judge, or, for Sangamon County, the Chief of the Family Division at the time of attendance or upon request.

WARNING

Applies to

Temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction petition

The court may entertain a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction petition accompanied by an affidavit showing a factual basis for relief.

The court may entertain a petition for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction, accompanied by affidavit, showing a factual basis for relief as provided in 750 ILCS 5/501 (a) (2).