Our 2016 amendments to Illinois’ law provide clarity to our caselaw involving reimbursement claims for a non-marital business. Several cases over a six-year period overlooked the reasonableness or the adequacy of compensation to the business-owning spouse. This caselaw involves non-marital corporations and whether their retained earnings are marital or non-marital in character. A Second District 2009 case and a 2011 First District case provided the bookends for the court’s treatment of retained earnings, prior to the 2016 rewrite. And in 2012, the Second District again weighed in with its Dann decision.
But, in light of the 2016 amendments, it shouldn’t matter whether or not a non-marital business accrued substantial retained earnings during the marriage – if the marital estate has reasonably been compensated. Nevertheless, because there are cases where the marital estate hasn’t been reasonably compensated, knowledge of this caselaw remains critical. Here the Gitlin Law Firm provides an in-depth look at this occasionally critical issue.
