In re Marriage of Mather

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State: Illinois

Court: 1st District Appellate

Docket No: 1-10-1996 NRel

Case Date: 03/31/2011

Preview:SIXTH DIVISION MARCH 31, 2011

No. 1-10-1996 In re MARRIAGE OF TIM MATHER, Petitioner-Appellant, and MARGARET ANN MATHER, Respondent-Appellee. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County 09 D 10271

Honorable Marya Nega, Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE R. E. GORDON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. JUSTICES CAHILL and McBRIDE concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION The parties, Margaret and Tim Mather, were married in Du Page County on June 18, 1988. They resided in a home in Naperville in Du Page County until March 1, 2009, when Tim moved out and rented a two-bedroom apartment in Lisle, which is also in Du Page County. Tim still leases the Lisle apartment, which is approximately two miles from the family home. Two children were born to the parties, in 1993 and 1996, respectively. On October 17, 2009, Tim leased a studio apartment in Chicago, where he works. On November 5, 2009, Tim filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in Cook County. He is not seeking custody of his two children, who reside in Du Page County. On January 25, 2010, Margaret moved to transfer the case to Du Page County pursuant to section 2-104 of the Illinos Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-104 (West 2008)). After hearing the arguments of the

No. 1-10-1996 parties, the trial court granted Margaret's motion to transfer venue to Du Page County. On May 4, 2010, Margaret filed a motion to dismiss the petition pursuant to the doctrine of forum non conveniens. After hearing the arguments of the parties, the trial court granted Margaret's motion on June 22, 2010, finding that Du Page County is the more appropriate forum, and denied Tim's motion to reconsider on July 13, 2010. This interlocutory appeal followed. For the reasons discussed below, we cannot find that the trial court abused its discretion by granting Margaret's motion to dismiss on forum non conveniens grounds. BACKGROUND The parties testified at the hearing on the motion to dismiss. Margaret testified that she lives in Du Page County, works as a part-time school teacher in Du Page, and that her friends, neighbors, doctors for her and her children, are all in Du Page County. She lives 22 minutes from the Du Page County courthouse in Wheaton, and it takes an hour and 45 minutes to arrive at the Daley Center in Chicago from her home. Margaret is responsible for preparing and driving the children to school each morning. The children also attend various activities in Du Page County. Margaret's attorney represented that he had an office in Du Page County and did not charge for travel time. After the motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens was granted, Margaret's attorney indicated he would not be representing her in Du Page County. However, the trial court stated on Tim's motion to reconsider that the court "never considered who the respective lawyers were [or] what their billing rates were." Margaret completed a co-parenting class in Du Page County because "Tim had informed [her] that to get divorced in Du Page County, [she] had to take this class and [she] did."

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No. 1-10-1996 Margaret claims she did not know of Tim's Chicago apartment until the day before the hearing on the venue motion. Margaret claims that all of the parties' marital property and all the potential witnesses are in Du Page County. The couple maintained a joint bank account at Chase Bank and Margaret uses a branch near her house in Du Page County. Margaret testified that Du Page County presented a more convenient forum in which to litigate this matter. Tim testified that he uses his two-bedroom apartment in Lisle to exercise parenting time with his children, ages 16 and 13. He is currently seeking visitation only every other weekend and alternating holidays. In addition, he may seek some additional time in the summer. Tim is the primary breadwinner in the family. He is employed as the managing principal chief technology officer for PMA Consultants, a company based in Detroit, Michigan, but Tim's office is located at 333 West Wacker Drive in Chicago. Tim currently resides at 1140 North LaSalle Street in Chicago. Tim travels extensively

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