During the divorce process your spouse and you are supposed to exchange documents detailing all of your assets (marital and non-marital). This process is called “discovery.” It is unfortunate but common for spouses to hide assets and not disclose those assets during the discovery process. If the hidden assets are discovered before the divorce is finalized then various sanctions will follow and the hidden assets may be divided as marital property.  If the hidden assets are discovered after the Judgment For Dissolution Of Marriage and the incorporated Marital Settlement Agreement are entered, the available remedy depends on the time frame, and a Chicago divorce attorney can help assess which procedure fits the timing and facts of the case. In Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, If the divorce was entered in the last 30 days, you can file a Motion To Vacate under section 2-1301. Under this section the court can vacate “set aside any final order or judgment upon any terms and conditions that shall be reasonable.” This is a very easy standard to satisfy. If the assets were concealed, the court is likely to vacate the divorce and you’ll start from scratch. If it’s been more than 30 days since the entry of the divorce, you can file a Motion to Vacate under Section 2-1401. The case, In Re Marriage of Benjamin and Benjamin 2017 IL App (1st) 161862, goes into the requirements at length: “Section 2-1401 provides a mechanism by which a party may obtain relief from a final judgment when 30 days or more have passed since its entry.” The purpose of the statute is to allow a party to alert the court to facts that, if known at the time, would have precluded judgment from being entered. A proceeding pursuant to section 2-1401 does not provide the litigant a new opportunity to perform a task that should have been completed early in the proceeding, nor does it allow a litigant relief from the consequences of his mistake or negligence. In order to be entitled to relief pursuant to section 2-1401, a party must set forth specific factual allegations to establish (1) the existence of a meritorious claim, (2) due diligence in presenting the claim to the trial court in the original action, and (3) due diligence in filing the section 2-1401 petition. Due diligence means that the “petitioner [needs] to have a reasonable excuse for failing to act within the appropriate time.” […]