Illinois has an automatic stay. Since 2016 it does not cover your property.
Filing for divorce in Illinois puts a stay in place by itself. Almost every article written about it is describing a version of the law that no longer exists.
Illinois really does have a dissolution action stay that takes effect without anybody asking for it. That part is true, and it is why so many guides tell Illinois readers that filing protects their assets. What those guides are describing is the statute as it read before 2016.
What the statute says now
750 ILCS 5/501.1 sets out the dissolution action stay. It currently restrains both parties from two things: physically abusing, harassing, intimidating, striking or interfering with the personal liberty of the other party or a child; and concealing a minor child from the other party.
The subsections that used to carry the property restraints — (b), (c) and (d) — now read, in the published text of the statute:
What that means if you are filing in Illinois
Filing does not stop your spouse selling, transferring or borrowing against anything. Not the house, not the accounts, not the car. The stay that arrives automatically is about safety and about the children, and it is a real protection — it is simply not a financial one.
If you need property restrained in Illinois, somebody has to ask a judge.
How to actually restrain property in Illinois
The route is 750 ILCS 5/501(a)(2), and it is a motion rather than a consequence of filing. The statute allows:
Three things follow from the wording. It needs a motion. It needs an affidavit setting out facts, not worries. And the order a judge grants will carry the same usual-course-of-business and necessities-of-life exceptions that the automatic orders in other states carry.
Why so much writing about this is wrong
The property subsections were not repealed by a headline reform. They were blanked by two public acts in consecutive years, and the section heading, the section number and the phrase “dissolution action stay” all survived unchanged. An article written in 2014 still looks current, still cites a live statute, and is wrong about the only part a reader cares about.
It is worth checking the date on anything you read about Illinois asset freezes, including this page. Ours was read on the General Assembly’s own site on 28 September 2026.
What is still automatic in Illinois, and it matters
The stay that does arrive on filing restrains abuse, harassment, intimidation and interference with personal liberty, and bars either parent from concealing a child from the other. The summons must carry notice of it. If you are filing because you are frightened rather than because you are worried about money, the automatic part of Illinois law is pointed at exactly your problem.
Sources, read 28 September 2026 on the Illinois General Assembly’s own site: 750 ILCS 5/501.1 · 750 ILCS 5/501. Nothing on this page is taken from a law firm page, a forms company or an aggregator. How the other forty-nine states handle this. Corrections at thecusp.app/corrections.
Serving the other spouse
In Illinois, the stay does not start when you file. It starts when the other spouse is served with the summons and petition, or files an appearance, whichever comes first (750 ILCS 5/501.1(a)). Until one of those happens, nothing restrains either of you, so who serves the papers, and when, decides when the protections begin.
Under 735 ILCS 5/2-202, the sheriff serves the summons. A licensed private detective, or an employee of a registered private detective agency, may also serve it without special appointment. The court may also, on motion, order service by a private person over 18 who is not a party to the case. In practice that means you cannot serve your own spouse. A sheriff completes a return on the papers, and a private person files an affidavit. The Illinois courts’ summons instructions add that the response deadline is printed on the summons and that you pay the sheriff’s fee for each person served unless you have an order waiving court fees. If service fails, ask why, fix the problem, and have a new summons prepared.
This page does not cover serving a spouse who lives in another state, who is avoiding service, or whose address you do not know. The clerk’s office or a lawyer can tell you which route applies. Sources: 735 ILCS 5/2-202 and Illinois Courts, Summons Instructions, read 29 October 2026.
A precision on timing, added 29 October 2026
The page above says that filing for divorce puts the stay in place. The statute is narrower. Under 750 ILCS 5/501.1(a), the dissolution action stay takes effect on service of the summons and petition, or when the respondent files an appearance, whichever happens first. Until one of those happens, nothing is in place, which is the same gap between filing and service that exists in many other states.
The rest of the section reads as described above: subsections (b), (c) and (d) are blank, and subsection (e) requires the summons to carry notice of the stay. We checked the section against the current statute text on 29 October 2026. Corrections log.
Serving rules differ in every state. See who can serve divorce papers in all 50 states and how the automatic orders in the other forty-nine states depend on service.