Logan Square Divorce & Family Law Attorney

Where Logan Square family cases are heard

Logan Square is a neighborhood within the Logan Square community area of Chicago, in Cook County. Under 750 ILCS 5/104, venue for a dissolution case is the county where either party resides, so a Logan Square filing goes to Cook County. Under 750 ILCS 5/401, one spouse must have been an Illinois resident (or stationed here in the military) for 90 days before the court enters a judgment of dissolution.

The case is handled by the Domestic Relations Division, Circuit Court of Cook County, at the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602. The presiding judge's courtroom is 1905, and the clerk's Domestic Relations office is Room 802. The division line is (312) 603-3025; the clerk's number is (312) 603-6441. Before a first appearance, call the clerk to confirm where and how your courtroom is hearing matters that day, since some calls are remote and some are in person.

Getting there on the L. Two Blue Line stations sit inside Logan Square: California and Logan Square. The Blue Line runs directly to the Loop, and two Blue Line stops serve the Daley Center area: Washington and Monroe. If you transfer, these downtown stations are also near the Daley Center: Clark/Lake (Blue, Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, Purple), Lake (Red), Monroe (Blue, Red), State/Lake (Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, Purple), Washington/Wabash (Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, Purple) and Washington/Wells (Brown, Orange, Pink, Purple). Station and line information comes from the City of Chicago's CTA L stops dataset.

For scale: the Logan Square community area has a total population of 71,354, including 11,688 residents under 18, per American Community Survey 5-year figures for 2023 published by the City of Chicago (ACS 5-Year Data by Community Area). The neighborhood is an informal area within that community area.

Orders of protection and police reports

Domestic violence orders of protection for Chicago residents are not heard at the Daley Center. They go to the Domestic Violence Courthouse (Domestic Violence Division, Circuit Court of Cook County), 555 W. Harrison St., Chicago, IL 60607, phone (312) 325-9000. In-person hours are Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., and remote court runs Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.

If you need protection outside those hours, emergency orders of protection are heard remotely by Zoom Monday-Friday 9 p.m. - 3 a.m. and Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. Requests go through the Illinois Legal Aid Online website, and advocates are reachable through the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline, (877) 863-6338. An emergency order can be entered without prior notice to the other party under 750 ILCS 60/217; the remedies a judge can order, including staying away from you, your home, your workplace and your children's school, are listed in 750 ILCS 60/214.

Note one scheduling change: stalking no contact order cases filed within Chicago move to the First Municipal District at the Daley Center on September 21, 2026.

Police report. Any Chicago police station can take a report. The district station nearest the center of Logan Square, per the City of Chicago Police Stations dataset, is District 14 (Shakespeare), 2150 N California Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, about 0.4 miles from the neighborhood's center.

Court advocates can walk through the paperwork with you and go to court with you. Between Friends runs a 24-hour crisis line at (800) 603-4357 and provides court advocacy: explaining rights and options, helping with paperwork, accompanying people to court, and orders of protection. Connections for Abused Women and their Children (CAWC), at 1116 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago, IL 60651, has a 24-hour hotline at (773) 278-4566, plus shelter and court advocacy and bilingual Spanish/English Humboldt Park outreach.

What Cook County requires of parents

If your case involves children, two county requirements will come up early.

• Parent education. Cook County's program is Focus on Children, required of litigating parents in dissolution and parentage cases under 750 ILCS 5/404.1 and Illinois Supreme Court Rule 924. It is a four-hour in-person class, with Spanish sessions twice a month and interpreters by arrangement; an online alternative, Children In Between Online, is available. The cost is $50 unless waived by the judge. Register through Family Court Services at (312) 603-1540 or DRD.family@cookcountyil.gov, with a copy of your court order. Details are on the court's parent education page.
• Mediation. Mediation is mandatory for initial allocation of parental responsibilities, modification of allocation, relocation, and non-parent visitation. It is discretionary for financial and discovery disputes. When parents cannot agree on a mediator for a child-related dispute, Family Court Services handles it; otherwise you may use a court-certified or agreed private mediator. The contact number is (312) 603-1540.

Family Court Services is at 69 W. Washington St., Suite 1000, Chicago, IL 60602, (312) 603-1540, and provides parent education, mediation, evaluations, emergency intervention and children's support groups.

On the substance of a parenting case, 750 ILCS 5/602.10 requires a parenting plan within 120 days after service or filing. Decision-making is allocated under 750 ILCS 5/602.5 and parenting time under 750 ILCS 5/602.7. If something needs to be decided before the case ends, the court can make a temporary allocation under 750 ILCS 5/603.5, and can restrict parental responsibilities on a finding of serious endangerment under 750 ILCS 5/603.10. Moving more than 25 miles from Cook County is governed by 750 ILCS 5/609.2.

On money: temporary relief, including temporary support and exclusive possession of the marital residence under 750 ILCS 5/501(c-2); property division under 750 ILCS 5/503; maintenance, including the guideline formula at 750 ILCS 5/504(b-1); child support on the income shares model under 750 ILCS 5/505; and later changes to support or allocation judgments under 750 ILCS 5/510.

Legal aid and advocacy serving this part of the city

If cost is the obstacle, start with these before your first court date:

• Legal Aid Chicago — (312) 341-1070 — legalaidchicago.org
• CARPLS legal aid hotline — (312) 738-9200 — get legal help in Cook County
• Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services — intake line (312) 986-4105, 101 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60606; Safety & Family practice group — laschicago.org
• Greater Chicago Legal Clinic — (312) 726-2938, 17 N. State St., Suite 1710, Chicago, IL 60602; 24-hour intake, divorce judgments, parenting plans, orders of protection; some services free, others sliding scale — gclclaw.org

For safety-related help: Between Friends, 24-hour crisis line (800) 603-4357; the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline, (877) 863-6338; and CAWC, (773) 278-4566, 1116 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago, IL 60651.

Working with our office

Jonathan D. Steele practices at Beermann LLP, 161 N. Clark St., Suite 3000, Chicago, IL 60601, (312) 621-4394 — reachable from Logan Square on the Blue Line and near the same downtown stations that serve the Daley Center.

The practice covers divorce, allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time, child support and maintenance, orders of protection, and post-decree enforcement, with particular experience in cases that turn on financial records and digital evidence: concealed assets and crypto, message and parenting-app records, spyware and account intrusions. Jonathan holds cybersecurity credentials (CompTIA Security+, ISC2 CC, EC-Council CEH).

How to start. Prospects begin with a short online form. The office runs a conflict check and calls back, and a 15-minute screening call can be booked online. Before that call, it helps to have a few things at hand: the names of everyone involved (for the conflict check), whether anything has already been filed, whether there is an existing order of protection or a pending criminal matter, and a rough list of the accounts and documents you can currently access.