Old Town Divorce & Family Law Attorney

Where Old Town cases are heard, and how to get there

Old Town sits inside two Chicago community areas, Lincoln Park and the Near North Side. Wherever your block falls, a Cook County divorce or parenting case is heard downtown by the Domestic Relations Division of the 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 can be reached at (312) 603-3025 and the Clerk at (312) 603-6441.

Venue is set by statute: under 750 ILCS 5/104, a case is filed in the county where either party resides, so Cook County is the venue for an Old Town household. For a judgment of dissolution, 750 ILCS 5/401 requires 90 days of Illinois residency (or military presence in the state) before judgment enters.

Getting there on the L. The station inside Old Town is Sedgwick, served by the Brown and Purple lines. Both of those lines stop within a short walk of the Daley Center at Clark/Lake, Washington/Wells, State/Lake and Washington/Wabash. Clark/Lake also serves the Blue, Green, Orange and Pink lines if you are transferring. If you are coming from elsewhere on the Red Line, Lake and Monroe are the nearby Red Line stops; Washington and Monroe serve the Blue Line. Station and line information comes from the City of Chicago's CTA list of L stops.

Court dates are called on a schedule you do not control, so plan to arrive early enough to clear building security and find the courtroom. Details about the Division are posted at the Domestic Relations Division page.

Orders of protection and police reports

Domestic violence orders of protection for Chicago residents are heard at 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 through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and remote court runs Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Outside those hours, emergency orders of protection are heard remotely by Zoom, Monday through Friday from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Requests go through the Illinois Legal Aid Online website, and advocates are reachable through the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline at (877) 863-6338. Stalking no contact order cases filed within Chicago move to the First Municipal District at the Daley Center on September 21, 2026.

An emergency order can be entered without prior notice to the other party under 750 ILCS 60/217. The remedies a court can order — including stay-away provisions, exclusive possession of a residence, and conditions on contact with children — are listed in 750 ILCS 60/214. Where a divorce case is already on file, 750 ILCS 5/501, including exclusive possession of the marital residence under 501(c-2), and temporary allocation of parental responsibilities under 750 ILCS 5/603.5 are separate tools in the Daley Center case. If a child's physical, mental or emotional health is seriously endangered, 750 ILCS 5/603.10 allows restrictions on parental responsibilities.

Filing a police report. Any Chicago police station can take a report. The district station nearest the center of Old Town, per the City of Chicago Police Stations dataset, is the 18th District (Near North), 1160 N Larrabee St, Chicago, IL 60610, about 0.6 miles from the neighborhood's center.

Bring what you already have: photographs, texts, voicemails, medical records, screenshots with dates visible. Court information is posted by the Domestic Violence Division.

What Cook County asks of parents

Parenting education. Litigating parents in dissolution and parentage cases attend Focus on Children, required 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 at the 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. For child-related disputes where the parties cannot agree on a mediator, Family Court Services provides the mediator; otherwise parties use court-certified or agreed private mediators. The contact number is (312) 603-1540. See the mediation program page.

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

The parenting plan. Under 750 ILCS 5/602.10, a parenting plan is due 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. Child support follows the income shares calculation in 750 ILCS 5/505; maintenance, including the guideline formula, is governed by 750 ILCS 5/504 and 504(b-1). Property is divided under 750 ILCS 5/503. Later changes to support or allocation judgments run through 750 ILCS 5/510, and a move is analyzed under 750 ILCS 5/609.2, which for a Cook County parent is triggered by a move of more than 25 miles.

Advocacy and legal aid serving this part of the city

Domestic violence support. Between Friends runs a 24-hour crisis line at (800) 603-4357 and court advocacy that explains rights and options, helps with paperwork, and accompanies people to court on orders of protection. The Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline is (877) 863-6338. Apna Ghar, at 4350 N. Broadway, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60613, hotline (773) 334-4663, provides gender-violence services and advocacy for immigrant communities. KAN-WIN operates a 24-hour multilingual hotline in Korean, Chinese and English at (773) 583-0880, with a legal advocacy program for immigrant survivors.

Legal aid. Legal Aid Chicago, (312) 341-1070. The CARPLS legal aid hotline, (312) 738-9200. The Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services, intake line (312) 986-4105, 101 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60606, with a Safety & Family practice group. The Greater Chicago Legal Clinic, (312) 726-2938, 17 N. State St., Suite 1710, Chicago, IL 60602, has 24-hour intake and handles divorce judgments, parenting plans and orders of protection; some services are free and others are on a sliding scale.

Context. Old Town is an informal area within two community areas. Per American Community Survey 5-year figures for 2023 published by the City of Chicago, Lincoln Park has a total population of 62,067, including 9,642 residents under 18, and the Near North Side has a total population of 91,635, including 6,294 residents under 18 (source).

Working with our office

Jonathan D. Steele practices at Beermann LLP, 161 N. Clark St., Suite 3000, Chicago, IL 60601, phone (312) 621-4394 — in the same downtown area as the Daley Center, reachable from Old Town on the Brown or Purple line from Sedgwick.

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 this week. Fill out the short online form. The office runs a conflict check and calls back, and you can book a 15-minute screening call online. Before that call, it helps to gather the basics: where each party lives and how long you have lived in Illinois, your children's ages and current schedule, recent pay records, and a list of accounts. If you have a court date already set, note the date and the case number.