Illinois Code § 5

§ 5.

Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds that the domestic relations area of law frequently involves individuals who are indigent and unable to obtain legal representation; the courts of Illinois are backlogged with both pre-judgment and post-judgment domestic relations cases involving dissolution of marriage, legal separation, declaration of invalidity of marriage, visitation, custody, child support, paternity, and maintenance issues that require numerous court appearances and lengthy hearings caused in part by individuals who are not represented by legal counsel and who do not understand the proceedings; the resolution of these cases where one or both parties have not been represented by counsel results in the unrepresented party not following the court procedures and orders, many times causing multiple court proceedings, leading to costly and time consuming judicial proceedings revolving around the same issues; providing legal representation to the indigent party in domestic relations cases has a great potential for efficiently reducing the volume of matters which burden the court system in this State; there are social and economic benefits in reducing the number of court proceedings in domestic relations cases; many seemingly minor disputes between individuals may escalate into major social and legal problems without the intervention of legal representation and education about the legal system for all parties; there are compelling reasons for providing legal representation to indigent individuals in domestic relations matters; and not-for-profit charitable organizations have in the past and can continue to make a substantial contribution to the expeditious operation and maintenance of the courts in domestic relations cases pending in this State. (Source: P.A. 89-56, eff. 1-1-96.)