ARTICLES

Professional Licenses

In Illinois, professional licenses and educational degrees are non-marital property. In fact, they're not considered property at all.¹ Illinois courts have ruled, however, that there must be adequate compensation where one spouse helps another acquire a higher degree or a professional license.² Generally speaking, the contributing spouse is awarded a larger share of the marital property to compensate for the increased earning capacity of the professional or degree-holding spouse. Absent sufficient assets, most courts turn to an award of maintenance to balance the scales.

The general rule applies to more than just "professional" degrees, too – even obtaining just a college degree during the marriage and with the spouse's support should be considered by the court when splitting up the assets.³ The focus is on the fact that one spouse obtained a degree during the marriage with the support of the other spouse. The mere fact that the supporting spouse had plenty of resources and easily afforded the support of the degree-earning spouse is largely irrelevant.⁴ That's right, where a millionaire's spouse could stay at home and do nothing but instead goes out and earns a degree, the degree will be counted against that spouse and may result in that spouse compensating the millionaire for the support.

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