Dear Justice Corner:

Dear Justice Corner: I hear Forcible Entry and Detainer cases and have been using the same Order for Possession for years. Do I have to use the new statewide Eviction Order?  And can I continue to enter agreed orders allowing tenants to move out voluntarily by a certain date and if they don't, an Order for Possession gets entered?

-Judge Ordermeevicted

 

Dear Judge Ordermeevicted:
Effective January 1, 2018 the former Forcible Entry and Detainer Act has been renamed the Eviction Act (735 ILCS 5/9-101 et seq.). Court staff should avoid using the terms "Forcible Entry and Detainer" and "Order for Possession" from now on and only use "Eviction" and "Eviction Order" when talking with court patrons.

The revised Act requires the use of a statewide Eviction Order pursuant to Section 9-109.6. This means that when you need to enter an order evicting someone, the statewide Eviction Order form MUST be used, and no other locally created Orders are allowed. On the statewide form, there is space to write in the title box if the Eviction Order is by agreement/consent, default/ex parte, or after trial.

However, orders which do NOT order an eviction such as the compliance order/voluntary move out order you mentioned, agreed orders to "pay and stay" (pay an amount certain to be able to stay living in the property), agreed orders to cure other lease violations (like barring a certain person from the property), or agreed orders to dismiss the case with leave to reinstate, may still be used. If the penalty for not complying with an alternative order is eviction, then you must enter the Eviction Order at the appropriate time per the agreed order. Parties may handle their cases and attempt to settle matters as they always have. The Eviction Order should only be used when the tenant is actually being ordered evicted.

Please know that the Forms Committee of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice is working diligently to develop additional standardized orders, motions, and other forms that may be used in eviction cases in the future. When approved, those forms would be required to be accepted, but not required to be used.  The forms will go through a period of public comment. If you want to provide feedback on any published forms or be added to the listserv to receive notification regarding public comment periods and publication of approved standardized forms, please email Alison Spanner, Forms Officer, at:
aspanner@illinoiscourts.gov.

Please email your questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, or stories about self-represented litigants to justicecorner@illinoiscourts.gov.

- Justice Corner, Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice Court Guidance and Training Committee

• Chief Judge Michael J. Sullivan, McHenry County
• Presiding Judge Clarence M. Darrow, Rock Island County
• Presiding Judge Sharon M. Sullivan, Cook County
• Chief Judge Kevin P. Fitzgerald, McLean County
• Judge William G. Schwartz, Jackson County
• David Holtermann, Lawyers' Trust Fund, Chicago
• Joseph Dailing, Legal Aid Consultant, Rockford