In re Marriage of Duda

2025 IL App (1st) 242448-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 19, 2025
Docket1-24-2448
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2025 IL App (1st) 242448-U (In re Marriage of Duda) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Marriage of Duda, 2025 IL App (1st) 242448-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

2025 IL App (1st) 242448-U No. 1-24-2448 Order filed December 19, 2025 Fifth Division

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ In re MARRIAGE OF ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of AGNIESZKA DUDA, ) Cook County. ) Petitioner-Appellant, ) No. 23 D 2362 ) v. ) Honorable ) Andrea Webber, JOHN DUDA, ) Judge, Presiding. ) Respondent-Appellee. )

JUSTICE ODEN JOHNSON delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Mitchell and Justice Tailor concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶ 1 Held: We affirm where the circuit court did not err in finding that the parties’ premarital agreement was valid and not unconscionable where petitioner failed to meet her burden of establishing the statutory requirements of section 7(a)(2) of the Illinois Premarital Agreement Act (750 ILCS 10/7(a)(2) (West 2022)) for determining whether a premarital agreement is unconscionable. No. 1-24-2448

¶ 2 Petitioner Agnieszka Duda (Agnes) appeals from the circuit court’s grant of respondent John

Duda’s (John) petition for declaratory judgment that the parties’ premarital agreement 1 was valid

and the denial of her motion to reconsider. On appeal, Agness contends that the circuit court erred

in finding that the premarital agreement was not unconscionable. For the following reasons, we

affirm.

¶3 BACKGROUND

¶ 4 Agnes and John were married on July 7, 2007, 10 days after they executed a premarital

agreement. Agnes filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on March 24, 2023, with no mention

of the premarital agreement. On April 26, 2023, John filed a petition for declaratory judgment

pursuant to section 2-701 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) (735 ILCS 5/2-701 (West 2022)),

requesting that the circuit court find the premarital agreement valid and enforceable. Because the

issue raised in the appeal involves the parties’ premarital agreement, we confine our discussion

only to the facts relevant to this issue.

¶ 5 On June 14, 2024, the circuit court held an evidentiary hearing on John’s motion for declaratory

judgment. Several witnesses testified at the hearing.

¶ 6 Attorney Christopher Koczwara testified that he had been practicing law for 13 years at the

time he represented Agnes for the execution of the premarital agreement. His main areas of practice

were real estate, business transactions, estate planning, probate and breach of contract litigation.

Koczwara testified that he represented Agnes regarding the premarital agreement in 2007 after she

While the parties’ agreement was titled as an antenuptial agreement, we note that it was 1

executed after January 1, 1990, and is thus subject to the Illinois Uniform Premarital Agreement Act (Premarital Agreement Act) (750 ILCS 10/1 et seq.(West 2022)). We will therefore refer to it as a premarital agreement.

-2- No. 1-24-2448

contacted him by phone to see if he did that kind of work and spoke Polish. Koczwara received a

copy of the premarital agreement on June 25, 2007, and was informed that the wedding date was

July 7, 2007. The premarital agreement, including the parties’ financial disclosures, had been

drafted by John’s attorney, Howard Hoff. Koczwara met with Agnes for an hour on June 27,

2007, but could not recall if he spoke with Agnes in only Polish or both languages. He stated that

Agnes was not cognitively impaired and she did not appear coerced. Koczwara did not know if

Agnes could read the document in English. Koczwara testified that he translated the document

paragraph by paragraph to Agnes during their meeting and he made two minor changes to the

agreement. He was satisfied that Agnes understood the meaning of the paragraphs of the agreement

and wanted to sign the agreement. Koczwara testified that he did not verify John’s financial

information, he did not provide a translated copy of the agreement to Agnes (it would have been

sent out for translation if requested as that was not performed in his office), did not memorialize

any of the items discussed, did not know whether Agnes saw the document prior to coming to his

office and he neither encouraged nor dissuaded Agnes from signing the premarital agreement.

Koczwara stated that he spent a total of 2.25 hours on this matter but usually spent more time on

premarital agreements. He wrote a letter to Agnes in Polish on June 28, 2007, seeking $225 as

payment for his services.

¶ 7 John testified that he first met Agnes briefly in 2001 before she returned to Poland. They met

again in 2003 while Agnes was in the United States for vacation. Agnes subsequently moved into

his home in March 2004 as a boarder and she paid rent. Agnes was studying English on a student

visa when she arrived in 2004. She also worked for John’s mother at a travel agency for Polish

clients. Agnes did not have a green card, and his mother sponsored her for the student visa. To

-3- No. 1-24-2448

maintain her student visa, Agnes took classes at the BIR Training Center. John proposed to Agnes

in February or March 2007, and they were married on July 7, 2007, in Chicago. John testified that

he made a full disclosure on his financial affidavit that had been prepared by his attorney, Howard

Hoff. John further testified that he and Agnes spoke both English and Polish, but predominately

Polish. John stated that Agnes knew enough English at the time of execution to understand the

contract.

¶ 8 Urzula Galica met Agnes in Spring 2004 at the BIR Training Center while taken English as a

second language classes for a year and a half. She stated that Agnes’ English was very basic and

that she never spoke to Agnes in English, even in 2007. Galica stated that Agnes had no English-

speaking friends at the time of Agnes’ wedding in 2007, and that Agnes’ English had not improved

much from 2004 to 2007.

¶ 9 Agnes testified that she was born in Poland and first came to the United States in 2001 and met

John briefly at his employer’s house. In 2003, Agnes returned to the United States, rented an

apartment and met John again. She stated that John suggested that she rent a room at his house,

where she stayed for a month before returning to Poland. Agnes subsequently returned to the

United States on March 30, 2004, on a tourist visa when she was 27 years old. She moved into

John’s house and paid him rent while she worked for his mother’s travel agency. John’s employee

helped her apply for a student visa because Agnes did not have an attorney to help her with the

process. Agnes studied English at the BIR Training Center, and John’s mother sponsored her green

card through her travel agency. Agnes testified that she attended the school merely to keep her

legal status. John’s mother and the customers communicated in Polish. Agnes stated that when she

was in the final stages of getting her green card, she and John decided to get married rather than

-4- No. 1-24-2448

pay $6000 to continue classes and maintain her student visa. Agnes testified that she wanted to

stay in the United States but did not want to pay the $6000.

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2025 IL App (1st) 242448-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-duda-illappct-2025.