In re Marriage of Hainds

2025 IL App (4th) 250454-U
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided November 7, 2025·No. 4-25-0454·Unpublished

Opinion

NOTICE 2025 IL App (4th) 250454-U This Order was filed under FILED Supreme Court Rule 23 and is November 7, 2025 not precedent except in the NO. 4-25-0454 Carla Bender

limited circumstances allowed 4th District Appellate under Rule 23(e)(1). IN THE APPELLATE COURT Court, IL

OF ILLINOIS

FOURTH DISTRICT

In re MARRIAGE OF ) Appeal from the RUSSELL L. HAINDS, ) Circuit Court of Petitioner-Appellee, ) Henderson County and ) No. 09DC23 SONIA L. HAINDS, )

Respondent-Appellant. ) Honorable ) Raymond A. Cavanaugh, ) Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE ZENOFF delivered the judgment of the court.

Justices Doherty and DeArmond concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s order holding respondent in indirect civil contempt where all the issues raised by respondent on appeal were moot, forfeited, or lacked merit.

¶2 Petitioner, Russell L. Hainds, and respondent, Sonia L. Hainds, were divorced in 2010. Pursuant to the dissolution judgment, Sonia was awarded the marital home and ordered to “make reasonable efforts” to refinance the mortgage on the property. In 2024, Russell filed a motion to enforce the judgment because Sonia still had not refinanced the mortgage. Following a hearing, the trial court found Sonia in indirect civil contempt and ordered her to refinance the mortgage or list the property for sale within 60 days. Thereafter, Sonia successfully paid off the mortgage, and the court recognized that Sonia had purged herself of contempt. Sonia appeals pro se, arguing that the court (1) abused its discretion by excluding evidence she presented at the hearing, (2) misinterpreted court orders, (3) abused its discretion in imposing a 60-day deadline to

refinance or list the property for sale, (4) demonstrated bias against her, and (5) failed to adjudicate several issues she raised at the hearing. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 Russell and Sonia married in 1992. They had three children together: J.H. in 1992, D.H. in 1995, and H.H. in 2006. In 2009, Russell filed a petition for dissolution of marriage. In September 2010, the trial court entered a judgment of dissolution of marriage. Pursuant to the judgment, Sonia was awarded the marital residence and ordered to “assume, pay and save [Russell] harmless from any taxes or indebtedness secured by the real estate.” The judgment further provided: “[Sonia] has the obligation to make reasonable efforts to refinance said mortgage on or before August 31, 2012. In the event she is denied financing she shall continue to attempt to refinance every six (6) months.” Pursuant to the judgment, Russell was ordered to pay maintenance to Sonia of “$601.00 per month for a period of 24 months commencing August, 2010,” which he was to satisfy by paying “the monthly marital residence mortgage of $501.00 per month and the balance by payroll withholding.” Russell was also ordered to pay child support.

¶5 In July 2012, Russell filed a petition to terminate maintenance. He also requested that “an amount equivalent to the monthly mortgage payment be deducted from [his] child support obligation and used to make the mortgage payment on the marital residence, with the balance of child support being paid by income withholding,” until Sonia refinanced the mortgage on the marital home. In August 2012, the trial court entered an agreed order terminating maintenance, as well as a uniform order for support requiring Russell to pay $1,530 per month in child support, with $532 per month from that amount “deducted and paid toward [Sonia’s] mortgage with Wells Fargo Bank.” The order further provided: “Respondent shall continue to have obligation to do mortgage refinance as soon as possible.”

¶6 On October 30, 2015, the trial court entered a uniform order for support requiring Russell to pay monthly child support of $1,700. The order provided that Russell’s “[a]ctual payment” to Sonia was “reduced by $500.00 per month” and “paid toward [Sonia’s] mortgage with Wells Fargo.”

¶7 In February 2024, Russell filed a petition to enforce and modify. According to Russell, Sonia still had not refinanced the mortgage debt on the marital home and “failed to make any good faith efforts to refinance the property.” Russell further asserted that the “house payment has fluctuated and increased” well beyond the $500 per month he was ordered to pay, asserting that he was required to pay $639.54 in December 2018 and $803.03 in October 2023. As a result, Russell requested that (1) Sonia be required to refinance the mortgage or sell the property, (2) Sonia be found in civil contempt for failing to abide by the trial court’s orders to refinance the property, (3) Sonia be required to reimburse him for his legal fees and costs, and (4) he be reimbursed for his overpayment for taxes and insurance on the property.

¶8 In October 2024, Sonia filed an “Emergency Motion to Enforce Support Order.” According to Sonia, Russell was “in arrears by more than 120 days in making the[ ] mortgage payments, placing the marital home at immediate risk of foreclosure.” Therefore, Sonia asked the trial court to “compel [Russell] to bring the mortgage account current.” In November 2024, Sonia filed motions to (1) compel Russell to provide documentation regarding tax-related filings, mortgage payments, and 401(k) information and (2) extend Russell’s child support obligations beyond H.H.’s 18th birthday “until [H.H.] graduates from high school in May, 2025.”

¶9 The trial court held a “Final Case Management Conference” on December 9, 2024. At that time, the court resolved Sonia’s motion to compel. Following that hearing, the court entered an order providing that all “pending motions are set for trial on January 13, 2025,” and identified

those motions as (1) Russell’s petition to enforce and modify, (2) Sonia’s motion to extend child support, and (3) Sonia’s emergency motion to enforce the support order.

¶ 10 The trial court held the hearing as scheduled on January 13, 2025. Russell was represented by counsel, while Sonia represented herself. Russell presented evidence establishing that he was current on the mortgage payments for the marital home, thereby rendering moot

Sonia’s emergency motion to enforce -

the

- support order.

¶ 11 Russell called Sonia as his first witness. Sonia testified that she resided at the marital home “[s]ometimes” but admitted that she had not spent the night there since June 2023. Sonia testified that she and her youngest daughter, H.H., lived primarily at another home, where Sonia’s father resided before his death. Sonia testified that the property where she and H.H. live is “in a trust” that is “tied to [her] family,” but she denied being a beneficiary of the trust.

¶ 12 Sonia’s financial affidavit, dated September 22, 2024, was admitted into evidence. In her affidavit, Sonia listed as monthly expenses $348.40 for mortgage payments and $71 in real estate taxes, but Sonia admitted that she did not make any such payments for any property. She testified that she made four monthly payments for homeowner’s insurance on the marital home in December 2023 but made no other homeowner’s or renter’s insurance payments, even though her financial affidavit listed homeowner’s/renter’s insurance as a monthly expense of $130. Sonia agreed that her child support “is reduced by the monthly mortgage payment” on the marital home and that “the insurance and real estate taxes are escrowed as part of that mortgage payment.”

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In re Marriage of Hainds, 2025 IL App (4th) 250454-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2025).

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