In this Act: (1) "Collaborative process communication" means a statement, whether oral or in a record, or verbal or nonverbal, that: (A) is made to conduct, participate in, continue, or reconvene a collaborative process; and (B) occurs after the parties sign a collaborative process participation agreement and before the collaborative process is concluded. (2) "Collaborative process participation agreement" means a written agreement by persons acting with informed consent to participate in a collaborative process, in which the persons agree to discharge their collaborative process lawyer and law firm if the collaborative process fails. (3) "Collaborative process" means a procedure intended to resolve a collaborative process matter without intervention by a court in which persons: (A) sign a collaborative process participation agreement; and (B) are represented by collaborative process lawyers. (4) "Collaborative process lawyer" means a lawyer who represents a party in a collaborative process and helps carry out the process of the agreement, but is not a party to the agreement. (5) "Collaborative process matter" means a dispute, transaction, claim, problem, or issue for resolution, including a dispute, claim, or issue in a proceeding, which is described in a collaborative process participation agreement and arises under the family or domestic relations law of this State, including: (A) marriage, divorce, dissolution, annulment, legal separation, and property distribution; (B) significant decision-making and parenting time of children; (C) maintenance and child support; (D) adoption; (E) parentage; and (F) premarital, marital, and post-marital agreements. "Collaborative process matter" does not include any dispute, transaction, claim, problem, or issue that: (i) is the subject of a pending action under the Juvenile Court Act of 1987; (ii) is under investigation by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services pursuant to the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act; or (iii) resulted in a currently open case with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. (6) "Law firm" means: (A) lawyers who practice law together in a partnership, professional corporation, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or association; and (B) lawyers employed in a legal services organization, law school or the legal department of a corporation or other organization. (7) "Nonparty participant" means a person, other than a party and the party's collaborative process lawyer, that participates in a collaborative process. (8) "Party" means a person other than a collaborative process lawyer that signs a collaborative process participation agreement and whose consent is necessary to resolve a collaborative process matter. (9) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. (10) "Proceeding" means a judicial or other adjudicative process before a court, including related prehearing and post-hearing motions, conferences, and discovery. (11) "Prospective party" means a person that discusses with a prospective collaborative process lawyer the possibility of signing a collaborative process participation agreement. (12) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. (13) "Related to a collaborative process matter" means involving the same parties, transaction or occurrence, nucleus of operative fact, dispute, claim, or issue as the collaborative process matter. (14) "Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record: (A) to execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or (B) to attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process. reconvene a collaborative process; and process participation agreement and before the collaborative process is concluded. agreement; and separation, and property distribution; children; partnership, professional corporation, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or association; and organization, law school or the legal department of a corporation or other organization. record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.
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