Can I Refuse to Participate in Discovery?

In most family law cases, the parties participate in some form of discovery. Discovery is when the people involved in a case exchange information about their finances, assets and debts, business holdings, and other important issues in the case. Discovery requests can take the form of requests to produce documents (like bank statements, mortgage documents, appraisals, deeds, etc.) or interrogatories, which is a list of questions that must be answered.

Discovery is not optional – meaning if one side receives a request for documents, they have to provide those documents is they have them in their possession. This makes sense: If you are dividing a marital estate in a divorce, you need to know everything that the marital estate consists of. If you are litigating child support, you need to know what both parties make in income. This information is exchanged through the process of discovery.

The obligation to comply with discovery requests is laid out in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA), the Illinois Supreme Court Rules, and local circuit court rules. If a party refuses to comply with a discovery request without a very good reason, they can suffer serious consequences.

Why Wouldn’t I Comply With Discovery?

You may legally object to and sometimes refuse to answer or produce discovery in certain circumstances. To do this, you need a valid legal reason, such as:

• The documents or communications requested are protected by attorney-client privilege. You don’t need to hand over copies of emails exchanged between you and your lawyer.
• Safety or privacy concerns. When disclosure threatens safety (e.g., domestic-violence contexts) or involves highly sensitive materials, you can redact portions of documents or seek a protective order.
• Undue burden or expense. If production would impose substantial, quantifiable burden, the responding party should state that and ask the court to limit or shift costs. For example, if the other side asked for a wide swath of your business records that would require great time and expense to extract, you could argue that the burden and costs are too high relative to the value of those documents to the proceedings.
• The request is overbroad, vague, or irrelevant. Discovery must be reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence. For example, the other side cannot request bank statements going back 20 years, that would be way too broad. Similarly, in a trial on financial matters, the other side cannot request your high school transcripts, as those would hardly be relevant to the proceedings.

You can object to discovery requests for a whole host of reasons, but objections are not the same as outright refusal to comply. Illinois procedure and local Domestic Relations practice in Cook County expects you to provide specific written objections and attempt to resolve disputes, rather than just ghosting the other side.

The Court expect the parties to work these disputes out amongst themselves – it does not want to waste resources hearing discovery disputes. If your refusal to answer discovery is unreasonable, it can lead to Rule 219 sanctions, contempt, evidentiary exclusions, or even dismissal of claims or defenses.

How to Object to Discovery Requests

• Serve specific, timely written objections. You cannot simply object to a request, you have to specify to the Court why the request is objectionable.
• Meet and confer first. Local practice generally requires or expects parties to try to resolve discovery disputes before bringing them to the court.
• File a motion, when necessary. If you cannot come to an agreement with the other side, use a motion for protective order, to quash, or to limit a discovery request, when appropriate.
• If a court orders production, comply or appeal. Noncompliance with a court order is the fastest route to sanctions, including contempt.

What Sanctions Can Result From Refusal?

Illinois Supreme Court Rule 219 gives trial courts power to sanction a party who “unreasonably refuses to comply” with discovery rules or discovery orders. Sanctions may include (but are not limited to):

• Being ordered to pay the other party’s reasonable legal expenses and attorney fees;
• Evidentiary sanctions, meaning the Court will bar you from introducing certain evidence or testimony later;
• The dismissal of your claim outright, or being barred from using a particular defense; and
• Contempt proceedings, which lead to additional fines, and possible jail time.

So, what does all of this look like in the context of an actual case?

Case study: In re Marriage of Handler & Abeysekera (Ill. App. 3d, Dec. 31, 2024)

This recent appellate decision provides a concrete example of what can happen what a party refuses to comply with a discovery request in a family law matter.

In Handler, the parties shared five children and were previously divorced. They came back to court in a dispute over their contributions to the children’s expenses, mainly childcare expenses. Wife filed a Petition for Rule, claiming that Husband wasn’t paying his fair portion. She also filed a Petition to increase child support, as she had lost one of her part-time jobs.

During the course of the litigation, Husband made discovery requests for information about Wife’s employment and compensation, which Wife did not adequately respond to. Due to her non-compliance, it was not possible for Husband to deduce how much Wife was making from her many disparate part-time jobs.

As a result, the trial court sanctioned Wife by dismissing all of her pending pleadings with prejudice, meaning Wife would not later be able to refile those same requests for relief from the court. The appellate court upheld this ruling, acknowledging that these sanctions were quite severe, but that they were justified. When a party shows a pattern of noncompliance with discovery requests despite multiple warnings from the court, and the other party is placed at a disadvantage because of it, severe sanctions are necessary and appropriate.

The Handler opinion underscores two important takeaways:

• Court orders and deadlines must be followed; and
• Repeated noncompliance is treated far more harshly than a one-time occurrence;

What if My Ex Refuses to Answer Discovery?

If the other side refuses discovery, typical relief includes a motion to compel, a request for attorney fees and costs, and a request for sanctions. You may be able to file a Petition for Rule, requesting they be held in contempt of court, if there is an explicit court order that was violated.

O. Long Law Can Help With Discovery Issues

You may be able to refuse a discovery request in Illinois, but only if you have an ironclad, legally sound reason. If you have been served discovery requests, you need the guidance of a lawyer to make sure you follow the rules and to avoid potential sanctions. The experienced family law attorneys of O. Long Law, LLC, have experience navigating the complex process of discovery. Schedule your confidential consultation today to get your questions answered.