Illinois Compiled Statutes

720 ILCS 5/32-12 (2026)

Maintenance

✓ current as of May 2026
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(720 ILCS 5/32-12)
    Sec. 32-12. Maintenance. If a person officiously intermeddles in an action that in no way belongs to or concerns that person, by maintaining or assisting either party, with money or otherwise, to prosecute or defend the action, with a view to promote litigation, he or she is guilty of maintenance and upon conviction shall be fined and punished as in cases of common barratry. It is not maintenance for a person to maintain the action of his or her relative or servant, or a poor person out of charity.
(Source: P.A. 89-234, eff. 1-1-96.)

    
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 2014–2015 · leading case: Miller UK Ltd. v. Caterpillar, Inc., 17 F. Supp. 3d 711 (N.D. Ill. 2014).
Miller UK Ltd. v. Caterpillar, Inc., 17 F. Supp. 3d 711 (N.D. Ill. 2014). “720 ILCS 5/32-12 provides that “if a person officiously intermeddles in an action that in no way belongs to or concerns that person, by maintaining or assisting either party, with money or otherwise, to prosecute or defend the action, with a view to promoting litigation, he or…”
Muhammad v. Reed (In re Reed), 532 B.R. 82 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 2015). “A historical review of Illinois case law shows that, prior to the codification of common law maintenance under 720 ILCS 5/32-12, "champerty/' "barratry” and "maintenance” were used interchangeably and as associated causes of action (i.”
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