ruled that under the text of the Act,
       civil-union property begins to accrue as of the date of the civil union and not as of the effective
       date of the Act. The court reasoned that the effective date of the Act was only the date on which
       Illinois recognized civil unions, whereas the civil union was validly formed when the parties
       fulfilled the applicable requirements and received a legally executed license in Vermont.
¶7          On July 25, 2013, the case proceeded to hearing on the dissolution of the civil union.
      Petitioner testified that she was 46 years of age at the time of the hearing. She had graduated
       from Michigan State University and secured employment. In November 1997, she began
       working at Bridgestone Corporation as a senior environmental engineer, in what she described
       as a multidisciplinary field involving compliance with and remediation according to
       environmental regulations. She was promoted within the company and, at the time of the
       hearing, she held the title of senior environmental projects manager. Also at the time of the
       hearing, petitioner was earning a base salary of