Posted on April 08, 2022 in Divorce

 Legal separation from a spouse is a legal term that refers to spouses who choose to place their relationship on pause. Separating from your partner does not mean that your marriage is over. Often, spouses will decide to separate to maintain their marriage but place some distance between each other to work through marital issues. Other times, religious or cultural beliefs prohibit a divorce, so separation is the best option. A legal separation will require spouses to follow a few key steps to ensure both partners receive equal treatment regardless of a couple's reasons behind separating. 

Divorce Versus Separation — The Difference 

Filing for and completing the divorce process includes dissolving the marriage and ending the relationship entirely. Separation does not end the marriage. There are a few main differences between how the court handles divorce and separation. In a divorce, the court may divide shared marital assets if the spouses cannot reach an agreement. There is no division of shared assets during a separation unless both partners explicitly ask the court to do so and agree to property division terms. 

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 Posted on March 25, 2022 in Divorce

Many difficult decisions are made during a divorce, one of which is choosing who will remain in the family home. Like many other legal questions, the answer to who gets the house relies heavily on a divorce's unique circumstances. Spouses must consider many factors to decide who will remain in the home, including addressing legal ownership, how much money each spouse makes individually, and if there are children or pets involved. With the help of experienced legal counsel, spouses can take a few steps during their divorce to address ownership of the home. 

Negotiation and Mediation 

The first way to address who will retain residence in the shared family home is through communicating directly. An open line of communication between both partners is advantageous. However, the dissolution of a relationship can cause tension between spouses, leading to a contested divorce. If both spouses can not agree on a decision as to who will remain in the home, there is a legal tool known as mediation that can help assist the situation. Mediation is where a neutral third party joins the conversation between the spouses to help negotiate. A mediator might help a couple decide by considering:

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 Posted on March 21, 2022 in Uncategorized

Like any divorce process, divorcing during retirement has its unique challenges and hurdles. Divorces alone can be complicated, especially if the couple has been married for an extended time. Spouses wind up sharing many financial assets throughout a marriage, including retirement pensions and other savings accounts. An individual might be entitled to their spouse's retirement plans even if there was no contribution on that individual's end. When divorcing during or after retirement, spouses must be vigilant in protecting their savings to ensure financial health for their future. 

Protecting Your Retirement Plans

Individuals typically open retirement plans such as a 401(k) or an IRA when preparing for retirement. These are considered financial assets, which could be divided equally between two spouses during a divorce. Pension benefits from a spouse's career may also be regarded as a shared marital asset and divided equally between both partners. According to Illinois law, retirement plans, including pension, are often considered shared marital property and must be divided as such. In a no-fault divorce state such as Illinois, the court emphasizes the equitable division of finances and other property. If you are considering or actively pursuing a divorce and wish to have your retirement plan and pension separated from your spouse, it is in your best interest to work alongside an experienced attorney who can help you understand ownership of retirement assets and how best to divide assets between you and your spouse. 

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 Posted on March 16, 2022 in Uncategorized

There are many reasons why parents choose not to pay child support payments. Whether a parent doesn’t feel the child support order is justified, or a financial loss makes it hard to maintain payments, real legal consequences follow nonpayment of child support. After the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more parents found themselves in tight financial situations, causing difficulty paying child support. To avoid legal penalties for avoiding child support payments, parents in a tight financial situation can follow a legal modification process to change their child support order.

Legal Consequences

Child support orders are written as part of a divorce decree. The divorce decree is a legal document drafted for spouses after a divorce. Parents choosing not to pay child support are breaking a legal document and can face severe penalties. 

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 Posted on March 04, 2022 in Divorce

Separating from a spouse and filing for a divorce is difficult, but creating a successful co-parenting plan can help alleviate quite a bit of stress. It is helpful to outline parenting time and child custody before completing a divorce agreement so that there is little confusion for the parents and children. Using mediation, hiring a trusted divorce attorney, and even seeking therapeutic help can contribute to a successful parenting plan that keeps everyone's best interest in mind. Below are three steps that parents can follow to create a co-parenting plan in Illinois. 

Make Custody Decisions First

Divorce decrees, which often include parenting plans, are legal documents that must be upheld. Illinois parents are asked to create a parenting plan that describes where the children will live and how much parenting time a parent will receive. They will also describe how major decisions about the child’s life will be handled including where the child goes to school or what types of medical care the child receives. 

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 Posted on February 23, 2022 in Divorce

The divorce process can be grueling. Between the long hours debating finances with your spouse, finding a new residence during a separation, or determining child custody arrangements divorce is stressful and time-consuming. It can be a difficult decision to decide to divorce a spouse, but there are ways to help make the process a bit easier. Divorce attorneys are available to assist spouses during a marriage dissolution, and they are there to help you with a lot more than just filing paperwork. 

Mediation

During a divorce, couples must agree upon multiple financial and personal decisions. Often, these decisions are difficult and it is hard for both parties to come to a consensus. A divorce attorney can help assist a couple through what is known as divorce mediation. This process involves assigning a neutral third party who can act as a mediator between both spouses when coming to an agreement. Many family law attorneys are also trained in mediation and may be able to act as a mediator between both spouses. 

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 Posted on February 14, 2022 in Divorce

When deciding that it is time for a divorce, many couples wish to speed up the process. Ending a marriage is not only an incredibly emotionally trying time, but it is also physically and financially difficult. Sometimes, divorces take months or years, which only increases the level of mental distress for both parties. There are many factors that can determine how long a divorce in Illinois will take, including the number of joint assets, children, and contested decisions. 

The Divorce Process

The process of getting a divorce may be different for every couple. There are many decisions to be made including how to divide assets or who will receive majority parenting time with the children. In Illinois, it is not necessary to provide the court with documentation of your spouse’s wrongdoings because of the state’s no-fault divorce laws. This means that despite infidelity, mistreatment, or other mistakes your partner made that led you to a divorce, Illinois is only interested in dissolving your marriage equitably and typically will not factor in those circumstances. 

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 Posted on February 10, 2022 in Uncategorized

During a marriage, couples share virtually everything from a home, to cars, to children. Property division can be a difficult, and often contested, hurdle to overcome during a divorce. Many times, physical property holds an important or sentimental value to you and your family, and it can be hard to decide who gets what during a divorce. It is important to protect each party’s financial wellbeing during a divorce, and this often includes dividing retirement plans. 

Understanding Your Retirement Plan and Marital Property

Any retirement plan strategies financial savings over the course of a person’s life to allow them the means to stay comfortable after retirement. It is fairly common for married couples to have retirement plans. As wealth is accumulated during a marriage and over the course of someone’s career, the money that is put into a retirement plan. Retirement funds accumulated by a spouse during the marriage are marital property to which both spouses have a right. When dividing assets during a divorce, this can be a tricky situation when deciding how much each spouse receives. Types of retirement plans can include:

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 Posted on February 02, 2022 in Divorce

The decision to end a marriage can be both emotionally and physically taxing. Between child custody, property division, and spousal support, divorce orders can be very complicated. But what happens when a spouse contests a divorce? In a contested divorce, complications increase and conflicts tend to escalate. If your spouse and you disagree about how to handle divorce issues like asset division and child concerns, reach out to an experienced divorce attorney for help exploring your next options. 

What is a Contested Divorce?

In the state of Illinois, a contested divorce is defined as any disagreement or unwillingness during the divorce process. This can include:

• Refusal to agree to divorce

• Disagreement on property division

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 Posted on January 28, 2022 in Spousal Maintenance

While it will not be appropriate in every divorce case, there are some situations where one party will be required to pay spousal maintenance to the other. This form of financial support, which is commonly known as alimony, may be awarded in cases where one spouse earns a lower income than the other, where a spouse is a stay-at-home parent, or where a person would require assistance in order to maintain their accustomed standard of living. Once a spousal support order is created, financial support will need to be paid from one party to the other on an ongoing basis. However, following a couple’s divorce, situations may arise in which a spouse may believe that maintenance should be modified, or a person may request that their support obligations be terminated altogether.

Reasons for Modifying Spousal Maintenance

In most cases, spousal maintenance will be awarded for a fixed term that is determined based on the number of years the spouses were married. There are certain situations where a person may be ordered to pay maintenance indefinitely, including when a couple was married for at least 20 years. In some cases, maintenance may be reviewable, and after a certain period of time, the court may consider the circumstances of each party to determine whether payments should continue or whether they should be modified or terminated.

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