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With the holidays upon us, more people in Illinois are thinking about divorce than any other time of the year. The holidays have a way of making people realize that they aren’t happy in their marriage and with 2016 right around the corner, many want to get a fresh start. The very funny comedian, Louis […]
Probably the most common area of law that we help with is Illinois divorce law. Plain and simple there are just more of those cases than any other area of law. We help people find the right attorney no matter what their situation is, but divorce is clearly the most common. While some divorces are […]
My grandmother was a wonderful woman who as she got older tended to repeat herself a lot. That was alright with me because she was adorable and mostly repeated things that made her laugh. Often this involved sayings that included her favorite, “It takes two to tango!” I think of her and this saying every […]
When it comes to awarding custody in an Illinois child custody case, the number one factor is the best interests of the child. This sounds obvious, but these exact words are written into Illinois law. The best interest of the child is always the main concern of the judge. In some cases this means physical […]
Parents have a financial obligation to support their children when they are minors. Court-ordered child support almost always continues until the age of 18. However, there are some circumstances in which a child might need continued support beyond the age of majority. Illinois law allows a court to order parents to support their children past […]
Married couples share a lot of things without thinking much about it. You probably have some property that you think of as your own, some you think of as your spouse’s, and much that you acquired together and think of as shared. However, when it comes to dividing property in divorce, state law often steps […]
Mediation can be an efficient way to settle your divorce case, if it’s right for you. A mediator is an unbiased third party who meets with you and your spouse to reach an agreement on the various aspects of divorce. The job of the mediator is to suggest solutions and help bring the two sides […]
According to the CDC, there is a divorce in the United States every 36 seconds. That amounts to hundreds of thousands of divorces every year. This might not be surprising, given the well-known statistic that 50% of marriages end in divorce. Here are some lesser-known stats on marriage in America… The more times you […]
Illinois already has a formula, or guideline amounts, for determining child support. These are written into the law. But there is no similar guideline for spousal support, which has led to a lot of discrepancy in what gets awarded. At the beginning of next year, however, a new Illinois law goes into effect, and it […]
We get this question a lot. The idea that fathers have rights that are different from those of mothers is a misunderstanding that has been created by the way some family law attorneys advertise. These lawyers try to get clients by suggesting they specialize in “father’s rights,” which makes fathers think they need to hire […]
No one wants an expensive divorce. We get a lot of calls from people looking for low-cost options. Many wonder if they even need an attorney at all. Illinois has something called a Joint Simplified Divorce. If you have a fairly simple situation and meet the financial requirement, you might qualify. You can get a […]
If you read my blog, you know that I am not a believer in “father’s rights” type marketing strategies. It’s the stuff of snake oil salesmen in my opinion. If you care about your clients then you do whatever you can for them. I do think some laws are unfair though. The biggest violator has […]
I would never call myself a “fathers’ rights lawyer” or “mothers’ rights lawyer.” I believe the firms that do that are really just trying to scare you in to hiring them. A lawyer either fights for you or they don’t. Tricking somebody in to thinking you have a passion for your work isn’t the […]
The best-case scenario is when you already have a court order in place. We’re talking about a court order for child support, which is a court document that tells one parent what they must pay the other parent for the support of their child or children. If you have one of these, then you have […]
Alimony, spousal support and maintenance all mean pretty much the same thing, which is the money that one spouse regularly pays to another after a divorce. The reasons, amount, and length of time vary, however. Why? The idea behind spousal support is that many times the spouse who earns less, or who doesn’t work at […]
QDRO stands for Qualified Domestic Relations Order. It has to do with splitting up retirement assets in a divorce. The law in Illinois says that retirement plans are the joint property of both spouses, at least the portion that was earned or acquired during the marriage. Retirement plans are marital assets, and in a divorce, […]
Yes, if you can show that things have changed since the last visitation order was issued and that the changes warrant a new visitation order. In other words, you usually have to show that things aren’t working the way they are. If one parent moves farther away, the current visitation schedule might not be practical […]
There’s a common myth that kids can simply pick which parent they want to live with after a divorce. The reality is that it’s up to the parents, if they can agree, or the judge if they can’t. Until a child is 18, they don’t get to choose. If kids were in charge of the […]
The term “joint custody” is often misunderstood to mean a 50-50 split in parenting time. However, “custody” doesn’t mean physical custody when used in this way. Instead, it’s referring to your ability to make parenting decisions when it comes to your child. Joint custody means that you and the other parent have equal decision-making power […]
A caller to my office went off on a rant the other day. He is paying child support and is doing so happily. He loves his kids and wants to take care of them. What set him off though is the fact that there are all sorts of laws out there that regulate how much […]