Posted on August 30, 2021 in Divorce

Going through a divorce in Illinois is not easy and can take a long time to complete. If you are in the final stages of the divorce process, you may want to breathe a sigh of relief. You soon will not have to attend meetings with your lawyer or court dates. However, there are still several things you may have to complete to move on with your life.

What You Should Do After Your Divorce is Finalized

The major obstacles are over in your divorce, but you still may have some finishing touches to take care of. Here are a few steps to take after your divorce is finalized.

• Change your name. Many women go back to their maiden name after getting divorced. If this is what you want to do, you must update your driver’s license, social security card, insurance policies, and other documents that include your full name.

• Look into health coverage. If you relied on your spouse for health insurance during your marriage, it is a good idea to look into different policies soon. You will no longer be eligible for coverage under your spouse’s plan. Even if you are healthy right now, you never know if you will develop a sudden illness or get into an accident. You want to have adequate health coverage in case anything happens.

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 Posted on August 27, 2021 in Spousal Support

If you want to get a divorce and your spouse earns a significantly higher salary than you, you may be able to receive alimony. Also known as spousal support, alimony is intended to help financially support a spouse until he or she has gained the necessary education or training to obtain a higher-paying job. In the majority of cases, alimony is temporary. However, permanent alimony is sometimes awarded.

Ending Spousal Support Payments in Illinois

In Illinois, the duration of alimony is usually based on the length of the marriage. The longer the marriage, the longer a spouse may recieve maintenance payments. If the couple was married 20 years or longer, the recipient may be permanently entitled to maintenance. However, there are certain circumstances in which spousal maintenance terminates:

• Cohabitation - If you move in with a romantic partner, your ex-spouse will no longer be obligated to pay you alimony. Living with someone as a platonic roommate is not sufficient enough to stop support payments. The paying spouse will have to contact the court and request a maintenance termination on the basis of cohabitation.

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 Posted on August 24, 2021 in Divorce

A divorce does not always get settled easily. There are various factors that can complicate a divorce, such as a family business. If you and your spouse own a business together and plan to get divorced, it is important to understand how it could potentially impact proceedings.

Negotiating a Settlement With Your Spouse

Ideally, divorcing couples will come to a fair agreement on dividing their business. Once you and your spouse have determined the value of your business, try to negotiate a settlement. It is less costly and stressful than letting the process drag out in litigation. For instance, you may decide to buy out the other party or continue to run the business with your spouse after the divorce. Another option is to sell the business and divide the profits with each other. A divorce lawyer with experience handling business assets in a divorce can represent you during property division negotiations and ensure that your rights are protected.

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 Posted on August 18, 2021 in Child Support

Child support is designed to help pay for housing, food, education, and other necessities for children. In Illinois, how much a parent pays for child support is primarily based on the parents’ net incomes. Child support payments are calculated in such a way that parents should be able to afford their monthly payments. However, sometimes parents fall behind on their child support payments for one reason or another. If you can longer afford your child support payments, you might wonder how you should handle the situation.

Consequences for Not Paying Child Support in Illinois

Parents who willfully fail to pay child support can face legal problems in Illinois. Here are several consequences a judge may impose on them:

• Wage garnishment- If a parent is behind on child support payments, the other parent can contact the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) and ask them to call their employer and have the payments deducted from their paychecks.

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 Posted on July 31, 2021 in Uncontested Divorce

When people think of a couple going through a divorce, it is not uncommon for them to imagine the two spouses bitterly fighting over custody of their children, the family home, bank accounts, and all the other items in the marital estate. While that may have historically been the scenario for many divorces, the past few years have seen a change in how some couples approach ending their marriage. Instead of a knock-down, drag-out court battle, they are turning to a collaborative approach, focusing on an amicable and negotiated divorce. If you and your spouse have decided to divorce, a Yorkville, IL divorce lawyer can explain how a collaborative divorce may benefit you.

How Does a Collaborative Divorce Work?

A collaborative divorce is centered on using a dispute-resolution process where the couple, along with their attorneys, work together and negotiate in a cooperative manner – rather than an adversarial one – in order to come up with an equitable divorce settlement. The goal is to avoid going to court and having a traditional divorce trial where a judge decides how issues like child custody, spousal support, marital assets, and marital debts will be addressed.

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 Posted on July 30, 2021 in Child Custody

When a couple with children divorces, that divorce does not end their involvement with each other. While they may no longer live under the same roof, they still need to co-parent in the most cooperative way possible. Unfortunately, there are many issues that can arise where the disagreements are so strong, the couple ends up back in family court.

One area where this often occurs is when it comes to medical decisions for the child. And now that COVID-19 vaccines are available for children 12 years of age and older, the divide between people who are for and those against the vaccine has made its way into parenting decisions.

Allocation of Parental Responsibilities

Several years ago, Illinois lawmakers did a complete revamping of the state’s divorce and child custody laws. One of those changes even involved eliminating the term "child custody" and instead referring to it as the allocation of parental responsibilities. The scope of these parental responsibilities involves both parenting time and significant decision-making on behalf of the child. However, these two elements are treated separately.

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 Posted on July 26, 2021 in Finances & Divorce

One of the most common causes of divorce in the United States is finances. In fact, almost 40 percent of married or partnered couples say that money causes heavy stress in their relationships. While money problems can contribute to divorce, they can also be one of the reasons why unhappy couples stay together. The thought of going from a two-income household to a one-income household can be daunting, as can the thought of dividing up assets, property, and marital debt.

While divorce can result in some financial issues that an individual may need to adjust to, there are several areas where your financial situation may actually get a boost following a divorce. If you are considering a divorce but are concerned about how you will be financially impacted, a Kane County divorce attorney can help.

Financial Independence

Getting divorced comes with many financial challenges, including the need to divide assets and ongoing alimony and child support obligations. However, one silver lining is that after the divorce is finalized, you will have the freedom to make many financial decisions independently of your former spouse. Instead of arguing over which bill should be a priority or what you or your spouse should or should not spend money on, you will be in total control. Whether you want to pay off debt, save towards a new vehicle or a trip, or add more to your savings account each month, you will now have the freedom to make those decisions without someone else disagreeing with you. There can also be a significant easing of financial burdens if your spouse has an addiction issue, such as substance abuse, gambling, or shopping addiction.

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 Posted on July 13, 2021 in Divorce

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on many areas of our lives. The lockdowns people across the country had to deal with and the inability to visit and spend time with loved ones led to many people re-evaluating their lives and changing what should and should not be priorities. Initially, statistics showed that the divorce rate was dropping during the first several months of the pandemic. It was thought that the forced lockdowns were bringing many couples closer together instead of driving them apart.

Fifteen months later, however, new statistics are showing that may have been a misconception as the divorce rate begins climbing upwards again.

Initial Drop in Divorce

There are many reasons the divorce rate may have dropped during the height of the pandemic and lockdowns. While some couples may have become closer, for others, being isolated at home with a spouse during the pandemic ended up putting a keener focus on marital issues a couple had that they may have been unaware of or chose to ignore.

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 Posted on June 30, 2021 in Divorce

When you are going through a divorce, you may experience a wide range of emotions. One day you may be furious with your ex and the next day you may feel depressed about your family falling apart. Unfortunately, being overly emotional may cloud your judgment and cause you to make costly mistakes.

In an Illinois divorce, divorcing spouses have the opportunity to resolve divorce issues like the division of assets and the allocation of parental responsibilities through an out-of-court agreement. If the couple cannot reach an agreement about these issues, the court may need to step in and make a decision for the spouses. Having a clear head puts you in a better position to negotiate an agreement about these divorce concerns. If your case does advance to litigation, learning how to manage your emotions can make the divorce proceedings less stressful.

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 Posted on June 29, 2021 in Child Custody

After your divorce is finalized, it is still important for your children to have a good relationship with both parents. As such, you should try to make the best out of each visit with your kids. If you make each visit fun and productive, it will benefit everyone. Here are some dos and don'ts of visitation with your children.

Do

• Arrive on time. While being late every once in a while is one thing, frequently arriving tardy to visits with your children is not good. Show your ex and children that you respect them by coming to your visits on time. If you know you are going to be late, let your ex know immediately.

• Plan fun activities. There is nothing wrong with just chatting with your kids or watching movies during your visits. However, it is a nice gesture to plan activities sometimes. For example, you could have a picnic in the park or organize a scavenger hunt in your backyard. Partaking in various activities with your kids can help you bond more with them.

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