Posted on July 11, 2016 in Main

Divorce is a mentally, emotionally, and often financially challenging process that can impact almost every aspect of your life. Furthermore, there are several pitfalls and missteps that can have a long-term effect on your life. But can divorce hurt your credit rating? And, if so, how?

Filing for Divorce Does Not Equal Credit Doom

The act of filing for divorce itself does not impact your credit. Instead, it is the actions or inactions following divorce that can negatively affect your credit score. For example, if you are ordered to pay child support during the divorce decree but fail to make your payments, a judgement may be entered against you. Ultimately, this judgement will have a negative impact on your credit rating.

Dividing Debts During Divorce

Another potential influence on your credit is the way that debts are divided during divorce. If not done appropriately, you may end up with more debt than you can handle in divorce, which can cause you to fall behind on your payments. This is why it is critical that you seek guided assistance from an attorney with the division of your debts and assets during divorce. Able to help you understand if and why a debt may or may not be your responsibility, an attorney can help you negotiate a debt and asset settlement or, if an amicable solution cannot be reached, they can litigate on your behalf in court.

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 Posted on June 23, 2016 in Main

During a divorce, a couple's marital property is divided—property which may include retirement accounts and pensions. In order to allocate retirement accounts and pensions, documents called Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) are necessary to divide a couple's retirement assets. However, most people are strangers to these documents until they require one. Therefore, familiarizing yourself with a QDRO, before your divorce proceeding gets off the ground, can be helpful.

What Does a QDRO Do?

A QDRO is a document that helps apportion percentages of any interest you may have in a retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or a pension. If your interest is in a public state entity, such as a Chicago Public Schools pension, you will need a document with specialized language known as a QDILRO, though they are functionally very similar.

Most often, what occurs is that two people draw up a property settlement, or the court may do so if they are unable to agree, that contains certain specific information. One piece of required information is the name of an ‘alternate payee,' or the person to whom a part of the asset is to go. Without an alternate payee's name, a domestic relations order cannot be a QDRO. Language is important in the domestic relations order because it can also disqualify the order if it grants, for example, interests in a retirement plan that have not yet vested, or fails to take into account the need for an alternate payee if the named payee were to die before his or her ex-spouse. Once the order meets the satisfaction of the court, it is signed into the record by the judge.

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 Posted on June 16, 2016 in Main

Before a civil action of any kind can be mounted in Illinois, it must be determined if this state has the right to hear it. This concept is called jurisdiction, and a court must have jurisdiction before any suit you file is permitted to move forward. In most situations, it is fairly easy to ensure a court has jurisdiction over your suit; however, the laws are quite specific.

Two Types of Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is defined as the extent to which a legal authority can reach. There are two types of jurisdiction, both of which most people are familiar with in at least a colloquial sense.

The first type is subject matter jurisdiction, which essentially grants a court the right to adjudicate a specific type of case—for example, the DuPage County Family Law division of the Circuit Court has subject matter jurisdiction over divorces in that area, while the state's Probate Court has jurisdiction over the disposition of wills, trusts, and other estates. Subject matter jurisdiction is almost always granted by law—as long as a suit is filed in the court that handles such cases, subject matter jurisdiction has been met.

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 Posted on June 07, 2016 in Main

At MKFM Law, we have clients from all walks of life, with all types of families, or with none at all. In this day and age, those who are parents have to begin thinking about university costs and other school expenses much earlier than in previous years. It is in this spirit that our firm wants to Give Back—help our clients and their children move toward a quality education, as a show of appreciation for choosing us to help them through difficult situations.

The Program

The MKFM Law Giving Back For College Reimbursement Program is open to current and former clients of our firm and their children. Mirabella, Kincaid, Frederick & Mirabella, LLC is offering two gifts, comprised of reimbursement funds, that have already been paid to our firm. In other words, money previously paid to Mirabella, Kincaid, Frederick & Mirabella, LLC as fees will be reimbursed to the winner and runner-up.

All applicants must be 18 or over. Applicants must also either be attending, plan to attend, or have a child attending a college or graduate school in an upcoming semester.

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 Posted on June 02, 2016 in Main

A questions asked by some divorcing parents is whether or not they are able to terminate the parental rights of their ex-spouse for various reasons. The answer is usually no; however, in unusual situations where a series of events have occurred, the answer may be yes. Either way, it is in your best interests to ensure that you understand your options.

Illinois' Adoption Act

Illinois law, for better or worse, does not allow one parent to simply file a petition expressing a wish to terminate his or her ex-spouse's parental rights. The wish to terminate must come along with someone willing to step into that place. Moreover, the most common situation in which this occurs is that of adoption.

The law does not favor the termination of parental rights, and to do so is not something taken lightly. Even a negligent parent can be obligated to pay child support, and if the opportunity is there for that parent to change his or her ways, the court will usually wish to preserve his or her parental rights.

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 Posted on May 27, 2016 in Main

During a divorce proceeding, many areas of life cease to be normal. You may have to change your schedule or your children's, you may have to make career changes, or you may simply have no money. If your issues are financial, however, there is a potential avenue by which you can stabilize things until a divorce decree is finalized. Temporary support may be available depending on the facts of your situation.

The Petition

It is sadly not uncommon that in a situation where temporary relief is not available, the spouse with increased financial leverage may be able to bully or push the poorer spouse into a settlement simply because he or she cannot afford to pay an attorney to negotiate a better settlement. The state of Illinois permits petitions to be filed for temporary child support, maintenance and interim attorney's fees to help avoid this situation.

Under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) as modified January 2016, filing a request for temporary child support or spousal maintenance is fairly simple. The form to do so must be filed along with an affidavit attesting to your income and your family's expenses and any necessary supporting documentation.

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 Posted on May 20, 2016 in Main

Sometimes, when a couple decides to divorce, the dissolution can be completed in a much more direct and uncomplicated way than realized. Therefore, if your marriage is of relatively short duration, and you have few legal entanglements, you may be eligible for a procedure known as a simplified dissolution or uncontested divorce. Not every couple may use it; however, if you and your spouse fit the criteria, then it can save you significant time and trouble.

A Simplified Dissolution is Not an Annulment

One important myth to correct is that a simplified dissolution is still a divorce, rather than a type of annulment. An annulment, under Illinois law called a declaration of invalidity of marriage, is when a marriage is held to have never legally occurred. This is usually due to some legal inadequacy on the part of one or both participants such as being under the age of majority, or some fraud being perpetrated. Declarations of invalidity of marriage have somewhat fallen into disuse in Illinois aside from those who obtain them for religious reasons, since divorce is as simple or more so for most couples.

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 Posted on May 13, 2016 in Main

It is not uncommon for parties going through a divorce wanting to date prior to the formal conclusion of their divorce. However, many people often wonder if there is a legal prohibition against doing so. The short answer is ‘not technically,' but the long answer is that it can cost you significantly in the divorce process.

Practical Reasons to Wait

Before entering into a new relationship, there are several reasons why one should consider waiting—reasons which have nothing to do with the law. Perhaps the primary reason is to consider one's children, especially if they are very young. Children, while fairly resilient, can react negatively to a new boyfriend or girlfriend, especially very soon after a mother or father moves out of the family home. Children may think of this new person as a ‘replacement.' Additionally, any confusion or upsetting that is caused may be used by your ex-spouse as an argument against you. He or she may even request that less parenting time to be granted to you. Also, it is possible that your ex-spouse may try to allege dissipation of marital assets, especially if you visibly spend money on a new partner.

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 Posted on May 06, 2016 in Main

Support obligations are enforced by Illinois law; however, some individuals do everything they can to avoid paying spousal or child support, or to harm or complicate the marital property settlement. While this is obviously never encouraged, it is important to be aware that these situations do occur.

Dissipating Marital Assets

One common occurrence, especially if a spouse does not wish for a divorce to occur, is to dissipate a chunk of the marital assets out of a desire for revenge or a wish to alter the terms of a property settlement. Illinois does recognize dissipation claims, and defines dissipation as the use of marital property or funds for personal benefit unrelated to the marriage. For example, a husband spending money from his and his wife's joint checking account on jewelry for his mistress would almost certainly be ruled to have dissipated those marital funds. This may only occur during the period in which the marriage is undergoing an ‘irretrievable breakdown,' which can in fairness be hard to pinpoint.

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 Posted on April 28, 2016 in Main

When a couple decides to divorce, often the process can become convoluted and ugly. Disagreements can occur over everything from parenting time to property division, and many find that there is a more convenient way to go about the process. Collaborative divorce is a relatively new phenomenon, but if the parties are able to work together, the conflict can be minimized.

The Agreement

When beginning a collaborative divorce proceeding, you, your spouse, and your attorneys will sign a collaborative agreement. The agreement will state that all signatories will work together to arrive at a settlement, eschewing litigation. One might wonder what stops someone from agreeing to commit to the process, and then making an end run, so to speak, and filing suit. The answer is that an agreement of this nature in Illinois usually contains provisions barring the attorneys from going to court. A collaborative proceeding also involves several people, many of them neutral parties (such as child specialists, financial advisors and the like), all of whom would be inconvenienced and possibly injured by a spouse's decision to file suit.

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