Posted on March 07, 2017 in Kane

If you have been ordered to pay alimony—legally known as maintenance in Illinois—your payments are meant to ease the financial effects of the divorce on your ex-spouse. A court may also order maintenance to allow a financially disadvantaged spouse to maintain a standard of living reasonably similar to that which you both enjoyed during your marriage—especially if yours has not markedly changed. In the years that follow your divorce, however, your spouse may find a new romantic partner and begin a relationship. Depending on the nature of that relationship, your obligation for spousal support payments may be affected.

Duration of Support Orders

Most orders for spousal maintenance are set for a predetermined number of months or years. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act provides a formula for calculating the length of the order as a function of the length of the marriage to be used in most situations. Longer marriages result in relatively longer orders for maintenance, and some cases may result in permanent orders. While Illinois law does use the word “permanent,” it is not an ironclad guarantee that payments must continue until one spouse dies. There are certain occurrences that could permit you to stop making maintenance payments in spite of a permanent order.

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 Posted on February 25, 2017 in Kane

A divorce can be extremely stressful and difficult for everyone involved. Regardless of how long the marriage lasted or whether or not there are any children involved, virtually all divorcing couples face complex legal considerations and lifestyle adjustments. When divorce decisions are left to the discretion of the court, it is common for both spouses to be somewhat disappointed in the outcome. In some cases, a spouse may even believe that the court made a mistake in interpreting or applying the law. While many people assume that a divorce decree is final, this is not always the case.

When to Appeal a Divorce Decision

In any legal matter—especially those that make to trial—at least one of the parties is going be left feeling that the outcome was unfair. A divorce is fairly unique in that most judgments represent a compromise of sorts meaning that there is no clear "winner" or "loser." If, however, the judgment seems to favor the other party, it is understandable to experience feelings of frustration and disappointment. Simply being dissatisfied, however, is not sufficient grounds for an appeal.

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 Posted on January 25, 2017 in Main

Most parents are aware that in a divorce, a parent is typically required to make payments of child support to help with the costs of raising a child. It may come as a surprise to learn that the method for calculating child support payments in Illinois has not changed very much in the last several decades. Even last year's sweeping family law reforms, which updated the state's approach to divorce and child custody—now called the allocation of parental responsibilities—failed to address the issue of child support. Beginning this summer, however, child support calculations in Illinois will be handled much differently than they are today.

Understanding the Current Law

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) currently directs a court to calculate child support orders as a percentage of the paying parent's income based on the number of children to be supported. The court is granted limited authority to deviate from the set percentages due to special circumstances of each individual case. As written, however, the statute only considers the paying parent's income. The current law does not account for the recipient parent's income or time that the supporting parent spends with his or her child.

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 Posted on January 11, 2017 in Main

Social media networks present unique dangers to your divorce and child allocation proceedings. In criminal or personal injury cases, clients are often advised to make their profiles private so that investigators or insurance companies cannot see their posts or profiles. In divorce and child allocation actions, making your social media private may not be enough of a protective measure because there is a greater likelihood that your account is connected with other people involved in your case, including friends and family members.

Taking Precautions

When you are involved in a divorce-related legal matter, consider adjusting the privacy settings of your social media accounts. In addition to making your profile private, you may also wish to limit your posting to social media. You should keep in mind that anything you post to social media could eventually be presented in your family law proceedings. Common examples may include:

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 Posted on December 21, 2016 in Main

The winter holiday season is a time that is meant to be shared with friends and loved ones. For some families, however, spending time together can be a challenge due to divorce, child-related legal matters, and other concerns. No matter what you may be going through, you and your children deserve to enjoy the Christmas season, and there are some steps you can take to help make that happen.

Be More Flexible

Shared parenting time is often a major point of contention for divorced parents around the holidays. You want to see your children on Christmas, but so does their other parent. It is important to keep in mind that fighting with your ex-spouse will do nothing to promote a happier holiday for you or your children. Try to compromise on a parenting time schedule that affords you both the opportunity to share in the joy of the season with your children, even if you do not get as much time as you would like.

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 Posted on December 14, 2016 in Main

When you are arrested on suspicion of a crime, the arrest becomes part of your permanent record, even if you are never convicted. Prospective employers, lenders, and school admissions officials—among many others—may look into your criminal background when considering your application for a job, a loan, or an educational program. Having even a single arrest on your record can lead to embarrassing questions and conversations for many years after the fact. Depending on the outcome of your case, you may qualify to have the arrest expunged, or erased from your record. Now, a new law is extending the possibility of expungement to a much larger group of individuals in an effort to create more opportunities for those with a mistake or two in their past.

What Is Expungement?

According to the law, “‘expunge' means to physical destroy the record or return them to the petitioner and to obliterate the petitioner's name from any official index or public record, or both.”

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 Posted on November 16, 2016 in Main

When you have limited time with your child due to a divorce or breakup, the time you do get to spend with your child is extremely valuable. It is during this time that you must foster the relationship you share with your child and strengthen the parent-child bond between you. Anything that threatens your parenting time, then, must be taken very seriously, especially if your parenting time could be affected for an extended period of time. This is typically the case when your child's other parent intends to move with the child to a new city or state. Such a move is usually considered a relocation and Illinois law provides you, as a parent, with certain rights to object.

Legal Definition of Relocation

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act defines a relocation as a move by a parent with half or more of the parenting time outside of a certain radius. A move is considered a relocation if it includes the child and is a move of:

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 Posted on November 02, 2016 in Main

Normally, when one thinks of divorce proceedings, one imagines a fairly orderly process. However, a number of unexpected events can happen that can complicate matters considerably. One of the most common, though it might seem implausible, is that one spouse may simply refuse to participate in the process. When this happens, it is entirely understandable to wonder whether your divorce can go forward at all.

Grounds and Separation Questions

The question of grounds for divorce no longer plays a role in your ability to obtain one. Illinois formerly required grounds for divorce such as bigamy, impotence, and mental cruelty, but, now, a no-fault divorce will be granted simply based upon “irreconcilable differences.”

Serving the Papers

In popular culture, there is the trope that both spouses must sign the divorce papers, but in Illinois, this is not, in fact, the case. All that is required under Illinois law is that your spouse must be aware of the petition; namely, you must serve your spouse in an appropriate manner so that he or she is able to exercise their legal right to respond to the petition.

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 Posted on September 07, 2016 in Main

Although a divorce does, in effect, separate the family, it does not sever the tie between parents and child. Even in different homes, different cities, or different states, those familial bonds remain. More than that, a child's happiness and overall well-being often hinges on the continuance of a healthy and stable relationship with each parent. So, in most instances, life after divorce means learning how to successfully co-parent in a way that minimizes conflict but still ensures the child feels loved, valued, and connected to each parent. Not sure how to pave this path or where to even begin? The following tips may help.

What is Co-Parenting?

To truly understand how to successfully co-parent, you must first understand the concept. Different for every family in its structure and engagement, co-parenting is a relationship in which both parents have an active role in the day-to-day life of the child. This means that each parent should have contact, time, and decision-making power regarding important details of the child's life, such as their education, healthcare, religion, and extracurricular activities.

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 Posted on August 26, 2016 in Main

In most cases, children benefit greatly from having the financial and emotional support of both biological parents. Unfortunately, there are some cases in which one parent interferes with the time allocated to the other parent. If this denial is in direct violation of a court order, the parent that is missing out on time with their child has the right to seek enforcement through the court. If you are being denied parenting time with your child, the following information can help you determine what to do.

Visitation Interference is Considered a Crime in Illinois

If you took legal steps to receive legal parenting time with your child and your time is being interfered with (late drop-offs or returns, failure to show, etc.), then the denying or “interfering” parent is in contempt of a court order. This gives you certain legal rights, and it allows you to seek assistance from law enforcement and the family court for enforcement of the order. Unfortunately, these matters can be difficult to prove. Essentially, it is your word against the other parent's. For this reason, anyone who is being wrongfully denied parenting time should seek the assistance of an experienced family law attorney.

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