Posted on December 28, 2025 in Sexual Harassment

The "Me Too" movement was a serious effort to end workplace sexual harassment, particularly against women. Allegations against high-profile individuals in the media and other high-exposure, high-power positions were made by alleged victims. Powerful men were accused and some even spent real time behind bars.

In the years since, many more women who had silently endured sexual harassment have come forward to report the behavior. Yet even in 2026, there remains a great deal of confusion about terms like sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and sexual assault.

What exactly is sexual harassment? What is the difference between sexual harassment, misconduct, and assault? When can you take legal action for behavior that makes you uncomfortable at work? 

Our Illinois sexual harassment lawyers are experienced and fearless. If someone is bothering you at work and you want it to stop, call Mirabella, Kincaid, Frederick & Mirabella, LLC today.

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 Posted on December 28, 2025 in Family Law

In Illinois child custody cases, a guardian ad litem (GAL) may be appointed to make a recommendation to the Court as to what is in a child’s best interests. A GAL is typically an attorney who is tasked with investigating the child’s home life to make recommendations regarding allocation of parental responsibilities, parenting time, and other issues related to the child's welfare. If you have questions about an ongoing GAL investigation, reach out to a Kane County, IL family law attorney today.

Understanding the role of GAL in Illinois child custody cases is essential for parents who are going through a divorce or custody dispute. At Mirabella, Kincaid, Frederick & Mirabella, LLC, we have over 100 years of combined attorney experience, giving us deep insights into practicing family law.

What is a Guardian ad Litem?

An article published in ScienceDirect claims that over a million children are affected by the stresses of parental divorce in the U.S. every year. A GAL is a person the court appoints to help represent the child's best interests in a custody case. The GAL is not a party to the case but rather an independent third party that is directed to investigate and make recommendations regarding what is best for the child.

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 Posted on December 28, 2025 in Family Law

A parent may be called "unfit" in Illinois when a court believes the parent’s behavior puts a child at serious risk of harm. This can involve safety concerns, emotional harm, or failure to meet a child’s basic needs. It can come up during the allocation of parental responsibilities or later.

A finding of unfitness is serious, but it is not automatic. It also does not always last forever. If this issue is part of your case, our Wheaton, IL parental responsibilities lawyers can help you understand how Illinois courts make these decisions.

How Do Illinois Courts Decide Whether a Parent Is Unfit?

As of 2025, Illinois courts do not use a single test to decide whether a parent is unfit. Instead, judges focus on the best interests of the child. Judges look at the child’s safety, stability, and overall well-being.

Under 750 ILCS 5/602.5, judges decide how parental responsibilities should be allocated, including who makes major decisions about education, health care, and religion. When evaluating fitness, courts look for patterns of behavior over time, not one isolated mistake.

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 Posted on December 15, 2025 in Family Law

Even parents who have successfully navigated co-parenting through toddlerhood, grade school, and middle school after a divorce may find themselves in uncharted waters when the child becomes a teenager. While one parent may see a brand-new driver’s license for a teenager as a milestone of independence, the other may see nothing but potential danger. This means that when a teen begins driving, Illinois parents may discover an entirely new category of conflict.

From skyrocketing insurance premiums to disagreements about whether a car is actually a "necessity," and, if so, what the rules will be, teen driving can quickly become a constant battle. The disputes can intensify when one parent refuses to list the child on his or her insurance policy, objects to siblings as passengers, or claims the other parent is letting unsafe driving behaviors slide.

And which parent – if either – is responsible for paying for a teen’s car? Under Illinois law (750 ILCS 5/602.5), these issues intersect with decision-making authority, financial responsibilities, and safety considerations, making them much more complicated than "regular" household rules. A Kane County, IL family law attorney can help you navigate this unknown territory while assisting with a post-decree modification, if necessary.

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 Posted on December 15, 2025 in Family Law

A spouse who is routinely paid in cash, or "off the books," makes it very easy for him or her to claim they make much less money than they actually do when alimony and child support are being discussed. If that spouse’s lifestyle tells a different story – steady work, weekend trips, or major cash purchases, then an Illinois court is unlikely to simply take the spouse’s word about income. Many Illinois spouses facing alimony or child support disputes suspect that the other spouse is drastically underreporting what he or she makes.

Unfortunately, cash-heavy jobs like construction, landscaping, bartending, and gig work allow income to magically "disappear" because there are no pay stubs, tax returns, or bank records. Under Illinois law (ILCS Chapter 750 Section 5/505, 3.2a), however, the court is not limited to whatever a spouse chooses to report. The judge can look deeper, reconstruct income from lifestyle evidence, and impose support obligations based on what the spouse should be earning.

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 Posted on December 15, 2025 in Sexual Harassment

Although most Illinois employers take sexual harassment training seriously, some may approach mandatory annual sexual harassment training as something to get through as quickly as possible. The Illinois Human Rights Act (775 ILCS 5/) and the IDHR model training have very specific training requirements. Whether a business is small, large, remote, hybrid, or multi-location, it is all too easy to fall out of compliance.

Even well-intentioned employers may be relying on outdated modules, skipping key content, or failing to properly document completion. These mistakes can lead to legal exposure, reputational harm, and an increase in workplace complaints. Employees may end up feeling as though their workplace does not take the issue seriously when there is not full compliance with training requirements.

If you are an employee who feels as though your company is not complying with Illinois-mandated sexual harassment training, or you have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, an experienced DuPage County, IL, sexual harassment lawyer can help.  

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 Posted on November 30, 2025 in Divorce

In today’s society, more couples live together before marriage than those who do not. For example, 76 percent of recent marriages in the United States were preceded by cohabitation. Living together before marriage has become the norm, with almost 60 percent of adults aged 18-44 having lived with an unmarried partner at some point. Couples in Illinois increasingly live together – sometimes for years – before deciding to marry.

During those years, finances can become intertwined, as they do for married couples. One partner may invest in the other’s condo, help renovate a home, pay down student loans, or contribute to the other’s business, long before a wedding ever occurs.

But what happens many years down the road when the relationship ends in divorce and those pre-marital contributions create disputes that do not fit neatly into the state’s marital and non-marital property rules? An experienced DuPage County, IL family law attorney can help you understand how courts treat financial contributions made before marriage.

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 Posted on November 30, 2025 in Divorce

We live in an era of DIY, from tutorials that tell you how to fix your car or make home repairs to AI-generated legal tools that promise quick, cheap divorce paperwork. While AI and DIY projects are not inherently bad, there really are some things that should be left to professionals. Divorce is one of those things. Illinois attorneys are seeing a surge of clients whose DIY divorce turned out to be unworkable, overly vague, or legally invalid.

Missing parenting plan (750 ILCS 5/602.10) requirements, incorrect property language, and unenforceable support provisions from copy-and-paste "legal" websites are increasingly common. Unfortunately, these defective decrees can cause significant financial or parenting problems, with the only solution involving returning to court. Sometimes, a simple correction is all that is necessary, but more often, much more is required.

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 Posted on November 30, 2025 in Sexual Harassment

According to an American Nursing Association survey in 2019, one in four nurses reported being physically assaulted by patients or a patient’s family member. The CDC found that a staggering 41 percent of home healthcare nurses report sexual harassment and or sexual assault. Female nurses are more likely to experience sexual harassment by patients than male nurses (73 percent vs. 46 percent), yet for all healthcare workers, sexual harassment on the job can have a significant impact on mental health and job satisfaction.

While healthcare workers are used to treating patients in distress, sexual comments, unwanted touching, or threatening behaviors should never be a part of the job. Yet Illinois hospitals and clinics are seeing a sharp increase in patient-initiated harassment, particularly during high-stress encounters in ERs and behavioral health units.

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 Posted on November 21, 2025 in Family Law

Suppose a parent goes to pick up his or her child on a Friday evening for weekend parenting time, only to find the house cleaned out, with no trace of the other parent or child. A surprise move like this can disrupt a child’s education, relationships, and stability, not to mention wreaking havoc on the parenting plan. You might be surprised to find that this scenario happens more often than many people imagine, particularly in high-conflict cases.

Many parents believe they are within their rights to move, so long as they remain within the state of Illinois. So, what happens when a divorced Illinois parent moves the couple’s child to another city in Illinois without notifying the other parent?  Illinois relocation laws (750 ILCS 5/609.2 and 750 ILCS 5/600) are strict, and secretly relocating a child can trigger severe legal consequences, including the loss of parenting time, court-ordered returns, and being held in contempt.

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