Posted on September 23, 2015 in Child Custody and Support

Beginning in 2016, Illinois will no longer be using the phrase "child custody" when deciding what should happen to a child whose parents are splitting up, but the law still requires judges to evaluate what is in the best interest of the child. The court will need to decide where the child will live most of the time. This may no longer be called custody, but it functions in a similar way.

Judges know that while parents can and should share the major decision making and parenting tasks, the parents are most likely in court because they have difficulty resolving issues together.

Best Interest of the Child Standard

When dealing with children, courts are always charged with making decisions in the best interest of the child. What the best interest of the child actually means is a matter of interpretation.

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 Posted on September 21, 2015 in Spousal Maintenance

After a divorce, there is often a significant disparity between each spouse’s ability to be financially self-sufficient. This could be the result of differing familial roles during the marriage, child custody arrangement subsequent to the divorce, and many other factors. To help alleviate the financial impact on the more-dependent spouse, the court may order—or the spouses may agree to—spousal maintenance for a period of time following the divorce. How long such an order will last, however, is dependent upon the circumstances of each case.

Statutory Provisions

Your order for spousal maintenance will be based upon provisions set forth in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. The law provides calculation formulas for both the amount of maintenance to be paid and the length of time for which it will be paid, to be used in most divorce situations. The duration of your order is determined by multiplying the length of your marriage by a percentage factor designated in the law. The percentages are weighted so that longer marriages will result in longer orders for maintenance. The factors range from 20 percent for marriages lasting 0-5 years up to 80 percent for marriages lasting 15-20 years, and possible permanent maintenance for those over 20 years.

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 Posted on September 16, 2015 in Divorce

There are, obviously, countless factors that can affect a couple’s happiness and ability to weather the difficulties of marriage. Sociology experts, however, always seem to be trying to identify trends and specific elements that impact the likelihood of divorce. Such trends may not affect every couple who fits within a particular set of a criteria, but, by the nature, they do help provide some issues of which couples should be aware if they are looking to avoid becoming a statistic, so to speak.

According to Census data compiled in 2010 by the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, certain jobs and occupations place an individual at a much high risk for divorce than others. When the information was collected, roughly 16 percent of people across all occupations reported being divorced or separated. By comparison, those in particular jobs are several times more likely to get divorce, including:

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 Posted on September 14, 2015 in Child Custody and Support

Following a divorce or separation, it is not uncommon for one or both former partners to move to a new city or town. Some may be seeking a fresh start or a change of pace, while others may be moving closer to family members and existing support systems. When the divorce or separation involves children, however, the situation can be much more complex, as any significant move is likely to impact custody and visitation arrangements. As you look toward a possible relocation, it is important to understand the steps you may need to take to remain in compliance with applicable laws.

Existing Provisions in the Law

Currently in Illinois, a custodial parent is statutorily permitted to move with his or her child anywhere within the state. While such a move may have a direct effect on an existing custody or visitation agreement, there is nothing in the law to prevent it. Conversely, moving with child to a new location outside of Illinois requires the consent of the other parent or the overriding approval of the court. In granting approval, the court must determine the move to be in good faith and in the overall best interest of the child.

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 Posted on September 09, 2015 in Divorce

As you probably realize, the process of divorce is saturated with difficult decisions and challenging considerations. You and your soon-to-be ex-spouse must not only deal with your current situation, but expectations for the future as well, especially if you have children. Amidst the numerous concerns facing most couples is deciding who should file the petition for divorce and when. Are there advantages to filing first? Does it really matter?

Legal Benefit?

For the vast majority of divorce situations in Illinois, there is no specified legal advantage to filing for divorce before your spouse can. The titles throughout the proceedings may be different—the filing spouse is called the petitioner or plaintiff, while the other spouse is the respondent or defendant—but each party’s rights are equal. You each will the opportunity to present issues and express objections, regardless of your official position in the case.

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 Posted on September 07, 2015 in Divorce

In some areas of law, the jurisdiction or venue in which a case is filed can have a dramatic impact on its ultimate outcome. Some states or jurisdictions, for example, are more likely to be “friendlier” to plaintiff’s claims and juries may be thought to be more generous with other people’s money. Divorce, however, is not typically so dependent upon venue, especially in Illinois, as a number of updated laws have sought to provide more equitable standards for the process and to eliminate most of the potential unpredictability. The law, though, still requires divorce proceedings to be held in an appropriate county, and an amendment set to take effect year provides a degree of statutory flexibility.

Venue and the Law

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act states that proceedings for divorce, custody, maintenance, or other concerns under the Act “shall be had in the county where the plaintiff or defendant resides” but can be “directed to any county in the State.” Venue is not jurisdictional, which means the final decision of the court cannot be disputed on the grounds that it did not have authority to rule.

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 Posted on August 31, 2015 in Divorce

While the divorce rate seems to have stabilized in recent years, and may even, in fact, be falling, nearly one million American marriages are legally dissolved each year. Many individuals, however, are unwilling to give up entirely on the idea of marital happiness. According to a study conducted the Pew Research Center, fully 40 percent of all new marriages include at least one partner who has been previously married. Two in ten are marriages between partners who have both been married before. The study also indicated that nearly 60 percent of all divorced or widowed adults will remarry.

These statistics, it would seem, paint a rather optimistic picture of the American approach to marriage, despite the ever-present possibility of divorce. There are, however, a number of legal issues that may impact a remarriage more significantly than a first marriage. With the help of a qualified family law attorney, you and your spouse should be able to address these concerns and prevent them from becoming bigger problems:

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 Posted on August 28, 2015 in Divorce

Most would agree that a successful marriage is based on trust and communication. Each of those two elements, however, are dependent upon the other. You cannot trust your spouse if he or she will not talk to you, and effective communication is impossible if you cannot trust each other. When one aspect is suddenly thrown into question, the other ultimately suffers. For millions of American couples, that is exactly what happened several weeks ago when hackers publicly exposed the subscriber list of the affair-seeking website Ashley Madison. The issue before them now, however, is whether or not it is time think about divorce.

Take Your Time

When the subscriber data was made public, many raced to the internet to see if their spouse—husband, in most cases—was on the list. An estimated 20 million men had an account of some sort on Ashley Madison, or roughly one in six married American men. If one of those men is you or your husband, it is time for some serious soul-searching. Tempting as it may be, a rushed decision is not recommended.

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 Posted on August 26, 2015 in Child Custody and Support

A seven year old Massachusetts boy has spent more than a month in a coma after being allegedly starved and abused by his father. The man had gained custody of the child in a seven-minute hearing in late June of last year, after only recently acknowledging that he was the boy’s father. Officials and legal experts are pointing the case as a prime example of the need for representation on behalf of the child in custody situations.

For most of his life, the boy was raised by his maternal grandmother, who agreed to transfer custody of the child to his father. The child’s mother has been estranged for two years, but maintained the rights to visitation. In the months that followed, authorities received several complaints of neglect regarding the boy, but a visit by a state social worker had no apparent effect. Two weeks later, the boy went into a coma and was hospitalized with burns and extensive bruising, and weighing just under 40 pounds.

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 Posted on August 24, 2015 in Family Law

A post on this blog last week discussed one of the major changes in store for Illinois divorce laws as the result of a bill signed by Governor Bruce Rauner in late July. As previously mentioned, the removal of at-fault divorce grounds beginning in 2016 is expected to simplify the process of dissolving a marriage, as proof of such grounds will no longer be required. The same measure, as enacted by the legislature and the governor, will also impact the state’s laws regarding no-fault divorce as well. In addition to making all divorce, effectively, no-fault divorce, the new law’s effects will be felt primarily in regard to the mandatory separation period currently required for divorcing couples.

Current Requirements

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