Posted on December 06, 2012 in Family Law

It is now possible to take court-ordered parenting classes online in Cook County, reports the Chicago Tribune. Cook County Circuit Court started the program on November 13. According to the Illinois law, judges have to in most divorce cases order parents with underage children to take a parenting education course. Before the launch of the program, the parenting course was only offered in a traditional classroom setting. Similar programs are already in use, for example, in DuPage and Kane counties.

The purpose of the program, which is called Children in Between Online, is to address the effects of divorce and separation on children. Thanks to the program, parents will no longer miss work to attend a parenting class. Parenting education is an important way to "help families going through child custody proceedings to achieve positive outcomes,” according to Chief Judge Timothy Evans.

The online program helps parents and children to learn skills that changes the way they interact.

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 Posted on December 04, 2012 in Family Law

It is not always easy to get away from an abusive relationship, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. Victims of domestic violence must be prepared emotionally and financially before they can break away from a violent relationship, which can be difficult in many ways.

Fear is often a big factor in not getting out of a volatile relationship, experts say. Domestic violence should be viewed differently in our society so that there is no shame for abuse victims. Many times victims are believed to have caused the abuse by doing something where as in truth the blame lies solely on the violent spouse.

Before ending a violent relationship, it is a good idea for victims to develop a backup plan, which can include provisions for housing, child care and employment. The more resources victims have at their disposal, the easier it is to leave and break away. "If a woman has very little money and nowhere to go, moving out can be very difficult and a stumbling block,” according to April Zeoli, assistant professor at Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice.

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 Posted on November 30, 2012 in Divorce

Representative Scott DesJarlais, a Republican from Tennessee, was ordered to release his divorce records on the eve of his election. These records were likely to be another set back to his campaign, as they might shed light on his extra-marital affairs with his patients. Allegedly, he wrote prescriptions to his girlfriends, who were also patients, and more recently, there was a supposed attempt of him to persuade one mistress to have an abortion. These records were asked to be released by the Tennessee Democratic Party after The Huffington Post revealed transcript from a phone conversation in 2000 in which DesJarlais had pressured his mistress to get an abortion. He later commented, saying he did not believe that she was pregnant and was just trying to call her bluff.

Following the release, another patient came forward, sharing details of her personal time spent with DesJarlais. A lawyer for the Democrats told the judge that they wanted all documents relating to allegations that the patient made about prescriptions she received from the doctor and any drug use with him.

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 Posted on November 28, 2012 in Divorce

According to Science Codex, the University of Michigan will publish a new study next month in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior regarding the rate at which women lose private health insurance coverage following divorce. Annually, the study estimates that 115,000 women lose their private health insurance as the direct result of the divorce, and that this loss is not always temporary; the overall rate of women’s health insurance coverage remains lower up to two years following divorce.

While some women are able to resort to public insurance programs for coverage in these situations, about 65,000 women are left completely without any source of health insurance. Typically, it is middle-income women who cannot maintain their former sources of private health insurance, either because they no longer qualify for coverage under their former husbands’ policies, or they can no longer afford the premiums that they previously had been paying after the divorce. For those women who formerly were covered by their husbands’ policies, up to a quarter of these women were still without any insurance coverage six months following their divorces. These women, who often have moderate incomes, don’t make enough to pay for hefty insurance premiums, but make too much to qualify for low-income public health insurance programs.

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 Posted on November 26, 2012 in Child Custody and Support

Illinois residents may be interested to know about an innovative program that law enforcement officials have developed just to their north in one Wisconsin county. All too often, the exchanges of children between divorced or separated parents for visitation purposes can become heated, bitter exchanges, particularly when the parties currently are embroiled in a heated custody battle or other court proceedings. As a result, the local police station is often the suggested meeting place to exchange the children for each parent’s designated visitation time, with the hope that a public place with law enforcement authorities present will both give the parents a sense of security and help calm the situation. Nonetheless, this strategy doesn’t always work to defuse the situation.

In Brown County, Wisconsin, the Sheriff’s Department decided to designate two parking spaces in their parking lot, on either side of a neutral zone, where parents can safely and easily exchange their children at the appropriate times. The children can move from one car to the other without fear of encountering traffic or the roadway, and all visitation exchanges take place under video surveillance by the Sheriff’s Department, a factor which may compel parents to act more reasonably during the exchanges. If this new program proves successful, the Sheriff’s Department hopes to offer an additional visitation exchange spot on the west side of Brown County, as well.

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 Posted on November 21, 2012 in Divorce

A divorce can be a difficult process in the United States alone, but divorcing in two countries can turn into a real ordeal, says a recent article in the Chicago Tribune. There are many problems, for example, cultural differences, financial issues and bureaucracy, faced by an American who wants a divorce and is either a dual citizen, lives abroad or is married to a citizen of a foreign country.

Custody issues have become more common in the recent years. There are more conflicts, litigation and parental kidnappings these days because in the past it was almost hopeless for a man to win the custody of his child. Robert Makielski, 52, hopes that times have changed and he will get the custody of his two under aged children living in the Dominican Republic. "I'm basically dealing with a corrupt system in a foreign court," he says. Makielski has spent $50,000 on the case and expects to spend a whole lot more.

If you live abroad, you may not be able to file for a U.S. divorce. It is your place of residence that determines which court has the jurisdiction, not your birth place. The laws can differ greatly between countries. Usually, divorce and dual citizen matters are easier to deal with in the United States and Europe. The divorce will proceed in the country where it is filed, so time is of the essence too.

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 Posted on November 18, 2012 in Adoption

Adoption is a complex legal proceeding involving the termination of the legal parental rights of birth parents and the assumption of legal parental responsibilities by the adoptive parents. It is advisable to consult an experienced family law attorney to make sure that your adoption case gets the best possible outcome.

There are several important issues families should know when considering adoption, for example, who can adopt and who selects adoptive parents. In Illinois, any person, male or female, who is not under legal disability, is of legal age and a reputable person can adopt a child, according to the Illinois Adoption Act. Adoptive parent(s) must have resided in Illinois without interruption for at least 6 months. The residency requirement does not apply to adoptions involving relatives. In independent or relative adoptions, the birth parents choose the adoptive parents.

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 Posted on November 15, 2012 in Child Custody and Support

The Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act is a uniform State law that was passed in 1997. According to the Department of Justice, the law was passed “to deter interstate parental kidnapping and promote uniform jurisdiction and enforcement provisions in interstate child-custody and visitation cases.” According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Protection, each year “more than 1,000,000 children in the U.S. are affected by the divorce of their parents.” The agency suggests that half of all children born to married parents will go through their parents’ divorce before their 18th birthday.

The law is not a custody statute, and does “not dictate standards for making or modifying child-custody and visitation decisions.” Instead, it “requires State courts to enforce valid child-custody and visitation determinations made by sister State courts.” The state in which a child is determined a legal resident is the state allowed to hold the custody hearings. For a child to be considered an Illinois resident, he:

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 Posted on November 12, 2012 in Child Custody and Support

In all movies and TV shows depicting divorce, there are caricatures of people who are terrible to each other.  They seek out the other party in the divorce and seem only interested in destroying them and their lives.  While it is not false that contested divorces can become very ugly, there is a new inclination for people to select mediation as the way to achieve dissolution of a marriage.

Often time’s people who are interested in an amicable divorce choose this option as it allows for people to create a safe environment.  The only people that have to be in the mediation process are a mediator, a lawyer and the two parties seeking to settle difficult issues such as child custody, division of property, and spousal support.  A mediator tries to emphasize cooperative problem solving and keeping the process on track.

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 Posted on November 09, 2012 in Divorce

For the past 50 years or so, Baby boomers have had a significant effect on demographic trends in many issues. As young adults, this generation took the divorce rate up to new heights, and now that these people are over 50, they are still the subject for divorce studies. Huffington Post Divorce posted a story about the question.

A study called The Gray Divorce Revolution by Susan Brown and I-Fen Lin says that the divorce rate for couples over 50 in the United States has been notably going up over the last 20 years. Their study looks at divorce rates from 1990 to 2010, concentrating on people who are 50 years old or older. Brown and Lin discovered that the divorce rate in this age group has doubled over the 20-year period in question. From 4.9 divorces in 1,000 married people in 1990 to 10 divorces in 1,000 people by 2010.

While the divorce rate for over-fifties has doubled, the overall divorce rate has stayed more or less the same, with 19 per 1,000 in 1990 and 18 per 1,000 in 2010. There are also more people in their fifties and beyond now than there were in 1990 as can be seen from the 200,000 people over 50 divorcing in 1990, compared to about 600,000 in 2010. For more information, read the Huffington Post story or the actual study.

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