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Recent Blog Posts
Three Types of Non-Marital Relationships and How to End Them in Illinois
Until fairly recently, the vast majority of men and women entered into heterosexual marriages at a young age and stayed married to one person for the rest of their lives. However, with the advent of no-fault divorce, over the last 50 years and particularly over the last 20 years, societal expectations of what is considered marriage have expanded and far fewer people are even getting married to begin with.
Although marriage rates may be declining, people are still engaging in relationships just as they always have. Yet when relationships are not formalized as marriages, leaving the relationship can get complicated because couples do not always know how to protect their interests while breaking up. Here are three non-marital relationships and how they end in Illinois.
Civil Union
Couples can no longer enter into civil unions in Illinois. However, there are still many couples who are in civil unions who eventually decide to separate. Civil unions dissolve much the same way that marriages do; couples have property rights and must divide their marital assets and debts. Likewise, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements for civil unions are enforceable as long as they are legally sound.
Is My Kane County Professional Practice Marital Property?
All marital property needs to be accurately valued and fairly divided before an Illinois divorce can be finalized, and while that may sound straightforward in writing, in reality it can be quite complicated. One type of property that tends to be the most complicated is that of a small business or personal practice.
Professionals spend many years and countless resources obtaining an education and building their careers, and the prospect of having the fruits of those labors divided in a divorce can be devastating. If you are an attorney, doctor, accountant, or another similar professional and own your own practice or share a small business with a business partner, you likely have questions about how your divorce could change the way you do business.
How Can Collaborative Divorce Benefit My Children?
Parents who get divorced in Illinois are frequently concerned with the potential effect the divorce could have on their children. After all, research suggests that children whose parents are divorced often struggle with many aspects of life, including their own intimate relationships later in life. However, when done carefully and thoughtfully, divorce does not need to be a traumatic experience for children. Collaborative divorce offers a cooperative, mutually respectful way for parents to separate while keeping their children’s best interests in mind. Here are three ways collaborative divorce could benefit your children.
Less Conflict
One of the hardest parts of a divorce is the conflict. Children frequently get caught between arguing parents and may feel like they have to choose a “side.” This can be confusing and deeply disheartening for children, who naturally love and respect both of their parents. Collaborative divorce is so focused on reducing conflict that every person involved is committed to reaching a resolution - even the attorneys. In fact, if collaborative efforts are not successful, the entire process dissolves and parents must seek new attorneys. This ensures that everybody is motivated to cooperate and find the best possible solution.
What Can I Do if My Ex is Constantly Changing Our Parenting Schedule?
Parenting often requires parents to be flexible and make up or change arrangements as they go. Children frequently get sick, injure themselves, and change their minds about what they want to do, making even the best plans difficult to follow. However, when parents get divorced, their parenting time schedules are legally enforceable court orders. Although parents who get along can reasonably agree to temporarily modify their parenting agreement from time to time, a parent who consistently refuses to drop off or pick up children on time or at all can be very taxing. If you are struggling to get your ex to follow the terms of your Illinois parenting plan, read on.
Talk To Your Ex
The first thing you need to do is try to have a conversation with your ex to find out why they are not following the terms of the parenting plan. The best way to do this is over email, where responses can be easily recorded, emotionally neutral, and used as evidence later if necessary. If your ex has a good reason for violating your parenting time schedule, such as a work problem or car issues, you may be able to work together on a short-term solution. Using a mediator may help. However, if your ex either does not respond, is hostile, or does not have a legitimate reason for modifying the parenting schedule, you may need to escalate your response.
I Am Worried I Will Lose My Pension in My Illinois Divorce. What Can I Do?
Pensions and other retirement funds are essential aspects of many individuals’ long-term financial planning. It can take enormous sacrifices and years of hard work in the hope of a secure future, and when divorce threatens that security, the implications can be frightening.
While pensions and other retirement funds are generally seen as marital property and are subject to division in a divorce, the good news is that there are often things you can do to help protect yourself during the property division process and having an experienced Illinois divorce attorney can help.
How Can I Prove Paternity in Kane County if My Child’s Father Will Not Cooperate?
Dealing with the issue of paternity is often stressful for men and women alike. Mothers need financial support from a child’s father and often struggle to get it; men, who may be unsure whether they are a child’s father or who may not want a child at all, are often resistant to submit to paternity testing.
While both parties may believe they are equally justified in their feelings and actions, Illinois law requires both parents to financially support their children, even if they do not want to be involved in the child’s life. This means that men who are the biological father of a child can be legally compelled to submit to court-ordered paternity tests and provide child support.
Establishing Paternity in Illinois
There are several ways to establish paternity in Illinois. If both parents agree that a man is the child’s father, they may sign a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity form (also known as a VAP). This form is often signed at a hospital after a child is born, although it can be signed later as well.
Why Would an Illinois Court Order a Child Custody Evaluation?
Issues of child custody are often among the most strongly disputed in Illinois divorces. Both parents, loving their children and believing they know what is best, may be at loggerheads about parenting time arrangements or who should have the power to make important decisions for the children. Courts may also be unsure whether either parent is capable or safe in their parenting abilities. If there are concerns about how parenting time and parental responsibilities should be allocated, a court may order a custody evaluation, or a 604.10(b) evaluation.
When Can a Court Order a Custody Evaluation?
Courts can request a comprehensive custody evaluation any time a judge has questions about the facts or circumstances of a child’s home environment, including when there are concerns about:
- Substance abuse
- Domestic Violence
How Can I Keep Private or Sensitive Information From the Public Record in My Illinois Divorce?
Gone are the days when divorcing spouses had to publicly drag each other through the mud, revealing personal details about things like infidelity and abandonment to try to prove fault and get a divorce. While this is undoubtedly a change for the better, divorces in Illinois are still not completely private. Certain divorce details are part of the public record, yet spouses, especially those with public profiles, may have good reasons for wanting to keep them private. If you are hoping to keep your Illinois divorce details as private as possible, read on.
What Details Are Always Private?
Certain personal details are never part of the public record. Social security numbers, driver’s licenses, bank accounts, and other such details cannot be revealed in their entirety in public divorce records. Details of this nature can compromise your identity and you do not have to worry about these being public. But your divorce record, and even the process of discovery, can reveal a lot about your personal and family finances that you may want to keep private.
Do I Have to Pay Alimony to My Long-Term Partner if We Were Never Married?
Even after they have cohabitated for years, raised children, and owned property, for one reason or another, many couples in Illinois decide never to get married. When couples who are traditionally married get divorced, one partner may be ordered by the court to pay alimony, or, as it is known in Illinois, “spousal support.” But do Kane County couples who were never married deal with spousal support when they break up?
Unmarried Partners Do Not Pay Alimony When They Break Up
The only partners eligible for spousal support are those who were legally married - and even then, courts do not automatically grant spousal support, but instead examine a couple’s situation and determine whether spousal support would be appropriate. Spousal support payments are more common after longer marriages in which one partner made significantly more than the other, or when one partner gave up educational or economic prospects to raise children.
Three Ways Substance Abuse Can Interfere With Your Illinois Divorce
Along with infidelity, conflict, and financial disagreements, substance abuse is one of the top contributors to divorce in Illinois. Overdose deaths in the United States surged past the 100,000 mark in 202 and heavy drinking is responsible for another nearly 100,000 premature deaths in the U.S. every year.
Whether because of alcohol or drug use, there is no question that substance abuse can interfere with a marriage to the point that the marriage irretrievably breaks down. This can have a profound effect on spouses during a marriage, but children are perhaps the most affected by a parent with a substance use disorder. If you are getting divorced in Illinois and you or your spouse is struggling with substance abuse, here are three areas of your divorce that may be affected.
Asset Division
Because substance abuse is often so deeply intertwined with poor financial decisions, spouses often secretly use savings, loans, or other sources of income to finance their addiction and leave a marriage in dire financial straits. If a spouse has depleted a couple’s finances to purchase drugs or alcohol, a judge may allocate a greater amount of marital assets to the other spouse to make up for the irresponsible behavior.
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