Recent Blog Posts
Can I Move With My Minor Child Before My Divorce Is Finalized?
Once an Illinois couple with minor children decides to file for a divorce, one parent usually moves out of the marital home. Sometimes this relocation is local, but other times it may make sense to move further away, especially if there is a job change or a parent wants help with the children from their extended family. But while parents can move anywhere with their children while they are married, they are far more restricted about where they can go during and after divorce. If you are getting divorced in Illinois and want to move with your child, seek help from an experienced family law attorney.
Relocating During Divorce
Parents in Illinois who have a majority of parenting time can ask to relocate with their minor child after a divorce is over and a parenting agreement has been created. But until a divorce is finalized, neither parent has majority parenting time. This means parents cannot move away from their address at the time of divorce with a child without a judge deciding such a move would be in the child’s best interests.
How Can an Illinois Collaborative Divorce Benefit My Family?
Divorce can be a long, stressful, and tedious process. Collecting paperwork, paying for attorneys, managing child visitation schedules, and waiting until the next available court date is incredibly burdensome. For many couples, a strategy called collaborative divorce can help mitigate the unpleasantness of the divorce process. While it may not entirely rid spouses of the logistical difficulties of getting divorced in Illinois, it does make the process far less contentious and more likely to produce an outcome both parties are satisfied with. To learn more about how collaborative divorce could benefit you and your family, read on.
How Does Collaborative Divorce Work?
The intention of collaborative divorce is to build a strong team of divorce professionals who assist a family as they transition through the divorce process while keeping conflict to a minimum. To that end, each spouse will have their own attorney who is committed to seeing the couple’s differences successfully resolved. Other professionals include child psychologists, child custody specialists, family therapists, financial advisors, and any other experts that can help spouses resolve conflict and create a beneficial divorce decree.
How Should We Communicate Once Our Illinois Divorce is Finalized?
Illinois couples frequently get divorced because they struggle to communicate productively. Unfortunately, communication between high-conflict couples does not always get better once a divorce is finalized. But when a couple shares children, effective communication continues to be essential for many years to come as parents navigate the daily hurdles of school, extracurricular activities, healthcare, and more. If you are going through a divorce and hoping to maintain healthy communication habits throughout your co-parenting experience, here are some tips from divorce experts that may help.
Communicate in Writing Whenever Possible
Avoiding in-person discussions, including phone calls, helps many high-conflict couples avoid situations that can quickly escalate. Divorced spouses tend to be quite good at pushing each other’s buttons and in-person communication allows couples to easily fall into old communication patterns that involve contempt, sarcasm, or dismissiveness. Instead, experts suggest communicating only in writing. Email is the best option for this because it is less urgent than text messaging and allows both parties time to cool off between responses. It also allows both parties to keep each other’s messages, which can make everybody think more carefully about what they say.
How Can You Dissolve a Civil Union in Kane County, Illinois?
Before same-sex marriage was made legal across the United States, gay and lesbian couples could enter into civil unions in Illinois along with their heterosexual peers and share the same rights as married spouses. But like all long-term relationships, not all civil unions last and when a couple decides to break up, the union must be dissolved. If you are in a civil union in Illinois and are contemplating separating from your partner, you may want the help of an experienced civil union dissolution attorney. Here are three common questions about dissolving civil unions in Kane County.
How Do We End Our Civil Union?
Ending a civil union is very similar to ending a marriage. A partner wanting to dissolve their civil union will need to submit a Petition to Dissolve a Civil Union to the local court and, just as with divorce papers, the petition will be served to the partner. And similar to a marriage, certain issues need to be resolved: spousal support, marital asset division, and, if there are minor children, child support payments, parental responsibilities, and parenting time.
How Do I Know When It Is Time to File for an Illinois Divorce?
Before most of us get married, we have idealistic ideas about relationships and how easy our lives will be once we find “the one.” On the day of your wedding, it can be hard to imagine that divorce could ever be on the horizon. Yet relationships are complicated, and the prevalence of divorce is well known.
Spouses in Illinois sometimes get divorced for clear-cut issues like domestic violence and infidelity. But for others, the question of when to leave a relationship can be more complicated. A good spouse does not have to be a perfect person, and life’s challenges can make even the best couple question their ability to overcome a tough time. But when does a tough time last for long enough to make you doubt the permanence of your relationship? While only you can know whether it is right to file for divorce, here are some signs that it may be time to go your separate ways.
You Are Not Longer Intimate - And You Do Not Care
Couples naturally go through periods where one spouse is more interested in sex than the other. Sometimes, neither spouse expresses much interest in intimacy. As long as each partner feels comfortable and communication is open, these periods do not have to pose any threat. But when you stop being intimate with your partner and no longer care, this may be a sign that something more serious is afoot. In general, when one or both partners is not interested in addressing problems that bother the other partner, it does not bode well for the future of the relationship.
My Ex Is Not Following Our Illinois Divorce Decree. What Are My Options?
Most spouses sincerely hope that the moment they receive their divorce decree, problems with their ex will improve. Although in many cases this is true, for some people, finalizing their divorce is only the beginning of further legal battles. Divorce decrees are legally binding - meaning that to violate the terms of the divorce decree is to break the law - but that does not stop people from simply choosing not to hold up their end of the deal. When this means not paying spousal support or child support, this can have serious consequences for a family. If your former spouse has decided not to follow your divorce decree, read on to learn more about your options for enforcement.
What is Considered a Violation?
For someone to violate a divorce decree, there must be a current, valid court order. Even if you were never married, having a court-ordered parenting agreement and child support order is crucial for ensuring you get the help you need. A verbal agreement between two people is not legally enforceable.
What Happens to Unallocated Maintenance if I Modify My Divorce Decree?
Before January 1, 2019, divorcing spouses in Illinois could sometimes receive something known as “unallocated maintenance.” While most people are familiar with child support and spousal support (also known as alimony or spousal maintenance), unallocated maintenance was less common. Until the law changed, unallocated maintenance allowed spouses to receive money that could be used for both children and themselves, with certain tax implications.
Recent federal tax laws removing unallocated maintenance as an option may have consequences for individuals receiving unallocated maintenance who want to modify their divorce decree. If you are receiving unallocated maintenance and want to learn more, read on.
Tax Implications of Unallocated Maintenance
Child support payments in Illinois are “tax neutral” - the spouse who makes payments cannot deduct them from their taxes, and the parent who receives payments does not pay income taxes on them. But before 2019, spousal support was tax-deductible and the receiving spouse had to pay income tax. Sometimes, unallocated maintenance was used as an option for combining spousal and child support when one spouse made significantly higher income than the other, simplifying matters and providing tax benefits for the receiving and the paying spouse.
Can I Change a Kane County Custody Plan Without Court Approval?
Parents who have busy schedules or frequent changes in schedule may wish to slightly modify their parenting agreement on an ad-hoc basis. If one parent has to work late, he or she may ask the other parent to keep the children for an extra night and take them to school the next morning. Likewise, if extended family comes into town one weekend, parents may agree to switch weekends on a one-time basis so the children can visit with their cousins or aunts and uncles.
As long as both parents agree to make minor changes from time to time, there usually is not a problem. However, frequent or repeated differences in parenting time can put parents at risk because unless a change in the parenting plan has been approved by an Illinois court, it is not legally binding and may even be unlawful.
Risks of Modifying a Parenting Plan Without Court Approval
Parents who struggle to communicate without conflict are at most risk of failing to make minor tweaks and adjustments in their plan from time to time. If you have a spouse who is litigious or who is willing to use the children to rehash old resentment, it is best to adhere strictly to your court-ordered parenting agreement. Failure to do so can result in a spouse who lodges a complaint with a court asking the court to require you to follow the order.
What Makes a Good Prenuptial Agreement in Illinois?
Every state has unique property division laws in the event a couple gets divorced. In contrast to 50/50 property division states, Illinois uses a method known as “equitable distribution” in which spouses, sometimes with the help of a mediator or judge, divide their property and debts in a fair manner.
This method makes sense for couples, but it might not work for others. Engaged couples who worry that Illinois’ equitable distribution method would not properly reflect their wishes or circumstances may want to create a valid prenuptial agreement before they get married. If a prenuptial agreement is legitimate, it supersedes state law regarding property division and allows couples to preemptively negotiate the division of property if they get divorced.
Why Would a Couple Create a Prenup?
Although prenuptial agreements used to be financial instruments mainly for the wealthy and legally savvy, they are becoming more and more common. Couples may benefit from a prenup if they fit into one of the following circumstances:
Does Cheating Affect the Outcome of a Divorce in Illinois?
Getting divorced is never easy, but getting divorced because you found out your spouse was having an affair can be devastating. Emotionally recovering from the broken trust while you are going through divorce proceedings proves to be a major challenge for many spouses, who may justifiably wonder: Does an affair affect a divorce proceeding in Illinois? After all, if a spouse’s infidelity ends a marriage, it may seem like it makes sense for there to be consequences.
But no matter who is responsible for the end of a marriage, Illinois is a no-fault divorce state - meaning that the only reason a couple can give for divorce is irreconcilable differences. Cheating, in and of itself, does not affect the process or the outcome of a divorce. However, behaviors and circumstances commonly affiliated with cheating can affect a divorce.
Can Cheating Affect Custody Arrangements?
Allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time are not directly affected by infidelity. However, if a parent’s new boyfriend or girlfriend poses a risk to the children, this could affect that parent’s ability to spend time with the children. For example, if a new partner has a history of domestic abuse or is a registered sex offender, courts can take this into account when making decisions about a parenting plan.
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