Recent Blog Posts
What Are the Limits of Recreational Marijuana in Illinois?
After months of anticipation and preparation, recreational marijuana is now legal in Illinois. It is an exciting time for those who enjoy the use of cannabis, businesses that will profit from its sale, and residents whose previous marijuana possession convictions are being expunged. However, there are still limits to marijuana possession and use, just as with any controlled substance. Some marijuana laws are more restrictive than laws for alcohol and tobacco. If you are unaware of the rules for recreational marijuana, you may be at risk of facing drug-related criminal charges.
Possession
Firstly, you must be at least age 21 to possess marijuana in Illinois. There are also limits to the amount of cannabis you can possess:
- 30 grams of cannabis flower
- 5 grams of cannabis concentrate
- 500 milligrams of THC in a cannabis-infused product
How to Know Whether You Could Benefit from a Prenuptial Agreement
Nobody who is about to get married wants to think about the possibility that they may one day get divorced. You create a prenuptial agreement with that scenario in mind, which makes asking for a prenup an awkward conversation to have with your fiance. For some people, it is a worthwhile conversation to have given their individual circumstances. The agreement can decide how you will divide your marital properties and pay spousal maintenance at a time when it is easier to negotiate with each other than it would be during a divorce. Creating a prenuptial agreement would be particularly helpful if any of the following applies to you:
- There Is an Income Gap Between You and Your Partner: When one spouse is the breadwinner in a relationship, the other spouse becomes financially dependent upon the marriage. The solution in the event of a divorce is spousal maintenance paid to the lower-income spouse, but the higher-income spouse is likely to try to minimize those payments. By including spousal maintenance in the prenuptial agreement, the lower-income spouse has more certainty about the amount of financial support they would receive after a divorce.
Three Changes to Illinois’ Spousal Maintenance Law
The beginning of 2019 saw an important change for couples looking to include spousal maintenance in their divorce agreements. A federal tax reform law from 2017 eliminated the popular alimony tax deduction. Spousal maintenance payors can no longer claim a tax deduction on their payments for any divorce agreement created starting in 2019. In turn, maintenance recipients are not required to include the payments in their taxable income. The alimony deduction was an incentive for payors to agree to higher maintenance payments, and divorce professionals feared that its elimination would make maintenance negotiations more difficult. States had more than a year to prepare for the elimination of the alimony deduction, and Illinois responded in 2018 with a revision to its spousal maintenance law.
Net Income
There were three major changes to Illinois’ spousal maintenance law. The first was that the formula for determining payments uses net income instead of gross income. Your net income is the money you receive in a paycheck after deductions for taxes and benefits plans. Illinois believes this switch is better at accounting for the tax burden of maintenance payers.
How Important Is Child Preference When Creating a Parenting Plan?
During a divorce, a court rules on the allocation of parental responsibilities by considering what is in the best interest of the child. Listening to the child’s preferences is part of understanding their best interest, but courts will not give a child’s preference the same weight in every case. A parenting plan is an important part of creating a structured living environment for children after their parents have separated. Though the parents and the court want the child to be happy with the arrangement, there are times when adults have a better understanding of what is best for the children.
How Child Preference Is Weighed
Children of divorce may have a preference about which parent they will live with for a majority of the time. However, the issue of child preference does not come up in many parenting cases. Some children are uncomfortable choosing sides or admitting that they have a preference. When they do express a preference, the court may give it little or no credence if:
The Differences Between the Property Title and Mortgage with Your Marital Home
Except in rare circumstances, only one of you will continue to own your marital home after your divorce. The most contentious issue surrounding your marital home will be who will keep it or whether you should sell it and divide the proceeds. If one of you is keeping your house, it is important to complete the agreement by legally transferring ownership and financial responsibility to one person. As the person keeping the home, you do not want your former spouse to have ownership rights over the property. As the person who is giving up the home, you do not want to be liable for mortgage payments on a house that you no longer own.
Property Title
The property title for your house is your ownership interest in the house, which can be full or partial. When you co-own a home with your spouse, both of your names are on the title to show that you each have partial ownership of the house. If your spouse agrees to give you full ownership of your marital home, you will assume your spouse’s ownership interest in the title. A deed is a legal document that transfers a property title to a new owner. Quitclaim deeds are the most common deeds used during Illinois divorce because:
Four Factors When Seeking a Job After Divorce
Getting a divorce may mean having to join the workforce for people who were primarily relying on their spouse for income. For other people who already work, they may need a better paying job to support themselves. Spousal maintenance payments can help a lower-earning spouse maintain the lifestyle that they were accustomed to during their marriage. However, courts often grant maintenance on the condition that the recipient must make a good-faith effort to better their financial situation. There are several factors that you must consider when trying to find a job after your divorce:
- Your Career Prospects: Did you previously have a job or career? Some people leave their jobs or do not seek employment in order to focus on their home while their spouse focuses on their career. Having prior experience in a job or training in a career will improve your chances of being hired. People with limited experience are often limited to entry-level jobs that do not require specialized skills.
Going on Vacation as a Divorced Parent
Single parents need to take the opportunity to go on a vacation with their children, even if the idea seems less exciting after a divorce. Divorced parents see their children less often than when they were married because of the division of parenting time. A trip is an opportunity for the parent to bond with the children and create happy memories. When planning a vacation with your children, there are several factors related to your divorce that you should consider.
Parenting Plan
You do not need to limit your vacation so that it fits within your regular parenting schedule but will need to discuss your vacation plans with your co-parent:
- Your co-parent has a right to know when your children are going to be out of town;
- Your co-parent must agree to any deviation in your parenting schedule; and
- You may need your co-parent’s permission to travel with your children, depending on where you are going.
Parentage Not Presumed for Fathers in Same-Sex Divorce
The same divorce laws apply to same-sex spouses in Illinois as they do to any other married couples. There is the same presumption of the equitable distribution of marital properties and allocation of parental responsibilities. The average same-sex divorce may be slightly different from the average heterosexual divorce because the recency of the same-sex marriage law makes it unlikely that they will be divorcing after a long-duration marriage. Divorcing same-sex spouses are more likely to have unique complications with establishing legal parentage of their children, which can impair one of the spouse’s parental rights.
Establishing Parenthood
The Illinois Parentage Act of 2015 defines four ways that someone is legally presumed to be the parent of a child if they did not give birth to the child:
- The person is married to the mother at the time of birth, excluding surrogacies;
Valuing and Dividing a Business in Divorce
Marital property in a divorce includes anything that either spouse has bought or contributed marital assets to during their marriage. For business owners, this means that their business is likely included in the division of property, even if they started or purchased the business before their marriage. As with any property, you and your spouse can claim an equal share of the business. However, a business is different from other properties in how you will assess its value and divide it.
Dividing a Business
There are three ways that you can divide your business during a divorce:
- One of You Retains Ownership: If only one of you is involved in running the business, the most sensible option may be to give complete ownership to that person. However, the person who receives ownership will need to compensate the other spouse with marital properties of similar value. You are essentially buying out your spouse as an owner.
How a Parenting Plan Can Combat Conflict
No one can force you to like your co-parent after a divorce, but you need some civility between each other for the sake of your children. Co-parents with a high-conflict relationship struggle to communicate about their children’s needs. Open hostilities and silent tension will upset your children. Your parenting agreement can limit the number of contentious situations that you are placed in. High-conflict co-parents need structure and formal interaction that leaves little room for emotion. A parenting plan can create structure.
Communication
Co-parents need to communicate with each other about their children so there is some consistency in their parenting. You cannot expect your child to be your messenger and tell your co-parent everything he or she needs to know. Your problem is that conversations with your co-parent often escalate into arguments. Your parenting agreement can set communication guidelines for:
Map and Directions
