Posted on June 25, 2015 in Child Support

NOTE: A new law defining how child support is calculated in Illinois goes into effect in July 2017. For more information, please visit our Child Support page.

When a couple with a child divorces, they need to determine appropriate agreements for the child’s care after the divorce. This is accomplished with two agreements: one for child support and one for child custody. Child custody is the agreement about where the child will live and how the parents will make decisions about raising him or her while child support is the agreement for the noncustodial parent to regularly pay money to the custodial parent. These payments are to cover the costs associated with raising their child.

There are multiple factors that play into a couple’s child support agreement. These factors are discussed in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Like the factors that the court uses to determine spousal maintenance agreements, there is no one factor that outweighs the others when the court makes child support determinations. Instead, the weight each factor carries depends on the individual couple’s circumstances and their child’s needs.

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 Posted on June 05, 2015 in Divorce

Before divorcing, many couples who choose to end their marriages legally separate. There is a variety of reasons why a couple would opt to legally separate rather than going straight for a divorce.

For some couples, the separation is somewhat of a trial divorce. If the couple knows their marriage is not working, but is unsure about whether a divorce is the best choice, they might choose to separate and take the time apart to work out their issues, both independently and together. This may include individual or couples therapy sessions, but it is not a requirement. How a couple chooses to interact and whether they choose to resolve their issues after separating is entirely at their discretion.

For other couples, legally separating prior to divorcing is a way to save money. Rather than going through expensive litigation to divide their property and determine their child support, custody, and spousal maintenance agreements, couples take this time to slowly work through agreements for these issues. They might opt to do so through mediation or through a collaborative agreement.

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 Posted on June 03, 2015 in Alimony / Maintenance

Before you begin the divorce process, it is important that you understand all the components that come with a divorce. In addition to dividing your property and assets and working out custody and support agreements for your children, you might be curious about spousal maintenance. Spousal maintenance is discussed in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.

Spousal maintenance, also known as alimony, is the payment plan that the court sets up to create a financial safety net for the lesser-earning spouse after a couple divorces. When an individual sacrifices his or her career by taking less rigorous work or opting out of the workforce altogether to focus on the couple's children and household, he or she is at a significant disadvantage when the couple divorces.

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 Posted on May 29, 2015 in Divorce

When many parents imagine child abductors, they think of strangers attempting to lure children into their vehicles or away from their parents in public spaces. However, the statistics collected and reported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children paint a much different picture. In the most recent study of missing children in the United States, only 115 were victims of what's considered to be a “stereotypical kidnapping.” More than 200,000 of the approximate total of 800,000 were taken by family members. Any noncustodial parent who takes his or her child from the custodial parent and keeps the child beyond his or her court-approved parenting time may be charged with child abduction. Child abduction is a serious offense that can result in fines, probation, and jail time for a guilty parent. This is included in Chapter 720 of the Illinois Criminal Code.

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 Posted on May 27, 2015 in Divorce

When a couple chooses mediation for their divorce, they are choosing to forgo traditional litigation in favor of creating their own settlement with help from a mediator, considered a form of alternative dispute resolution. A mediator is a neutral third party who is trained to help divorcing couples work through their issues and reach a settlement that fits both of their needs. Many couples who choose mediation report higher levels of satisfaction with their settlement and better relations with each other after the divorce than couples who choose traditional litigation.

But mediation is not the right choice for everybody. Sometimes, a couple's personal circumstances make them unable to work together openly and honestly. If a couple cannot do this, they cannot have a successful mediation.

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 Posted on May 22, 2015 in Divorce

Bankruptcy can happen to anybody. If you lose your job, fall victim to an illness or accident, your small business fails, or you simply accumulate too much personal debt on your credit cards, bankruptcy can be the only way to regain control of your finances. Filing for bankruptcy requires you to work with the court to repay your debts. This process differs according to the chapter of bankruptcy you file, but it basically requires you to surrender control of your spending and assets to the court-ordered trustee assigned to your case. When you are working through a repayment or liquidation plan, it can be difficult to make your required child support payments. Your child support obligation cannot be eliminated by filing for bankruptcy, no matter how dire your financial situation becomes. However, it is possible to have your required payments lowered. If you are facing financial difficulty and can not make your payments, consider seeking a modification to your support order.

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 Posted on May 20, 2015 in Divorce

Domestic violence is just one of the many reasons why a couple may choose to divorce. Unlike other potential grounds for divorce, such as infidelity or incompatible personalities, domestic violence can be deadly.

Domestic violence is defined as any use of force or coercion to control one's intimate partner or other member of the household. It may be expressed physically, emotionally, financially, or sexually, and is often incorporated into a cycle known as the cycle of violence. The cycle of violence follows this pattern in nearly all relationships where domestic violence is present:

• Abuse occurs;
• The offender apologizes profusely to his or her victim, sometimes offering gifts and always assuring him or her that the abuse will never happen again;
• Small instances of conflict occur and the victim feels afraid and without control of the situation; and

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 Posted on May 15, 2015 in Child Custody

Parenting while incarcerated may seem like an impossibility. When a parent goes to prison, finding an appropriate custody situation for his or her child is a priority. In some cases, the child's other parent receives full custody of the child. In others, another living arrangement must be determined.

If you have been charged with a criminal offense and you are facing jail time, speak with an experienced family attorney about how your potential incarceration can affect your child and his or her current custody agreement. He or she can answer any questions you have about the possibility of spending time in jail and help you and your family develop a plan for custody and visitation if the need arises.

Pregnancy and Childbirth in Prison

Illinois is one of only four states to prohibit the shackling of female inmates during pregnancy and childbirth. Babies born to mothers who have access to Illinois' prison nursery programs may stay with their mothers until they reach 18 months of age. Otherwise, the infant may be given to his or her father or, if the father is not present or unfit to be a parent, with another relative. The child's mother may name a relative a short-term guardian for her child. This individual is given custody of the child for up to a year while the mother completes her jail term.

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 Posted on May 13, 2015 in Divorce

When a couple with a child divorces, a child support agreement is nearly always a part of their divorce settlement. This agreement ensures that all of the child's needs, such as his or her housing, food, clothing, and extracurricular activities, are met until he or she reaches adulthood. Some of this support is directly given to the child and some indirectly covers his or her needs by providing the parent with physical custody with money to pay for rent or a mortgage, utilities, and property taxes if applicable. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act addresses child support and the factors the court may consider when developing one for a divorcing couple.

Generally, a child support agreement is created based on each parent's income and other financial obligations. In most cases, a paying parent of a single child will pay about 20 percent of his or her net income in child support, with this percentage becoming greater with each additional child. This amount is meant to cover the child's needs, not to punish the paying parent or create financial hardship for him or her.

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 Posted on May 06, 2015 in Divorce

As a parent with a custody arrangement, you are surely familiar with the struggle of planning family outings and special events around your court-ordered parenting schedule. One of the biggest concerns that parents entering custody arrangements have is how to handle the holidays. When a custody schedule is arranged so that each parent has specific days, such as alternating weekends or having the children spend half the week with each parent, one parent can miss a significant number of holidays with his or her children because of the days of the week that those holidays occur.

This is why it is important to include provisions for holidays in your child custody arrangement. You can plan ahead for future holiday gatherings and keep family traditions intact by working with your former spouse and the court to develop a custody arrangement that allows for a fair distribution of holiday parenting time.

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