Posted on March 30, 2021 in Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements

In today’s world, prenuptial agreements are increasingly common, as people are waiting until they are older to get married for the first time, which also means that they are likely to have accumulated significant assets before they are married. Nobody wants to think about the prospect of divorce, especially before you are even married, but a prenuptial agreement can be greatly beneficial if you and your spouse do eventually decide to call it quits. A prenuptial agreement can help you and your spouse determine the majority of your financial and property division issues with little resistance. Even though a prenuptial agreement is a legal contract, it is not set in stone and can be challenged if you believe the agreement is unfair in some way.

Challenging Your Prenup

As a legally-binding agreement, a prenuptial agreement is also legally enforceable. This means that you must abide by the terms of your prenuptial agreement unless the agreement or portions of the agreement are invalidated. If you feel as if your prenuptial agreement is invalid or unfair, you have the right to ask the court to hear your case. The judge will not simply invalidate a prenuptial agreement because you do not like the terms of the agreement anymore. You must prove that there is a legitimate reason for the invalidation of a section or the entire agreement. Common reasons that a judge may invalidate a prenuptial agreement include:

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 Posted on March 25, 2021 in Alimony / Maintenance

During a divorce case, there are a wide variety of legal and financial issues that will need to be addressed. One key issue that may play a role in some divorces is the matter of financial support paid by one spouse to the other. This form of support, which is commonly known as alimony, is referred to as spousal maintenance in Illinois. Those who are going through the divorce process will want to be sure to understand the laws surrounding spousal maintenance and the situations in which it may be awarded. By working with an experienced divorce attorney, you can be sure this issue will be addressed correctly as you work to legally dissolve your marriage.

The Purpose of Spousal Maintenance

Contrary to popular belief, alimony is not meant to be a punishment or a reward for either spouse. Instead, it is intended to address disparities in the incomes earned by divorcing spouses. Following a divorce, spouses should be able to continue living at the standard they enjoyed while they were married, but this can be difficult or impossible for one spouse if the other spouse earned the majority of the family’s income. For a person who was reliant on their spouse to provide for their needs, receiving spousal maintenance will allow them to support themselves after their divorce while also giving them the means to obtain education, pursue employment, and become self-supporting.

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 Posted on March 25, 2021 in Asset Division

For many Americans, having a vehicle is extremely important and practically necessary to live everyday life. In the suburbs of Chicago and surrounding counties, many people rely on their vehicles to commute to and from work every day, making them a vital asset. However, as a physical and often valuable asset, vehicles can be subject to division during a divorce. This means you and your spouse will be tasked with the job of determining how your vehicles will be handled. Before you start the negotiation process, there are certain considerations you should make pertaining to your vehicles.

Are Your Vehicles Subject to Division?

Before you do anything, you should determine if your vehicles will even be included in your marital estate. According to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA,) only marital property, meaning that which was acquired during the marriage, is subject to division. If the vehicle was purchased prior to the marriage, it is likely not considered marital property and therefore not subject to division in your divorce.

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 Posted on March 22, 2021 in Family Law

At Goostree Law Group, we know that our clients and other visitors to our website use our blog as a helpful source of information and answers about divorce and family law in Illinois. In our blog posts, we try to answer common questions and address issues that can arise in the divorce process, as well as in other types of family law cases, such as parental responsibilities and parental rights. Today, we will look back at the ten blogs that were the most popular among our readers throughout 2020:

1. Can I Sign Away My Parental Rights to an Unborn Child? – We talk about the options that a man has when his partner is pregnant but he does not wish or is not ready to be a father.

2. Grounds for Terminating Parental Rights in Illinois – We discuss the various conditions under which an Illinois court might terminate a parent’s rights regarding his or her children.

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 Posted on March 18, 2021 in Family Law

Divorce affects families from all walks of life, but the specific issues that each family deals with are different depending on their circumstances. When it comes to families with high incomes, the division of property and assets can be especially challenging. Child support can also easily become a contentious issue between high-earning parents, especially if the parents’ financial situation is not covered under the Illinois child support guidelines.

Understanding the Income Shares Model

In an effort to maintain as much fairness as possible, the state of Illinois currently uses an income shares model to calculate the amount of child support that should be paid each month. It is not the responsibility of just one parent to financially support a child, and as such, instead of just the paying spouse’s income being considered, both parents’ incomes are taken into consideration when the payment calculation is made. The calculation also takes into consideration the number of children that are being supported and how many overnights the children spend with the non-custodial parent each year.

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 Posted on March 17, 2021 in Property Division

Under Illinois law, an employee who gets hurt on the job is usually eligible for benefits under the state’s workers’ compensation program. These benefits are intended to help both the worker and his or her family. But, what happens when a person who is receiving workers’ compensation benefits gets divorced? If you are in such a situation, the answer to this question could have a substantial effect on your divorce.

Are Benefits a Marital Asset?

You probably realize that workers’ compensation benefits are considered a type of asset. The question, however, is whether they are considered part of the marital estate or not. In general, if the accident that made you eligible for workers’ compensation benefits occurred during your marriage, the benefits are likely to be considered marital property. This may even be the case if your divorce was already in process at the time of your accident. On the other hand, if the accident occurred before your marriage or after a judgment of legal separation was entered, the benefits you have received are not as likely to be considered as property of the marital estate.

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 Posted on March 15, 2021 in Child Custody

If you are going through a difficult divorce or trying to survive an emotional child custody battle, it can often seem like there is no end in sight. But the situation can be far worse if your spouse is abusive to your child. Signs of abuse may not be clear when you are married and together as a family, perhaps because you are always around to keep an eye on improper behavior, but once your co-parent is alone with your child after the divorce, it may be important to stay alert for signs that different forms of child abuse might be occurring. From there, you can take the appropriate actions to protect your child.

Be Aware of Different Kinds of Child Abuse

Child abuse occurs when a child’s physical or emotional health, development, or well-being are put into jeopardy. It can take many different forms, and the signs are not always immediately obvious. Some types of abuse that you should be aware of include:

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 Posted on March 12, 2021 in Divorce

There are not many divorces that are completely amicable, with both spouses on the same page about all of the issues to be resolved. Sometimes, disagreements between spouses can lead to one or both lashing out in the form of destructive, high-conflict behaviors. Not only can this distress everyone around them, but it can also make the divorce much more difficult. Going through a divorce with a high-conflict spouse can be unpredictable, but temporary orders can help take some of the uncertainty away.

What Type of Temporary Orders Can I Petition For?

In almost all divorce situations, the family unit has been disrupted and the household no longer functions as it used to. Both spouses may not even live in the same home anymore. In high-conflict divorces, this marital breakdown can bring much uncertainty, especially when it comes to things such as spending time with the children and paying household bills. Temporary court orders can be requested when there are concerns of a high-conflict spouse.

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 Posted on March 11, 2021 in Child Custody

Once your divorce is wrapped up, you and your family will embark on new journeys and a brand new way of life. When you and your ex-spouse share children, arrangements for parenting time and the allocation of parental responsibilities must be made, resulting in new routines and a lifestyle that you and your children were not previously accustomed to before the divorce. While these new arrangements can take some getting used to, they often result in happier, healthier homes and habits for you and your children.

Depending on your family situation, however, you may wish to take other people into consideration, such as grandparents, mentors, and close family friends. Who will have visitation rights, and what will those rights look like? How will you determine which non-parents will spend time with your children, and how will you negotiate those parameters?

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 Posted on March 05, 2021 in Child Custody

While fathers have always played an important role in the upbringing and development of children, they have not always been treated as such by the courts. This was often due to the assignment of traditional gender roles. Further, it was originally thought that the mother was more critical than the father was in the child’s early years. Yet, as time passed, fathers began to gain important recognition in the lives of their children. The composition of families also started to change. Now, there are fathers who stay home with their children while the mothers work outside of the home. Does this necessarily affect the allocation of parental responsibilities or assignment of parenting time in divorce though?

How Child-Related Matters Are Determined

In Illinois, divorcing parents are encouraged to negotiate an agreement regarding the allocation of parental responsibilities and the parenting time details of their case. Generally, this offers numerous benefits for families, including the freedom to create a parenting plan that is tailored to meet their family’s specific needs. For example, if the couple feels the child and family would benefit most from the father receiving a greater allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time because he works from home, they could create and agree upon a parenting plan that reflects this decision.

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