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Recent Blog Posts
What Are the Financial Consequences of Divorce?
Getting divorced in Illinois is a stressful experience for what can feel like a million reasons. Will you have to move? How will the children handle these changes? What does this mean for your short- and long-term financial health? The answers to so many of these questions are difficult to know until the divorce proceedings get started, and the fear of the unknown can place enormous stress on divorcees.
Although you may not be able to control everything in your divorce, it is crucially important to focus on the realistic impact your divorce is likely to have on your finances. Doing so will help you remain calm and financially stable during the divorce and help prepare you for financial success in the future.
Before Divorce
Before the divorce proceedings start, it is important to take stock of your overall financial picture. In addition to the fact that the divorce will simply require you to collect this information, doing so will also help you comprehensively understand your assets and debts. Savings and checking accounts, retirement accounts, and any vehicles or real estate you own will likely need to be divided as marital property, and you will need to understand how much of your assets you are likely to be left with. If you can, try to save money and prepare yourself to live in a single-income household.
Divorcing a Spendthrift Spouse in Illinois
Most addictions manifest as a substance abuse problem, such as too much drinking or the use of illicit drugs. However, addictive or compulsive behaviors present themselves in many more ways than substance abuse. Gambling, shopping, and even overeating can all become compulsive behaviors that negatively affect a family’s life.
Financial problems resulting from a shopping addiction can devastate a family’s finances and ruin their future prospects. Although some people will seek help and overcome their compulsive behaviors, some will not or cannot, and their spouse ultimately needs to decide whether it is time to get divorced.
Protecting Your Finances
One of the first things someone divorcing a spendthrift spouse must do is take steps to protect their finances. Even if it may seem as though a financial situation is already too wrecked by compulsive spending to ever overcome, there are things individuals can do to protect themselves moving forward. Here are several steps to consider:
How Are Complex Assets Valued and Divided in Divorce?
Illinois couples getting divorced will have to divide their marital assets. Before an asset can be divided, however, it needs to be accurately valued. Certain assets, such as vehicles, can be valued quite easily. Other assets, like collectibles, businesses, and rental properties, are more difficult to value and divide.
This is especially true when the assets, or the individuals who own them, have a high net worth. Divorcing couples often need the help of outside experts who have experience finding out the value of particular types of assets. In this blog, we will answer common questions about complex assets in an Illinois divorce.
What Makes an Asset Complex?
A car’s value cannot be determined by dividing the car into separate parts that can be individually valued and sold. Rather, a car’s value is estimated by simply looking at similar cars that have sold recently in the area. A car is not a complex asset. In contrast, complex assets are made up of several components, and each of these components may need to be individually valued in order to determine the value of the overall asset. One of the most common complex assets is a closely held family business. Among the things that must be valued are the business's assets and debts, the business’s local reputation, and the business’s contracts.Retirement and pension accounts are further examples of complex assets. Financial portfolios may be allocated in many different areas, each with its own level of risk exposure. Couples getting divorced will have to obtain the overall value of their portfolios, and then weigh the advantages and disadvantages of negotiating for assets they hope to keep rather than liquidating and dividing them.
Will I Have to Pay My Spouse’s Student Loans if We Get Divorced?
Student loan debt presents an outsized portion of overall American debt. As of September 2021, Americans collectively owe more than 1.6 trillion dollars of student debt. The average debt per person is at an all-time high of nearly forty thousand dollars, while those who hold advanced degrees often owe enough money in student loans to buy an entire house.
For many couples, one or both partners obtaining college degrees promised a brighter future for their marriage and family. Whether or not this education actually resulted in better career prospects, the debt must be paid. This leaves many young couples wondering, "If we get divorced, will I have to help my spouse pay for their student loans?"
Are Student Loans Considered Marital Property?
If a spouse incurred student loan debt before getting married, this debt will almost certainly be considered non-marital debt and will not be divided in a divorce. But if a spouse accumulates debt of any kind during the marriage, it is generally considered marital property. This is true whether the debt is a mortgage, credit card debt, or student loans - even if only one spouse applied for the debt.
How Can I Get Divorced if I Cannot Afford to Move Out?
Divorce is a notoriously expensive process. Even if spouses in Illinois are able to afford their own attorneys, figuring out how to live in separate households may be a financial non-starter. The cost of supporting yourself in a separate apartment, and maybe paying spousal maintenance and child support on top of that, may be out of reach. Yet when the relationship is over, it is over. Illinois allows spouses to get divorced without a waiting period, even if they still live together, but the ability to get divorced is not the same thing as moving out and starting your own life again. Spouses who want a divorce but cannot afford to move out have to get creative when beginning their formal separation.
Understand “Separate and Apart”
Illinois does have a six-month waiting period of living “separate and apart” between filing for divorce and completing the process, but this only applies when one spouse does not agree to the divorce. If a spouse is uncooperative, living separate and apart for six months satisfies the criteria for “irreconcilable differences” that permits a divorce to be finalized.
I am a Stay-at-Home Mother - How Can I Afford Divorce?
A stay-at-home mother makes significant career sacrifices so they can do the neverending work of raising children and caring for a home. After years of no paid vacations and very little downtime, they may find themselves having worked hard but still unsure how to pay for a divorce. Stay-at-home mothers often remain in untenable situations for too long because they do not know how to get out.
Illinois law recognizes that such a situation could arise for homemakers. That is why Illinois allows for interim spousal maintenance (formerly known as “alimony”) that can help support the stay-at-home spouse during a divorce. With effective legal representation, you can get divorced as a homemaker.
File for Temporary Spousal Maintenance
Courts want to recognize and encourage the efforts of mothers who do the important work of childrearing. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act allows spouses to petition for temporary financial support by filing a motion and providing a financial affidavit that details the mother’s financial situation. This includes both spouse’s incomes, if applicable, expenses, and savings.
My Illinois Divorce Order is Unfair. Can I Request a Modification?
The unpleasant truth about divorce orders is that neither spouse is entirely satisfied with the results. Compromise, negotiations, and a reduction in parenting time with children practically guarantees that nobody is going to get everything they want.
Anticipating this, Illinois courts have made it difficult to modify divorce orders except in certain circumstances. This article discusses when a divorce order may be modified, which parts of the divorce order may be modified, and what you can do if you believe your divorce order merits a second look.
When Can A Divorce Order Be Modified?
Unless there was an error on the part of the courts in interpreting or applying the law to a couple’s circumstances, divorce orders generally cannot be modified until at least two years have passed since the original order was finalized.
Failing to abide by the terms of a divorce decree can result in substantial legal penalties for the violating party. Until a divorce decree has been formally modified, both parties are required to abide by its terms no matter how unfair they may believe it is.
Talking to Children About Divorce
Deciding to get divorced is one of the most challenging decisions Illinois parents can make. This is especially true when they share children. Parents who have decided to get divorced may worry about the short- and long-term impacts of divorce on their children, beginning with the initial conversation when they break the bad news.
Even though divorce is never easy, there are strategies for handling conversations about divorce that can make the process much easier for children. In this article, we will discuss three tips for parents who want to talk to their kids about divorce in a healthy and productive way.
Have the Conversation Together
Although parents may want to give each child their side of the story, this approach is not age-appropriate. Instead, parents should talk together first and decide how to tell the children using supportive and honest language. Parents do not need to get into the details of their breakup, but should tell their children more generally that they cannot get along or do not want the same things.
How Are Divorce Orders Enforced in Illinois?
Once a divorce decree is finalized, issues such as spousal support, child support, and a parenting plan are finalized as well. Whether parents are satisfied with the terms of the divorce decree does not matter; until and unless the decree is modified, the original decree is legally binding.
Unfortunately, some people who are dissatisfied with the terms of their divorce decree decide that they will flout some or all of it. They may refuse to pay support or to let the other parent visit the children. Fortunately, Illinois provides consequences for failing to obey a divorce order, and an experienced family law attorney can help you pursue enforcement.
Can I Record Conversations with My Spouse During Our Divorce?
Divorces in Illinois are often hostile affairs, and former spouses may find it hard to be on their best behavior. In an effort to catch a moment of abuse or admission of guilt, spouses may attempt to record each other and use the recording for leverage later in the divorce. The ease with which modern technology allows us to record conversations can make it very tempting to do so.
However, recording a phone conversation in Illinois without the consent of both parties is illegal and the individual making the recording is engaged in a strategy that can backfire on them by risking serious legal consequences.
When Can I Record a Conversation with My Ex?
Illinois is an all-party consent state, meaning that, with very few exceptions, everyone on the call needs to know they are being recorded for the recording to be legal. This is true whether the call is just a regular phone call or takes place over a video platform. Recordings that are made “surreptitiously,” using deception, secrecy, concealment, or stealth, are violations of the Illinois eavesdropping law.
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