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Recent Blog Posts
Valuation of Marital Assets
For many couples, dividing the marital estate is one of the most challenging elements of the divorce process. Before the property that constitutes the marital estate can be allocated between the spouses, the value of the assets must be established.
Equitable Distribution in Illinois
With very limited exceptions, Illinois law provides that property—including assets and debts—acquired by either spouse during a marriage is considered marital property. Marital property is subject to division in a divorce. Absent a negotiated agreement between the spouses, the court is statutorily required to divide the marital estate in a manner that is equitable and just based on an examination of a large number of circumstantial factors. It is important to realize that “equitable” does not necessarily mean “equal” so one spouse could receive a larger portion of the marital estate than the other.
Helping Your Children Manage Your Divorce
A divorce is almost always incredibly stressful for everyone involved. Young children, however, often experience the most serious challenges adjusting to all of the changes. A divorce can also affect a child for years to come after the final decree is entered. There are a number of things that you can do as a parent can help your child manage the reality of your divorce.
Listen to Their Concerns and Problems
As with adults, children feel most loved and cared for if they feel that that their parents are listening to them. This is more than just letting them talk. Listening means that you must show you understand what they are worried about and refrain from expressing judgment. While you may be able to offer solutions, your children should not be made to feel guilty about their thoughts and feelings.
Find Someone to Help You
You may feel like you are doing well, but a divorce can wear you down. It is easy to vent to your children and to give more them more information than they know how to handle. This kind of venting can confuse children, make them feel anxious, and can harm their relationship with the other parent. If you need to speak with someone, find a trusted friend or a professional counselor. Be sure to have such conversations away from your children. Doing so will likely give you more patience with your children and can help you manage your stress level.
Common Signs Your Spouse May Be Cheating
Did you know that in Illinois it could technically be a crime to cheat on your spouse? In fact, if the “other man” or “woman” knows that you are married, he or she could also be breaking the law. According to the Illinois Criminal Code, adultery—both for a married person and a person who knows his or her partner is married—is considered a misdemeanor criminal offense “if the behavior is open and notorious.” The caveat was originally intended to prevent philanderers from publicly flaunting their infidelity by living with someone who was not their spouse and, as a result, offending the sensibilities of society and degrading the institution of marriage. By the letter of the law, this would even apply to people who are currently in the process of a divorce.
As you might expect, law enforcement officers and prosecutors, by and large, have little interest in looking to convict those who cheat on their spouses. To illustrate, the last known example of an adultery charge being filed happened 20 years ago, and Cook County prosecutors declined to pursue the case.
Divorce Challenges for Older Couples
While the divorce rate has been steadily declining for most age groups, those nearing retirement age (the Baby Boomers) have seen a drastic increase over the last couple of decades. In some ways, this could be a positive thing; it attests to the improved independence of women and the improved quality and longevity of life. There are some potential drawbacks, especially when it comes to retirement. If you are planning on divorcing later in life, it is important to be aware of what may lie ahead.
Divorce Later in Life Can Impact Retirement
Most couples who have been together for two or more decades have prepared for retirement together. This means they have, in many cases, created a pension plan that is designed to support one set of bills, one mortgage, and one set of living expenses. When divorce occurs near the retirement stage, this can throw everything into disarray. The retirement plan must now be divided, and each party will have their own set of bills and living expenses. There is a good chance there will not be enough to go around, and with less time to recover from this financial hit, later-life divorcees may be at serious risk for divorce-induced poverty.
Family Court Judge Issues Controversial Order
Most of us have heard stories about parents who for one reason or another—and often many reasons combined—were the subject of an investigation by child protective agencies. It is possible, as you are most likely aware, for such investigations to result in the termination of parental rights if the situation is found to present serious danger to the children. Agencies like the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) are tasked with keeping children safe even if it means separating them from their parents in some cases.
While protecting children is certainly an admirable and necessary goal, is it possible for agencies and family courts to go too far? A recent decision by a family court judge in New York has raised that exact question.
Limits on Future Pregnancy
Judge Patricia Gallaher issued a court order in December that directed a Rochester, NY, woman to avoid getting pregnant again. The woman—a known prostitute—had already lost custody of her four children based on findings of neglect. In her order, the judge stated that the woman was not to get pregnant again until she had regained custody of her infant son.
Social Media Could Impact Your Divorce
According to recent estimates, approximately 1.86 billion people around the world use Facebook regularly. The use of Facebook and other forms of social media to express one’s daily thoughts and opinions has become a popular aspect of modern culture in today’s society. For those who are going through a divorce, however, social media use can create some unique challenges. While posting updates or pictures may seem innocent, almost any personal detail uploaded to a social network has the potential to be exploited by a former partner for his or her own advantage.
Courts Review Social Media Activity
During a divorce, all aspects of a couple’s life are subject to scrutiny by the court. Information posted on Facebook and other social sites, whether it be posted by an individual involved in a divorce or a third party, can often be cast in a negative light during divorce proceedings.
Divorce and the Family Business
It is not easy to build and maintain a successful business. Family-owned and operated businesses, in particular, demand a considerable amount of time to sustain, and often necessitate substantial financial and time contributions from spouses to function. Owning a business is an effective method of building financial and employment security, but can become problematic if spouses who both play a role in the operation decide to divorce.
Ending a marriage is always a difficult process, regardless of how contested the divorce is, but when complex issues, like family-operated businesses, are present, the implications of dissolving the marriage become much thornier (absent a prenuptial agreement). Given that family-operated businesses account for at least 80 percent of all companies in the U.S., the issue of how to treat the business in the division of property is a frequent matter that is ideally addressed between the spouses privately—usually with the assistance of attorneys—before a divorce petition is filed. Understanding how these assets are divided in divorce before the process is initiated will allow parties to enter the process armed with knowledge that could assist them during settlement negotiations.
Divorce Rate May Be Linked to Husband’s Employment
It is well understood that disputes over money and finances can take a serious toll on a marriage. In fact, many sources suggest that disagreements regarding money are among the leading causes of divorce in the United States. A recent study suggests, however, that a different factor may have even more of an impact than money on a couple’s likelihood of divorce: the employment status of the husband.
Harvard Study
Alexandra Killewald, a sociology professor at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, examined more than 40 years worth of data covering more than 6,300 married American opposite-sex couples. According to her findings, couples who married before 1975 were more likely to divorce if the husband and wife shared household duties equally—due, perhaps, to the “non-traditional” division of responsibilities. From 1975 forward, however, household responsibilities have not shown to impact the divorce rate very much, but the husband’s employment has.
Dividing Marital Property in an Illinois Divorce
It is a trope often repeated in movies, television shows, and popular music. When a couple gets divorced, everyone “knows” that each spouse gets half of all of the couple’s property, including the assets that each person had coming into the marriage—unless, of course, the couple had a prenup. This well-known “fact,” however, is not a fact at all, at least not in the state of Illinois. In some states, marital property is divided exactly in half—though what constitutes marital still does not usually include previously-owned assets. In Illinois, the laws regarding property division in divorce are based on the principles of equitable distribution, meaning that each spouse receives part of the marital estate but not necessarily in equal proportions.
Equal is Not Always Fair
The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act provides that when a divorcing couple cannot agree on how to divide their marital property, the court will allocate their assets and debts in a manner that is fair and just. Nowhere in the law is there a guarantee that the split should be 50/50. Instead, the court will examine the circumstances of the marriage and of each party to determine how much of the marital estate each spouse should receive to ensure that neither is placed at an unnecessary financial disadvantage.
What Are My Rights to My Grandchildren?
If your child has recently gone through a divorce, you are likely wondering how his or her parenting arrangements for his or her children will affect you and your time with your grandchildren. You might be wondering what rights you have to spend time with your grandchildren and whether or not time with you is considered as part of their custody arrangement.
The short answer to your questions is this: unless you have court-ordered guardianship of your grandchild or grandchildren, your child and his or her former spouse are not legally required to have their child spend time with you. However, if you are routinely denied the opportunity to spend time with your grandchild, you may file a petition to have the court grant you visitation rights with your grandchild. Visitation rights are written into the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act along with other laws related to a child’s well-being.
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