Posted on January 25, 2017 in Divorce

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.

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 Posted on January 06, 2017 in Divorce Rate

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.

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 Posted on December 30, 2016 in 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.

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 Posted on December 15, 2016 in Child Custody

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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 Posted on November 30, 2016 in Divorce

Anyone who has ever been in a serious relationship can probably relate. The initial stages of the relationship are filled with happiness and excitement at the very thought of one another. While nobody expects the “puppy-love” phase to last forever, it is during this stage that many couples decide to get married. As time goes by, however, the relationship may cool into a less dramatic and intense type of love, and, in some cases, even further than that. Eventually, one or both spouses may find themselves feeling bored, lonely, and unloved despite the rings on their fingers. Some may be inclined to take immediate action and file for divorce, but rushing toward the end of your marriage is not usually the best idea.

Relationship Cycles

Your relationship is going to be constantly changing. Life does not stand still and neither does love. Even the healthiest of marriages have rough patches. There is a reason that the typical wedding vows include the phrases “for better or for worse,” “in good times and in bad,” and “in sickness and in health.” If you took the leap of faith to marry your spouse, you believed that your love was deeper than physical attraction and good feelings. Before you decide to file for divorce, take an objective look at your marriage and try to determine it is really over or if you are just going through a tough time.

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 Posted on November 11, 2016 in Divorce

Are you the type of person who sees repeating numbers on a digital clock—4:44 pm, for example—and encourages your friends to make a wish? Perhaps the question is particularly relevant considering today’s calendar date of 11/11. A large number of people find significance in patterns found in numbers, while, for many others, such patterns inspire curious, coincidental amusement. In fact, couples around the world intentionally choose dates with numerical patterns to celebrate their wedding ceremonies. However, a new study suggests that those who get married on gimmicky dates divorce nearly a third more often than those who marry on ordinary days.

Special Days and Regular Days

A team of economists from Australia’s University of Melbourne wanted to see if there was any connection between a couple’s wedding date and the likelihood of their divorce. Previous studies have looked at the size and cost of a wedding, as well as impact that age, remarriage, and children may have on the probably of divorce, but the researchers believed that they were the first to examine the calendar date of the wedding itself.

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 Posted on October 28, 2016 in Stay-at-Home Dads

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 in the child’s early years. Yet, as time passed, fathers began to gain some 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 and mothers who work outside of the home. Does this necessarily affect the allocation of parental responsibilities or assignment of parenting time in divorce though? It is possible but not guaranteed.

How Child-Related Matters Are Determined

In Illinois, divorcing parents are permitted to negotiate an agreement regarding the allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time details of their case. Generally, this offers numerous benefits for families, including the freedom to create a parenting plan that is more tailored to 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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 Posted on October 14, 2016 in Children of Divorce

Differences in values and parenting philosophies can cause conflicts between two people. Not only can these differences cause difficulties with parenting after a divorce, they can be part of the reason why a couple divorced in the first place. But as a divorced parent, working cooperatively with your former spouse for your child's benefit is an important skill to develop

One way to reduce co-parenting conflicts is to understand your parenting style and that of your former partner. Developmental psychologists have identified four distinct parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved. Most parents' individual styles fall somewhere between two or more of these archetypes. By recognizing where your parenting style falls as well as your former partner's parenting style, you can develop a coherent parenting plan that works for all members of your family.

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 Posted on September 30, 2016 in Divorce

There are many reasons why couples choose to end their marriages. In the state of Illinois, couples have the choice of ending their marriage either through divorce or annulment. Divorces and annulments are similar in terms of making a determination about a couple’s marital status.

However, they differ because while a divorce legally ends a valid and existing marriage, an annulment is the legal process used to end a marriage that was never valid. In Illinois, this is referred to as a “Declaration of Invalidity of Marriage.” This effectively makes it as if both parties were never married in the first place – as far as the government is concerned.

Grounds for a Declaration of Invalidity of Marriage

Grounds for annulment may vary in different states and legal jurisdictions. However, Illinois recognizes only a few circumstances as grounds for a Declaration of Invalidity of Marriage, including:

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 Posted on September 16, 2016 in Prenuptial Agreements

Statistics show that Americans are, on average, waiting longer than ever to get married for the first time. While the maturity that normally accompanies age may be a factor in the recent decrease in the divorce rate, waiting to get married also means that each spouse tends to bring more property, assets, and debts to the marriage. As a result, many couples are turning to prenuptial agreements to help them establish which property is whose and how certain assets are to be addressed in the event of a divorce.

Free to Make Your Own Choices

Prenuptial agreements in Illinois are governed by the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act which the state adopted in 1990. The law gives prospective spouses the right to negotiate the terms of a prenuptial agreement in whatever manner suits them. The only topics that a prenuptial agreement is statutorily prohibited from addressing are the rights of a child regarding child support and custodial (parental responsibilities) plans made in advance of such a need.

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