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Recent Blog Posts
Sign and Drive Law for Traffic Violations
Consider the contents of your wallet. If it was stolen, what would be the most challenging thing to do without for a few days? Chances are, you could get by without your credit or debit card and insurance identification cards for a little while until you receive new ones. Your driver’s license, however, is a whole different story. Without it, you would probably struggle to board an airplane, purchase alcohol, or even cash a check. However, for many years, the state of Illinois allowed law enforcement officers to take a person’s driver’s license as bail when citing him or her for a traffic violation. Thanks to a law that went into effect earlier this year, though, the practice has come to an end, and it is important to know your rights and responsibilities.
Implementing Sign and Drive
Just over a year ago, the Illinois legislature and then-Governor Pat Quinn recognized the challenges presented to citizens by having their licenses confiscated as bail. They realized that affecting the way that a person goes about his or her daily life was not appropriate based on relative minor severity of most traffic violations. Thus, in August of 2014, the so-called Sign and Drive was officially signed by the governor, taking effect on January 1, 2015.
Am I Entitled to Spousal Support after My Divorce?
Under the law in Illinois, children have to right to expect financial support from both parents, regardless of the adults’ marital situation. The same is not true, however, for divorcing spouses. While there may be situations in which spousal maintenance is appropriate, there is no inherent assumption that it will be granted. Instead, in the absence of an agreement either at the time of divorce or prior, such as a prenuptial agreement, the court will examine the applicable circumstances and decide if an order for spousal support is necessary.
Negotiated Maintenance and Prenuptial Agreements
Most aspects of divorce can be settled fairly amicably through the process of negotiation. You and your spouse may be able to reach an agreement regarding spousal support with an arrangement that works for your particular situation. Spousal maintenance provisions can also be included in a prenuptial agreement, created prior to your marriage. As long as such agreements are workable and relatively fair, they are likely to be accepted by the court.
Was the Police Search of My Car Illegal?
Every year, a surprising number of people are arrested after having their cars searched. Often, the police find drugs, weapons, or other contraband in the car and then arrest all of the occupants. But, police are not allowed to randomly search vehicles. Everyone in the United States has a Constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
If you have had you car searched by police, it is important to know if the search was legal or not.
Search and Seizure Law Basics
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives you the right to not have your property searched or taken unreasonably. This means that the police must either have your permission, a warrant, or there must exist some special circumstance, before they can search your property, including your car.
If a search is found by a court to have been illegal, all evidence gathered from that search will be inadmissible in court. This is sometimes called “fruit of the poisonous tree”. If you give the police permission to search you vehicle, however, the search will almost certainly be legal.
Marital Property Includes Retirement Accounts
According to the law in Illinois, nearly all property acquired by either spouse during the course of marriage is considered part of the marital estate and is subject to division in the event of divorce. This generally includes all wages derived from employment, even if those funds have been invested into a retirement account set up in the name of just one spouse. The same is true for a pension, as its value is attributable to the working effort of a spouse, which, in the context of a marriage, causes the asset to become marital property.
All, Some, or None?
If you have been actively saving for retirement for many years, it is very possible that your retirement account, including a 401(k) or an IRA, existed long before your marriage was even a consideration. The contributions and the resulting increase in value of the investment made during the marriage are part of the estate. The contributions and value increases prior to the marriage or after your divorce are not included in the division of property process.
Illinois DUI Evaluations
When you have been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI), your life is likely to change dramatically. In addition to potential criminal penalties, your ability to drive legally may be severely hampered by administrative suspensions and revocations. Prior to sentencing, in most cases, and certainly before driving relief will be considered, Illinois law requires an individual arrested for DUI to undergo an alcohol and drug evaluation.
Purpose of the Evaluation
The state of Illinois has a vested interest in maintaining public safety and identifying potential risks created by drivers with substance abuse issues. Therefore, by requiring the evaluation, the state receives an objective overview from licensed professional regarding the extent of a driver’s drug and alcohol use, and the likelihood of future occurrences of driving under the influence. The results of the evaluation may also be used to recommend intervention treatment as part of the court-ordered conditions included in the disposition of the case.
Modifying Your Child Support Order
It is the legally-recognized right of a child in Illinois to expect financial support from both parents, regardless of the relationship between them. It is impossible, of course, to legally mandate a healthy relationship between a child and both parents, but the state does have the ability to enforce orders of child support. If you are like most parents, you are more than willing to help provide for your child and make every effort to remain current on your ordered payments. What happens, though, when life changes make it difficult to meet your support obligations?
Creating the Original Order
In the vast majority of situations, the obligation to pay child support falls upon the parent who is not granted primary physical custody of the child. Illinois law provides a basic formula for calculating child support payments, based primarily on the payor’s net income and the number of children to be supported. Other circumstantial factors can be taken into account, including the resources and income of the custodial parent, as well as the physical, medical, and educational needs of the child.
Teen Sexting: Girl Charged With Sex Crimes Against Herself
“Victimless crime” is a common phrase used to rationalize certain illegal behaviors, such as public intoxication and recreational drug use. It implies that no other party was injured or damaged by the activity and, in the minds of certain groups, should be therefore punished less harshly or not at all. While there may be some merit to such an argument, could it possible to commit a crime against yourself? Based on recent case in North Carolina in which a teen girl was charged with sex crimes against herself, the answer seems to be “maybe.”
Teen Sexting
According to a number of recent studies, as many as one in four teens engage in sexting, or sending sexually explicit images electronically to another person. As such, it hardly seemed all that unusual for a 16-year-old Fayetteville, NC, girl to send a nude photo of herself to her boyfriend, also age 16. She was arrested on two counts of sexual exploitation, one for possessing the photo and one for sending it. The warrant for her arrest, reports indicate, listed her as both the suspected adult perpetrator and the minor victim. The boyfriend faced similar charges for possessing the picture she sent, along with several explicit photos of himself. While certain concessions are often made for consent and similarity in age, the local sheriff’s department said, such charges are not often dismissed completely. The case, and others like it around the country raise some very interesting questions about the correlation of technology, social morality, and law enforcement.
Major Changes to Illinois Divorce Laws Coming in January
Thanks to legislation passed by the State House and Senate earlier this year and signed by Governor Bruce Rauner in July, divorce laws in Illinois are being rewritten for the first time in nearly 40 years. The legislation took the form of a single bill, introduced as Senate Bill 57 in January, 2015, but its effects will be widespread, impacting a significant number of family law provisions, including those regarding divorce, child custody, and, as discussed on this blog previously, parental relocation. Future posts will address some of the other areas of change, but the amendments to the divorce laws are likely to begin affecting Illinois residents very quickly.
Only No-Fault Divorce
While every state in America currently provides couples the ability to divorce on the “no-fault” grounds of irreconcilable differences, a little less than half still allow divorce on fault grounds as well. Currently, that is the case in Illinois, as an individual may seek a divorce based on the actions or behavior of his or her spouse, including ongoing substance abuse, mental or physical cruelty, abandonment, or adultery. Beginning January 1, 2016, however, fault grounds will no longer be an option. Instead, all divorces will be officially granted on the basis of irreconcilable differences.
Flaws in the System: Wrongful Convictions
In many high-profile criminal cases, the court of public opinion will decide on a defendant’s guilt long before a trial ever begins. In fact, you can probably think of several examples in which you “knew” a famous suspect was guilty or not guilty of a violent crime simply based your impressions. American society, however, places a great deal of faith in the criminal justice system and, for the most part, if a defendant is convicted in court, the general public tends to believe he or she committed the crime. But what if he or she did not and was convicted anyway? Sadly, wrongful convictions sometimes ruin the lives of innocent people, and some of the reasons behind flawed verdicts may surprise you.
Factors of Wrongful Convictions
A recent study funded by the National Institute of Justice and conducted by a team from American University in Washington, D.C., looked at more than 450 cases to identify the factors that could contribute to a defendant being wrongfully convicted. In each case, the defendant, whether convicted or not, was later found to be factually innocent of the crime of which he or she was accused. The researchers, led by Dr. Jon B. Gould, J.D., director of the Washington Institute for Public and International Affairs Research at American University, compared the cases of wrongful convictions with those in which an innocent suspect was found not guilty or had the charges dismissed.
Drive Sober: DUI and Seatbelt Campaigns Get Final Summer Push
As summer draws to a close in northern Illinois, law enforcement officials in a number of area municipalities are ramping up safe driving enforcement activities. This comes as part of a nationwide effort to crack down on drunk driving, along with a continued focus on ensuring drivers are using seatbelts. The highly-publicized campaign got underway last weekend and will continue through the Labor Day holiday on September 7.
National DUI Awareness
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has invested more than $13 million in advertising and public awareness to spread the word about this focused operation. It comes as part of the NHTSA’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, aimed at reducing accidents and injuries related to driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs. More than 10,000 local police departments throughout the country are expected to participate in the effort, including many in the Chicagoland region. There is expected to be zero tolerance for driving with blood alcohol content (BAC) above the legal limit of .08 percent. The NHSTA wants you to know that if you drive drunk, you will be arrested.
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