Posted on October 20, 2016 in Divorce

Illinois law requires Courts in divorce proceedings to divide any marital property between the parties in an appropriate and fair manner. Moreover, all relevant factors in the case must be considered. One of those factors for the Judge to consider is the dissipation of marital assets by one or both spouses.

Dissipation is the legal term for when a spouse wastes or misuses assets for his or her own benefit for a purpose unrelated to the marriage, as the marriage is experiencing an irreconcilable breakdown.

Common Types of Dissipation of Marital Assets

There are several different ways in which a spouse can dissipate assets; however, certain means of dissipation are most common in divorce cases. A spouse might hide marital assets by concealing or transferring the assets to a secret account titled in another person’s name. Additionally, selling off marital assets, spending marital funds, or racking up debt without the other spouse’s knowledge are common ways of dissipating assets. More specifically, Illinois Courts have found that a spouse dissipated assets in the following ways:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 14, 2016 in Family Law

Recent revisions to Illinois law require that parents submit a parenting plan to the Court whenever there is a dispute about the allocation of parental responsibilities, or what was previously known as custody and visitation. Parents can also agree to modify their parenting plan and simply submit the plan to the Court for approval. Whatever the case may be, your parenting plan must address certain concerns that involve your children. Essentially, your plan must contain not only the elements required by Illinois law, but also any provisions that may be unique to your family or important to you.

Parenting Plan Basics

A parenting plan is a written document that sets forth each parent’s legal rights and obligations with respect to the children. The plan addresses the same types of issues that a custody agreement or parenting agreement previously addressed. Rather than referring to custody and visitation, however, Illinois law now only refers to the allocation of parental responsibilities, or how parents will effectively parent their child together. Basic elements of a parenting plan include the following:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 06, 2016 in Child Support

Either parent has the right to ask for a change in his or her Illinois child support payments if there has been a substantial change in circumstances since the last order. There are certain types of changes that might qualify as a substantial change in circumstances. Depending on the situation, the Court can decrease or increase the amount of the child support payments.

What Qualifies as a Substantial Change in Circumstances?

There are a number of different situations that might constitute a substantial change in circumstances for the purposes of a modifying a child support order. Sometimes, these situations might result in a decrease in a child support obligation:

• The parent who pays child support loses his or her job;
• The parent who pays child support becomes disabled and unable to work;

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on September 30, 2016 in Child Support

President Obama recently signed the instrument of ratification for the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance. The purpose of this Convention is to establish uniform, simplified, cost-free rules and procedures for processing child support cases on an international level. Ratification of this Convention is groundbreaking; prior to the Convention, there were no standardized and efficient procedures for international child support cases, and each country had different costly and time-consuming procedures to follow. This Convention represents the first global child support treaty ratified by the United States. Now, American children who have a parent living in a foreign country who is party to the Convention will have additional recourse to collect the financial support that they need in a much more timely manner.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on September 21, 2016 in Divorce

While experts and researchers tend to disagree on the exact rate of divorce in the United States today, they are in agreement on one issue: the rate of divorce for couples over the age of 50 is on the rise. According to a recent Forbes article, the rate of “gray divorces” has actually doubled over the 20-year period from 1990 to 2010. These divorces tend to involve couples who have been married for many years, which can create huge financial changes for both parties. However, women, in these divorces, tend to suffer most.

How Your Age Impacts Your Divorce

The reality is that when divorce occurs later in life, the impact on your finances is larger. Once you reach retirement age, you are likely to be living on a fixed income, perhaps from Social Security benefits and pension or other retirement benefits. When you abruptly go from two sources of income to one, your budget and expenses will necessarily change. This is usually not a positive change, especially for the woman, who statistically is likely to have had less income over her lifetime than the man. This can cause the woman’s retirement benefits to be substantially less than her husband’s benefits. Women may be able to draw Social Security benefits from their spouses’ earning records, even following divorce, in some situations. However, that source of income is not a guarantee and is not available to all women at the time that they may need it the most.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on September 14, 2016 in Domestic Violence

While lawmakers and advocates alike have mounted massive public awareness campaigns and strengthened existing state laws concerning domestic violence, this issue remains problematic today. Domestic violence is an issue that often appears in divorces, child custody cases and other types of family law proceedings. Furthermore, false allegations of domestic violence, which are not uncommon in bitter family law or divorce cases, can damage one’s reputation and livelihood. Fortunately, for cases of true domestic abuse, there are several avenues of relief on both the criminal and civil sides of the law. One of the most common tools used to combat domestic abuse is the order of protection.

What is an Order of Protection?

An order of protection is a legal court order that requires an individual stay away from you and/or your children. In emergency cases, a court can issue a temporary order of protection the same day that you request it. A temporary order can remain effective for up to 21 days. In order to obtain a more permanent order of protection, however, you must attend a hearing, at which both you and the other individual can present evidence to the judge. After hearing evidence from both sides, the judge can issue an order of protection that lasts for up to two years. Violation of either a temporary or regular order of protection is extremely serious, and can result in criminal charges against the individual who violates the order.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on September 07, 2016 in Family Law

While many foreign nationals marry U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens solely for love, some see this type of marriage as a way to bypass the typically lengthy immigration laws and enter the U.S. quickly. In fact, some immigration officials estimate that fraudulent marriages may occur in anywhere from 5 to 15 percent of these types of marriages. While immigration authorities may never discover some fraudulent marriages, those that they do discover can result in serious consequences for the parties involved.

Obtaining a Temporary Green Card Through Marriage

In order to marry a foreign national, a U.S. citizen (or a permanent resident alien) must file an immigration application to sponsor a foreign spouse and grant him or her legal status to remain in the U.S. For a marriage that is less than two years old, immigration officials will grant the foreign spouse conditional permanent residence, or a temporary green card, which permits him or her to live in the U.S. on a temporary basis.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on August 29, 2016 in Divorce

Many couples who are facing divorce often question what to do with the marital residence, which often is the parties' most valuable asset and an asset that neither spouse may be able to maintain on his or her own. As a result, many individuals in this situation opt to sell the marital home, either during or just after their divorce. A recent online article highlights the potential benefits of the federal gains tax exclusion that divorcing couples can receive if they decide to sell the marital residence. These benefits may allow you and your spouse to receive proceeds from the sale of the home free of federal income taxes, which can give you the money to downsize into a more affordable home.

How the Gains Tax Exclusion Works

If a couple decides to sell their home, they potentially may be able to receive gains from the sale of up to $500,000 without any federal income tax being assessed on those gains. Even if the couple is separated, they may still be eligible for the joint exclusion if they were still legally married at the end of the year in which the home is sold. If the couple is already divorced, however, and the spouse who receives the home through the divorce proceedings wishes to sell it, he or she can still receive tax-free gains of up to $250,000. If the parties still co-own the home and they are newly divorced, they potentially can each have gains of up to $250,000 free of federal income taxes, assuming that they meet the additional eligibility requirements described below.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on August 22, 2016 in Child Custody

In the past, a parent typically could relocate with his or her child anywhere within the state of Illinois. If the parent wanted to move outside of Illinois, he or she would have to obtain permission from the Court in order to do so. Changes to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) that took effect on January 1, 2016, however, dramatically changed the rules for a parent who wants to relocate with his or her child where the parents are divorced or otherwise separated and draws a sharp distinction between the requirements for a parent moving with a child and relocating with a child.

Moving With Your Child

If the parent with which a child spends most of his or her time wants to move, he or she is generally able to do so without the permission of the Court. Under Illinois law, “moving” refers to a parent living in a new home that is no more than 25 miles away from the original home that is located in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake or Will Counties. Moving also includes moving to a new home that is no more than 50 miles away from the parent's original home if it is located in a county other than those previously mentioned. Despite this ability to move without Court involvement, however, a parent still should provide the child's other parent with his or her new address and telephone number.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on August 10, 2016 in Spousal Support

When a judge issues a spousal maintenance or spousal support order, one spouse must pay a certain amount of money on a regular basis to the other spouse. You only receive maintenance if the judge decides that you need it and your spouse has the ability to pay it. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) contains uniform guidelines for spousal maintenance orders in Illinois divorce proceedings. The goal of the guidelines is to make spousal maintenance awards in divorce more consistent and to let you know what to expect if you get spousal maintenance in your Illinois divorce.

Application of the Spousal Maintenance Guidelines

The spousal maintenance guidelines apply only when the judge already decided that maintenance is appropriate. To determine whether spousal maintenance is appropriate in your case, the judge must consider several factors, including the following for both parties:

Continue Reading ››