Posted on February 19, 2025 in Divorce

Planning for a child's college education can be challenging, especially after a divorce. Many divorced parents may wonder whether they are legally obligated to contribute to college expenses and how courts handle these responsibilities. Unlike child support, which typically ends when a child turns 18 or graduates high school, Illinois law allows courts to order parents to pay for college costs. If you have questions about how this will impact your post-divorce arrangements, an experienced Illinois family law attorney can help you navigate your rights and responsibilities regarding college expenses.

Are Divorced Parents Required to Pay for College in Illinois?

Illinois law gives courts the authority to order divorced parents to contribute to their child's college expenses. A judge can require one or both parents to help pay for tuition and fees, books and school supplies, housing (whether on-campus or off-campus), reasonable living expenses, and medical expenses, including health insurance.

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 Posted on January 22, 2025 in Divorce

Co-parenting after a divorce can be challenging, but it is essential for creating a healthy environment for children. By focusing on open communication, establishing boundaries, and prioritizing the children's needs, divorced parents can navigate co-parenting with fewer conflicts. An Illinois family law attorney can help parents address custody arrangements and other issues to create a solid foundation for successful co-parenting.

What Does Co-Parenting Mean After a Divorce?

Co-parenting is when both parents share responsibilities for their children’s well-being after a divorce. Maintaining a partnership focused on the children’s needs is key to successful co-parenting, even after the marital relationship has ended. In Illinois, this typically requires adhering to a parenting plan, which outlines custody and parenting time arrangements under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA). 

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 Posted on December 25, 2024 in Child Custody and Support

Divorcing spouses with very young children face many hard decisions. If both parents work out of the home, one key issue is figuring out how daycare and childcare expenses will be managed. In Illinois, these expenses are treated as part of child support, which means they are addressed in the divorce decree to ensure the children’s needs are met. Understanding how the courts handle these costs can help parents plan for their financial responsibilities after the divorce, and our Illinois child support attorneys are here to help. 

Is Daycare Included in Child Support in Illinois? 

When parents divorce in Illinois, they are both required to contribute to the financial support of their children. Childcare expenses, such as daycare or after-school care, are an important part of making sure a child has what he or she needs to grow and learn, but they are not automatically included in child support orders. 

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 Posted on November 21, 2024 in Divorce

Divorce can be stressful, complicated, and most of all, time-consuming. The word "divorce" usually conjures up multiple dreary courtroom hearings and a lot of arguing. But not every dissolution of a marriage has to be a tedious experience.

Many of the issues that stretch out divorce proceedings — child custody, spousal support, division of assets — can be settled simply, between the spouses. Under the right circumstances, you may see very little or no time in a courtroom at all. A shrewd Illinois divorce lawyer at The Law Offices of Douglas B. Warlick & Associates can help you avoid common pitfalls during this process, advocating on your behalf and making sure that you have a voice in negotiations.

Contested vs. Uncontested Divorce

In most cases, whether a divorce will go to court or not depends on whether the divorce is contested or uncontested. In a contested divorce, the couple cannot reach an agreement about the terms of the divorce, and an outside party needs to step in. In Illinois, an uncontested divorce can be completed in as little as two months, but contested divorces can drag out to a year or more.

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 Posted on October 18, 2024 in Divorce

Deciding to end a marriage is never easy, but it is particularly difficult when one spouse does not want a divorce. In Illinois, however, one spouse cannot prevent the other from getting a divorce. If you are living in Kane County and wondering whether you can get divorced even if your spouse refuses to cooperate, the answer is yes — you can.

Illinois is a "no-fault" divorce state, which means that as long as one spouse believes the marriage is irretrievably broken, they can move forward with the divorce, even without the other spouse’s consent. Let our experienced Illinois divorce attorneys help you take a closer look at how this works and what you need to know.

What Does "No-Fault" Divorce Mean?

In Illinois, the law no longer requires a spouse to prove fault — such as adultery, abuse, or abandonment — to get a divorce. Instead, the only ground for divorce is "irreconcilable differences," which means that the marriage has broken down to the point that repairing it is not possible. You do not need your spouse’s agreement to claim irreconcilable differences, which makes it easier to move forward even if your spouse disagrees.

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 Posted on September 20, 2024 in Child Custody and Support

Many couples who get divorced find that learning to adjust to post-divorce life is the hardest part of the process. For divorced parents, that includes working together to make decisions about their child. Finding a way to compromise on important issues can be difficult, especially right after divorce when tensions and emotions tend to run high.

As the new school year kicks off, divorced parents may find themselves disagreeing about where to send their child or other education-related issues. Many assume that whoever the child lives with gets to make such decisions. While the answer is related to child custody, it is not that simple. In this article, we will discuss child custody in Illinois, how to settle disagreements about a child’s education, and how to contact an experienced Illinois child custody attorney.

How Does Child Custody Work in Illinois?

Child custody consists of two parts:

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 Posted on August 09, 2024 in Property Division

In Illinois, spouses who get divorced are both entitled to marital property. State law defines marital property as any asset that came into either spouse’s possession during the marriage. Exceptions to this include:

• Inheritances
• Gifts intended for one spouse exclusively
• Property acquired by using non-marital property as collateral
• Assets excluded by a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement

Aside from these exceptions, most possessions acquired by either spouse during the marriage are considered marital property and both parties are entitled to it.

If the spouses do not divide the marital property between themselves, a court may do it for them. The law grants courts wide discretion to determine what is considered marital property and how to divide it. Marital assets are divided in Illinois fairly, not equally, and it is largely up to a judge to decide what is fair.

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 Posted on July 05, 2024 in Spousal Maintenance

Most states today specifically prohibit awards of permanent alimony. Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia still allow permanent alimony, while other states specifically prohibit permanent alimony. In the state of Texas, it is difficult to get any type of alimony unless specified in a pre or postnuptial agreement. Illinois has what is essentially permanent alimony but is more often called "indefinite" or "lifetime" alimony. There are certain circumstances when lifetime alimony can be terminated.

If you are wondering whether you are entitled to alimony or whether you will have to pay alimony, the best source of information is your Kane County divorce attorney from The Law Offices of Douglas B. Warlick & Associates. While you can speculate, ask your friends, or hope for the best, your attorney has solid experience and knowledge that will give you a very good idea of whether alimony will be awarded in your situation and what it will look like.

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 Posted on June 05, 2024 in Collaborative Law

You might be surprised to hear that there are several types of divorce available. It makes sense that there isn’t only one way to do it since there are so many different types of people and relationship dynamics. With options like contested divorce, uncontested divorce, arbitration, mediation, annulment, and collaborative divorce, different people can find a way that best suits them and their circumstances. It can be a bit confusing trying to understand what each type involves. This article will examine collaborative divorce, which is certainly not right for everyone but can be an excellent choice for people who meet the necessary conditions. It tends to be more popular among couples with children and those with higher-than-average means. If you and your spouse are thinking about having a collaborative divorce, speak with a qualified Kane County, IL divorce lawyer to find out more.

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 Posted on May 20, 2024 in Property Division

One of the main issues that divorcing couples face is how to divide debt. Are both spouses responsible for each other’s debts? Are only certain debts the responsibility of both parties or are all of them? Does one spouse need to make mortgage payments if the other spouse’s name is on the house? What if one spouse has more money than the other spouse to pay for the debt?

The answers to those questions depend on whether the debt is considered marital debt or non-marital debt. 

This article will discuss what marital debt is and how it is divided. Consulting an experienced divorce attorney is a great way to make sure you are not saddled with debt that is not yours.

What is Marital Debt?

Like marital property, marital debt refers to debt that belongs to both spouses. For something to be considered marital debt, however, it must have certain characteristics. Marital debt is a financial obligation that:

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