Posted on August 15, 2017 in Guardian ad Litem

Sometimes, though we hate to admit it, we are not our children’s best advocates. In an environment such as family court, especially, the state tends to be of the opinion that we cannot impartially advocate for our children’s best interests. To protect their interests and their safety, professionals referred to as guardians ad litem are often appointed to act for children in legal proceedings.

Role of a GAL

A guardian ad litem (GAL) is an attorney who may be appointed by a family court judge to ensure that the interests of children are protected. Each county has its own procedure for appointing a GAL and will make such appointments with varying frequency. In Cook County, for example, in Cook County, there is a tendency to use GALs slightly less, as the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian is sometimes used to represent minors in specific cases.

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 Posted on August 11, 2017 in Annulments

Sometimes, marriages do not work out. However, the same dissolution procedure is not always the best for each situation. If you have been married a very short time, you may be able to annul your marriage instead of having it dissolved. Still, it is important to understand when this is appropriate and when you are better off opting for a standard divorce.

Dissolution of Marriage

A divorce is referred to under Illinois law as a dissolution of marriage, and almost any couple can obtain one. Until recently, Illinois offered fault-based grounds for divorce such as bigamy, but the law was amended in 2015 to remove all grounds except for irreconcilable differences—the standard “no-fault” ground for divorce. The law was also changed to eliminate the requirement for a couple to live apart for six months or more before their divorce could be granted.

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 Posted on August 07, 2017 in Divorce

When people decide to get divorced, even the most elementary issues must be in proper order, or there could be problems with the legality of the proceedings at a later date. Jurisdiction is usually one of these issues. Most of the time, the parties assume all is well with this aspect, and they are usually correct. However, if a spouse has moved out of state or is in the military, there could be jurisdiction questions that must be answered.

Types of Jurisdiction and Requirements

If you or your spouse decide to move out of Illinois, it is generally not a problem unless it can be proven that you moved deliberately to cause issues or confusion for your spouse, such as frustrating parenting time considerations. Any state where one spouse has been resident for at least 90 days has jurisdiction to oversee a divorce filing under Illinois law. However, it can be markedly more complex: namely, because not every situation in which a state has jurisdiction over a divorce is one where that state also has jurisdiction over issues like property division. This is referred to as the principle of divisible divorce.

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 Posted on August 03, 2017 in Divorce

There are occasions in which a divorce must proceed happen in a way very different from the norm. One of the most common is for a spouse to be missing or deliberately absent, so as to frustrate personal jurisdiction over them. This does not mean that you are stuck in a marriage you wish to dissolve; it just means that divorce must be sought in a different way.

The First Steps: Due Diligence

In a divorce, you must be able to serve your spouse with papers, as he or she has the right to appear on his or her own behalf or contest the action. However, if you cannot locate your spouse, an alternate method has to be found, and you must obtain permission to use it. The first step toward obtaining that permission is to put forth a “good faith effort” toward locating your spouse. You must be able to show the judge that you have exhausted all reasonable options to find your spouse before you will be permitted to pursue alternate service. For example, many judges require you to look in places like indexes from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Social Security’s database of deaths, or even on social media to try to find a trace of your soon-to-be ex.

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 Posted on August 02, 2017 in Child Custody and Support

Most divorced parents think of child support ending when the child in question turns 18 years old. Usually, this is the case. However, there are several situations in which a court may order more, and one of those is when dealing with college expenses. Illinois law differs somewhat from many other states’ in that while married parents may decline to contribute to their children’s college expenses, unmarried parents may be ordered as part of a divorce agreement to contribute according to their income level.

Non-Minor Support

College expenses such as tuition, room and board, books and the like fall under a legal category Illinois calls non-minor support. It is also possible, but somewhat less common, that the court will hold some living expenses to fall into that category as well—costs such as bus or train passes and medical insurance. The key word in such determinations is “reasonable,” and the court has quite a bit of leeway in that regard.

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 Posted on July 31, 2017 in Divorce

Sometimes, life attacks from multiple sides. Sadly, it is not uncommon for those going through a divorce to end up in bankruptcy at the same time, with seismic changes to one’s finances as a result of debt restructuring. However, depending on your unique situation, it can be difficult to determine which proceeding should happen first and how to handle both.

Divorce First

Depending on the situation, getting a divorce before filing for bankruptcy can be the best path for many couples. There are two different types of bankruptcy filings, each named for the chapter of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code used for the filing. Chapter 7 is for individuals or couples with very few assets, while Chapter 13, also called a reorganization bankruptcy, is for those with steady income and debt that it is possible to restructure.

It is possible for couples to file together, but it is also common for each person to file individually. If you are divorced before your bankruptcy proceedings, a Chapter 7 filing will be much more streamlined than it might be otherwise. Conversely, if the divorce happens after the bankruptcy, marital assets might be sold to pay off debts during the filing, which can make a later divorce extremely difficult in terms of equitable distribution of the remaining assets. Whether you file together as a couple or as individuals can also make a difference. Some debts are not dischargeable, and with many marital debts, it is possible for creditors to attempt to hold the husband responsible for debts that the wife originated and vice versa.  

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 Posted on July 30, 2017 in Property Division

As you probably realize, all marital assets must be divided between the spouses during a divorce, unless the asset has been addressed beforehand, such as in a prenuptial agreement or other contract. This includes intangible assets, such as patents, royalties, and business goodwill. It is very easy to become confused when dealing with intangible assets, and consulting an attorney may help clear up some of your questions.

Important Definitions

An intangible asset is simply an asset with no physical form. One may be able to see the effects of the asset’s possession, such as elevated goodwill, brand awareness, increased income, and the like, but the asset itself has no physical or transportable form. Most of the time, these assets are treated in a similar way to any tangible piece of marital property, but there are exceptions.

It is important to note that intangible assets are not quite the same as indefinite assets, though the two terms are often used interchangeably. An indefinite asset is something which can be seen to affect its holder—for example, the brand recognition of the Coca-Cola Company—that stays with the company or person indefinitely, while a definite asset is intangible, but has a finite shelf life. The most common example of such assets are those which are operated under license and revert to the original holder at the expiration of the license. Definite assets tend to stay in the possession of the holder while indefinite assets are more likely to be held to be marital property.

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 Posted on July 24, 2017 in Child Custody and Support

An order for child support is a binding judgment. If a parent who has been ordered to pay refuses to comply or otherwise claims an inability to do so that is not supported by facts, the recipient parent and the state can take steps to ensure the children are supported in the way they should be according to the law. It is often a laborious process, but once started, it is usually successful.

State Court Enforcement

Illinois has a specific law on the books known as the Non-Support Punishment Act (NSPA), which governs the proceedings that may face a parent who is significantly behind on child support payments without sufficient cause. The offense of failure to support is created by the act, which is either a Class A misdemeanor or a Class 4 felony, depending on the manner in which the noncustodial parent seeks to evade support. For example, a parent who attempts to leave the state to avoid support obligations may be charged with a Class 4 felony, while a parent who fails to pay outstanding support arrears for more than 6 months could face prosecution for a Class A misdemeanor.

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 Posted on July 21, 2017 in Child Custody and Support

Major revisions have been  made to the way that child support is calculated by courts in Illinois. The Illinois legislature has been wrestling with the way that child support has been calculated in our state for many years, but as of this month, much-needed changes are finally here.

What is New About The Law?

The law, which went into effect on July 1, changes an outdated, static, and unchanging methodology for child support calculations and switches Illinois to an income shares model used by many other states.

Under the previous law, courts calculated child support obligations using a fixed percentage of  the nonresidential parent’s income based on the number of children being supported. For example, under the old law, if there was one child in the marriage the parent without primary custody would be ordered to pay 20% of his or her net income in child support. The effect of these calculations produced results that were insufficient in many in cases to actually address the needs and the best interest of children involved in a divorce.

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 Posted on July 19, 2017 in Divorce

There are many different legal procedures related to parenting time and other divorce issues, which require the input or consent of both spouses. However, this is obviously an issue if both parties cannot be located. In cases such as this, there are times where the judge will press ahead, but most of the time, they will rule that the parent who is present should at least try to contact their absent ex-spouse. Divorce via publication is perhaps the most common way to do so.

Your “Best Faith Effort” Must Come First

When a couple decides to divorce, the spouse who files must serve the other with the papers detailing the filing. If there is a lack of service, the other spouse has the right to contest the filing. In some cases, however, the non-filing spouse might be difficult to locate, especially if he or she has essentially abandoned the family. If this is the case, Illinois courts generally hold that the filing spouse must exert a “best faith effort” to locate the other parent.

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