Posted on June 06, 2016 in Child Custody and Support

The vast majority of divorced or unmarried parents recognize their responsibility to provide, at the very least, some level of financial support for their children. In most cases, the parent with less allocated responsibilities and parenting time is ordered to pay child support to the other parent in accordance with a formula provided in the law. For a parent who works for an employer and draws a regular paycheck, these calculations are generally straightforward, since they are determined as a percentage of net income based on the number of children to be supported. When the supporting parent owns a business, however, determining his or her actual income can be considerably more complex.

Mixing Business and Personal Income

Whether it is done with the intent of avoiding child support or claiming tax advantages, those who are self-employed often do not keep business and personal interests completely separate. They may use business revenue to cover day-to-day living expenses, essentially claiming no “take-home” income.  Virtually all income and expenses are assigned to the business.

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 Posted on May 25, 2016 in Divorce

We all know how distracting our cell phones can be. It is easy to become immersed in current event news, celebrity gossip, and chatting with friends. Sometimes, though, our digital companions can threaten the real-world relationships, especially marriages. Relationship experts and divorce attorneys alike have indicated a significant rise in the number of divorce cases that cite cell phone use as a contributing factor. In most situations, texting and other cell phone use has the potential to slowly degrade the quality of a marital relationship. For one man, however, his wife’s cell phone distractions became too much for him handle—after just a single day of being married.

Digital Troubles

According to various news reports, the man and his wife were married in the city of Jeddah, in their native Saudia Arabia. Following the wedding, the bride and groom retired to their hotel room for the evening. The young woman reportedly went right for her phone, responding to congratulatory messages from friends and loved ones. When her husband tried to get closer in attempts to initiate physical intimacy, she allegedly ignored him. The man’s family say that he asked his wife if her friends were more important than he was, and that she answered that they were.

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 Posted on May 23, 2016 in Visitation

The father of a 4-year-old girl is dead following a shooting during what was supposed to be a parenting time exchange of the child. The incident occurred at a Shell gas station in East Memphis, Tennessee. While it is yet unclear what may have led to the fatal shooting, the tragic outcome highlights the need for courts in every state to be aware of potentially volatile parenting situations whenever possible.

Unusual Dropoff Location

According to reports from local news outlets, the victim was a 29-year-old man and father of a 4-year-old little girl. He was reportedly dropping the girl off to her mother—the man’s ex-wife—for a relatively routine parenting time exchange. The man’s family, however, claims that the choice of location was not normal, saying that his ex-wife typically would come to his house to pick up the girl.

Reports also indicate that the shooter was an off-duty officer of the Memphis Police Department who was on hand to witness the exchange. Initial reports listed the off-duty officer as an acquaintance of the ex-wife, almost suggesting he was there for her protection. It has since been discovered the officer is, in fact, engaged to the ex-wife, making him a bit more than a third-party observer.

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 Posted on May 18, 2016 in Child Custody and Support

Thanks to legislation that was passed in Illinois last spring and signed by the governor last July, 2016 has been a year of change and adaptation in the realm of family law. While the new statutes address a wide variety of topics, perhaps the most important changes affect the way in which courts will now approach the idea of child custody. Beginning this year, in fact, the phrase child custody has been all but removed from the law, replaced by the allocation of parental responsibilities.

In the minds of many parents, child custody was once a very black-and-white issue. A parent was either granted sole custody or would share joint custody of a child following a divorce, separation, or other situation in which the parents stopped sharing a household. These two types of arrangements referred to the authority of each parent regarding major concerns in the child’s life, not just how much time the child spent with mom or dad. A parent with sole custody was responsible for all important decision-making, while parents with joint custody were responsible for developing a plan to make such decisions together.

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 Posted on May 16, 2016 in Divorce

You have long suspected it but the words have now been spoken; your spouse is filing for divorce. While you may be reeling from the revelation, you must quickly gather yourself and begin preparing for the process. Part of your preparation should include hiring a qualified divorce attorney to assist you along the way.

You have two choices, you could either run a fairly blind online search and hope for the best or ask your family or friends for a referral. Finding a few prospects, however, is only the beginning. From there, you will need to prepare a game plan that includes a series of interview questions to ensure you are hiring the right lawyer to handle your case.

It is important to meet in person with your prospective attorney, whenever possible, even if a face-to-face consultation is not free. In many cases, seeing the attorney's office and reading his or her body language and attitude are as important as the answers to your questions. Take notes during your consultation so that you have them to review as you make your final decision. 

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 Posted on May 11, 2016 in Divorce

For many individuals going through a divorce, the process can be frightening, stressful, and, at times, completely overwhelming. To be sure, ending a marriage is rarely easy; anyone who says otherwise has probably never experienced it. On the other hand, your divorce does not need to be as traumatic as you might think, even taking into account the wide range of accompanying emotions. Perhaps the biggest source of anxiety and trouble in a divorce is the fear of the unknown. What should I do first? Then what? How much will it cost? Will I be okay when it is all over? While questions like these are certainly valid, a little effort and research can help you obtain the knowledge you need to face your divorce with a sense of confidence and hope.

Knowledge of Your Current Situation

Before you even begin the divorce process, you need to take stock of what you own, both individually and as a couple. This can be rather difficult if your spouse has been handling the household finances, but now is the time for you to learn. Go through bank records, tax returns, credit card statements, and any other available documents to be sure you know exactly where you stand financially. You should also make a list of physical property that is likely to be divided between you and your spouse, including cars, furniture, valuable jewelry and antiques, artwork, and real estate. Last, but certainly not least, if you have children, you will need to fully understand their needs, especially in light of upcoming changes.

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 Posted on May 09, 2016 in Spousal Maintenance

As you may be aware, an order for spousal maintenance, or spousal support, in divorce is issued on a need-based review of each individual case. There is no presumption that one spouse or the other will be required to pay spousal support. Spousal support, though less common than in previous generations, is still awarded in many divorce cases to help alleviate the financial burden of the divorce on an economically disadvantaged spouse. Once the final divorce judgment is entered, the spousal support order becomes enforceable by law and the supporting spouse must comply or face court sanctions. But what about during the divorce? Can spousal maintenance be ordered while the proceedings are still ongoing?

Temporary Orders

The simple answer is yes. Spousal support can be ordered by the court before the final divorce judgment is entered, but the order takes a somewhat different form. The process for obtaining a temporary maintenance order is different as well.

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 Posted on May 04, 2016 in Divorce

In today’s American society, everyone “knows” that half of all marriages end in divorce. We have been hearing it for years, so it must be true. The divorce rate in the United States is probably around 50 percent, then, right? Wrong. Sociologists and relationship experts from across the country are increasingly challenging the notion of a national 50 percent divorce rate, and on closer inspection, they have some pretty convincing arguments.

Misleading Numbers

At first glance, it would seem like statistics from the federal government support the idea that half of American marriages are doomed to fail. For 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the rate of marriage to be 6.9 marriages per 1,000 U.S. residents. The CDC also reported, for the same year, that there were 3.2 divorces per 1,000 residents, just under half of the rate of marriage.

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 Posted on May 02, 2016 in Child Custody and Support

When you have been ordered by the court to pay child support, your obligation is seen as more than just another bill. The law in Illinois makes child support an extremely high priority, not only for the paying parent but for his or her employer as well. The Income Withholding for Support Act provides that, unless other arrangements are expressly made, all orders for child support must include provisions for serving any employer of the supporting parent with a properly prepared income withholding notice to facilitate the payment of child support obligations.

Benefits of Withholding

For many years, a supporting parent’s only option for making child support payments, other than income withholding, was by writing a check every month and sending it to the State Disbursement Unit. Today, online payments are available, but still require the supporting parent to take action to make his or her payments. Income withholding, on the other hand, requires no additional effort by the supporting parent and secures the payment before other obligations can prevent the parent from paying. Thus, the two-fold benefits—convenience and security—are what make income withholding the most common method of paying child support in Illinois and around the country.  

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 Posted on April 27, 2016 in Child Custody and Support

Too often, parents who are going through a divorce focus their energies on fighting with one another rather than on finding workable solutions for raising their children. Under Illinois law, divorcing parents are expected to develop a cooperative plan that addresses the allocation of parental responsibilities—once called child custody. Such an agreement, however, is not always possible, and the matter is left to the court to decide. During the proceedings, each parent will the opportunity make his or her case, which will be taken into account by the judge. But what about the child? Does the child get a say in how parental responsibilities are allocated?

The Wishes of the Child

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act clearly provides that, yes, the wishes of the child are to be considered by the court in a proceeding related to decision-making responsibilities or parenting time. The law, however, does include an important caveat. The court must also take “into account the child’s maturity and ability to express reasoned and independent preferences.”

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