Posted on January 04, 2016 in Modification & Removal

Often, even after a final order from a family law court, the case is not over. As circumstances change, the order of the court may no longer make any sense. Sometimes you need to go back to court and ask for a modification of the original order. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the modification process is not a chance to appeal because you did not like the first decision.

What Can Be Modified in the Order?

Many aspects of a family law order can be modified if there is a change in circumstances. Things like custody, parenting time, child support, and spousal maintenance payments can be modified. Courts will not usually modify a property division order. The only way to get a property order modified is to demonstrate that the other side hid assets or was dishonest, and even then the sometimes the court will refuse to allow a modification.

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 Posted on December 31, 2015 in Child Custody and Support

In today’s world, it is not uncommon for an unmarried couple to have a child together. In fact, many couples who are not married intentionally procreate, creating an effective, though not legally-protected family unit. When such a relationship ends, or if there was never much of relationship from the beginning, one parent—and often the parent with less parenting responsibilities—is generally required to make child support payments to assist with meeting the child’s basic needs.

Once an order for child support has been entered, every missed payment is logged by a state agency tasked with support enforcement. It is understandable, to a certain extent, that a supporting parent may occasionally have trouble meeting his or her obligations. Once in a while, though, you will hear a story in which back-payments of child support have gotten completely out of hand.

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 Posted on December 28, 2015 in Child Custody and Support

We have all heard it a hundred times. Someone you know is going through a nasty divorce and, while they may spare you the details, it is often clear that your friend is determined to “win” at all costs. He or she feels wronged by the other spouse and may go to great lengths to get what feels like justice. In many cases, “winning” or “losing” is a financial or property value outcome, with the “winning” spouse getting a satisfactory share of the marital estate. For parents, however, the stakes are even higher, and in too many cases, children are used as leverage in the raging war between divorcing spouses. Thanks to recent updates to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, parents will be expected to adhere to a higher standard of cooperation and to remain invested in serving the child’s best interests, no matter what the relationship between the adults may be.

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 Posted on December 23, 2015 in Mediation

Issues of family law, including divorce, parental responsibility concerns, and child support, can become extremely contentious and stressful.  Too often, the opposing parties become so focused on “winning” or proving a point that they lose sight of the real matters at hand. This can be especially tragic when children are caught in the middle, as they often become collateral damage when they should be the primary focus.

If you are in the midst of an ongoing legal struggle, there is, unfortunately, no quick fix. But despite being a popular Hollywood cliché, you may choose to take some inspiration from the spirit of the Christmas season. Perhaps, instead of continuing to find ways to “win,” consider proposing a more cooperative approach to settling your differences. For many families, mediation may be just the solution they need.

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 Posted on December 21, 2015 in Divorce

For many married couples, divorce is a dirty word. The mere mention of it can lead individuals to begin fearing that the end of their marriage is imminent. Even just thinking about divorce can feel dangerous to many, as they begin to question their ability to fix whatever problems they may be experiencing. A recent study suggests that the opposite might, in fact, be true, and that giving some thought to divorce can actually improve a couple’s marriage.

Thousands Surveyed

Funded by Brigham Young University in Utah, and conducted by researchers from six different universities including BYU, the study surveyed 3,000 married individuals between the ages of 25 and 55 from around the United States. The results indicated that more than half of married people have had thoughts about divorce, either recently or in the past. Most of the thoughts were described by researchers as more “soft” than “serious,” and that a large number of those who think about divorce want to work on the marriage.

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 Posted on December 14, 2015 in Divorce

As most people realize, divorce is a complicated process, even under the best of circumstances. The most amicable of marital dissolutions still require a number of very difficult, and very personal decisions to be made. Of course, the most obvious include dividing marital property, arrangements for parental responsibilities, and child support. Less obvious, but often no less troublesome concerns include where you will live after the divorce and how to start your new. Depending on your situation, you may be conflicted about whether to change your name back to the name you used prior to the marriage. While there are certainly many justifications for doing so—and it is entirely up to you—there a few reasons you may want to think about keeping your married name even after the marriage is over.

Your Professional Identity

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 Posted on December 09, 2015 in Paternity

While much has been written about the new laws regarding divorce and child custody that are set to take effect in January, the new year will also mark the implementation of the updated law regarding paternity and parentage. The Illinois Parentage Act of 2015, or IPA15, as it is being referred to by many, will repeal the Parentage Act of 1984, which at more than 30 years old, was in desperate need of overhaul to meet the needs of today’s families.

Among the biggest changes being made by the IPA15 is shift in language from paternity considerations to the more general “parentage.” Of course, paternity is still a major part of the law, since it is obviously much more difficult to confirm the relationship between a father and child, than between a biological mother and the child. However, the new language in the law, where appropriate, is gender-neutral so as to recognize the establishment of parental rights for same-sex parents and surrogacy situations.

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 Posted on December 08, 2015 in Child Custody and Support

For many people, pets are as much a part of the family as a child. When a marriage breaks up, it can be tough to decide which spouse the pet is going to live with. There are many emotional and practical factors that go into making such a decision, and courts are not always the best places to decide pet issues.

How the Law Views Pets

Even though pets are an important part of our lives, the law views pets as a type of personal property. Your beloved family dog or cat is the same as the family television or couch as far as the law is concerned. Technically, the pet can be assigned a dollar value and put into one spouse’s column on the property division worksheet. There are no explicit pet custody provisions in the law.

Steps to Make Sure Pets are Provided For in a Divorce

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 Posted on December 02, 2015 in Family Law

When a married couple is no longer able to continue building a future together, divorce is sometimes the best option. The reality is that many couples do not really belong together and trying to force a relationship between the spouses is neither productive nor particularly healthy.

Several decades ago, a couple needed specified grounds, or reason, to pursue a divorce. Typically, grounds included destructive or injurious behavior on the part of one spouse, including bigamy, adultery, habitual substance abuse, and mental or physical cruelty. A divorce could also be granted on the grounds that a spouse was convicted of a felony or “other infamous crime.”

In 1984, however, the Illinois legislature finally acknowledged that, in many cases, the cumulative effect of smaller issues can drive a couple apart, with neither spouse at fault, just as much as more serious negative behaviors. No-fault divorce, or divorce citing the grounds of irreconcilable differences, was added to the law, allowing unhealthy marriages to end more easily and with less evidence.

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 Posted on November 25, 2015 in Child Custody and Support

In a large number of Illinois divorce cases involving parents, one is designated the primary residential parent for the purposes of school enrollment and child support. Most such situations result in the other parent being ordered to make child support payments. An arrangement like this may be fairly equitable for parents with drastically uneven amounts of parenting time, including cases in which a non-primary residential parent who only gets parenting time once or twice per month.  However, many other co-parenting arrangements are much more even, and in some cases, may be 50/50. For a non-primary residential parent in such a situation, he or she may try to negotiate lower child support payments.

Under the Law

According to the letter of the state law regarding child support, a court’s decision regarding support does not include explicit consideration for parenting time. Instead, the supporting parent’s income and the number of children are the primary considerations, while the needs of the child, the needs of each parent, and their available resources may be subjectively taken into account as well. When strictly applied, it may seem nearly impossible for a parent to show that parenting time should impact his or her child support payments.

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