Posted on February 08,2018 in Child Support

The purpose of child support is to help the custodial parent—that is, the parent who has more parenting time—pay the costs associated with raising the child. Although child support is most often paid by the father to the mother, both men and women can be recipients and payers of child support. Support payments can be significant, especially when there is more than one child in the family. Some divorced parents struggle to make child support payments on time and in full. If you are a parent who is currently struggling to pay your court-ordered child support, or if you are a parent considering divorce, you should know that there are options for those struggling to finance their child support payments.

Do Not Just Stop Paying

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 7 million custodial parents are owed child support at any given time. However, only about 3 million of those parents actually receive the full amount they expect. Sometimes deadbeat parents attempt to skip support payments because they simply do not want to pay, but more often, noncustodial parents simply do not have the funds necessary. If you are having trouble making ends meet and paying your child support, the worst thing you can do is to just stop paying. Never cease payments without letting the courts know. Parents who do not pay their court-ordered child support are at risk of having their wages garnished, tax refund withheld, occupational license, business license, or driver’s license revoked, property seized, and ability to get a passport revoked. In extreme cases, a parent who continually refuses to pay child support can even go to jail.

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 Posted on February 07,2018 in Spousal Support

As a general rule, when a couple gets divorced in Illinois, spousal support payments are ordered if one spouse’s income is significantly higher than the other’s, in the interest of equity. However, most of the time, these support payments are not intended to last forever. There are several different ways that spousal support is granted to a husband or wife, and modifications may be made after certain criteria have been fulfilled by the obligor or the obligee (or both), or in certain situations which are provided for in statutory law.

Rehabilitative Maintenance

One situation where spousal support is granted with the express intention that there will come a point when payments will slow or cease entirely is when one spouse requires temporary aid. It is still fairly common for Illinois couples to adhere to the old model of marriage where one spouse is the primary breadwinner and the other stays home with the children. As such, upon divorce, many homemakers have no income and outdated skills, and they cannot just jump back into the workforce. In these types of situations, a court may grant rehabilitative maintenance, also known as reviewable maintenance. This will last for a fixed period, determined by a number of factors, including the size of the income disparity, the length of the marriage, and whether or not any children were born of the marriage.

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 Posted on January 31,2018 in Alimony/Spousal Support

The sweeping new tax law that President Trump signed in December of last year may significantly affect those who pay alimony or spousal maintenance in the future. One provision of the tax plan eliminates the 75-year-old tax deduction for maintenance payments. More than 800,000 couples get divorced each year, and in many of those cases, one spouse is required to pay some sort of spousal maintenance. Interestingly, some divorce attorneys are noticing an increase in divorce filings that may be due to couples wanting to finalize their divorce before the new alimony provision takes effect in 2019. Any divorce that finalizes on or after January 1, 2019 will be subject to the new law.

Tax Plan Eliminates Alimony Tax Deduction

Under the current tax laws, those who pay spousal maintenance are usually able to deduct those payments from their taxes. Right now, every dollar which a person pays in maintenance payments reduces the payer’s taxable income by the same amount. However, the new tax law will disallow divorcees from deducting spousal maintenance payments. Those who finalize their divorce in 2018 before the new plan takes place will get to deduct their spousal maintenance payments for the entire duration of their payment order. Some are concerned that the elimination of the deduction will increase the financial strain of paying maintenance and deprive the lower-earning spouse of vital income.

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 Posted on January 30,2018 in Divorce

Often times, when a married couple splits they go on to meet new people and might even get remarried eventually. Getting a divorce does not mean that a person is destined to be alone or should never date again. However, dating during or after a divorce can be tricky. If your divorce is not finalized and you meet a new romantic interest, when should you introduce him or her to your children? The answer to questions like these are not always absolute, but experts do have advice for those who have met someone new in the midst of a divorce.

Dating During Divorce Can Affect Court Decisions

There are a few instances when a person might still be technically married but has a new romantic partner. Some marriages are over long before they are legally dissolved, and the spouses may physically separate while the divorce process continues. However, when a divorce is in progress, dating during this time can indirectly affect some decisions made by the court. For example, if your new partner has a criminal record or has been accused of child abuse, the court may limit or place stipulations on your parenting time. Depending the specific circumstances, a judge presiding over a divorce has the authority to take new romantic partners into consideration when making decisions about child custody, spousal support (alimony), and parenting time/visitation.

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 Posted on January 22,2018 in Illinois prenup

The period around the winter holidays is a time when many hopeful romantics get engaged. Whether it is on Christmas, New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or any other time of the year, getting engaged to be married is a time of hope and excitement. If you have decided that you want to sign a prenuptial agreement with your future spouse before tying the knot, you may be unsure of how to bring up the conversation. Unfortunately, prenuptial agreements have gotten a bad reputation in the past. Stories about outrageous celebrity marriages which seem doomed to fail are often where many first hear the term. However, prenuptial agreements are a tool which can be valuable to anyone. You do not need to be rich or a celebrity to benefit from a prenup.

Benefits of a Prenup

A prenuptial agreement is a legally binding document which establishes the property and financial rights of each spouse in the event of a divorce. For example, a prenup can protect your family-owned business, ensure inheritance rights for children of a previous marriage, prevent one spouse from acquiring the debt of another, protect each spouse’s financial interests, and more.

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 Posted on January 17,2018 in Divorce

Sometimes, when divorce is imminent, one spouse may attempt to serve the papers on the other only to find that he or she cannot be found. This can present a problem, as Illinois law requires that a spouse at least make a good faith effort to serve the other before a divorce proceeding can continue, Ultimately, a divorce may proceed even if your spouse is unreachable, but it can cause problems in terms of child support and other legalities further down the road.

Alternate Means of Service

If your spouse cannot be located by conventional means, Illinois law permits what is referred to as service by publication. Service by publication occurs when a person places a notice in a newspaper or other publication in the county where the couple last lived or where the action is taking place for a period of at least three consecutive weeks. If the defendant fails to respond, it is assumed that they are either unable or unwilling to do so. Upon such a finding by court, the case may go forward.

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 Posted on January 16,2018 in Visitation

Committing a crime is never a good choice, and in many cases, the penalties for doing so are severe. In addition to the jail time and the fines assessed for some offenses, if you are a parent, it may be a long time before you are able to see your children again. However, it is not an absolute that you will lose all rights to see them. Knowing your rights is critical.

Unfitness as a Parent

Parental rights are terminated if a parent is deemed to be unfit. Unfitness is a concept used by the state to determine whether or not a child’s best interests are served by remaining in the parent’s custody. There is no single definition of “unfit” in Illinois; rather, it is shown that a parent is unfit if or when they display certain characteristics or behavior patterns (or, conversely, fail to do so). For example, a parent may be declared unfit if they are incarcerated, but only if they have previously shown a pattern of disinterest or neglect regarding the child, or if they have been repeatedly incarcerated to the point where they are unable to perform parental duties.

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 Posted on January 10,2018 in Child Support

As any parent can tell you, children are expensive. Things like clothing, meals, healthcare, school supplies, and extracurricular fees are only a few of the expenses children bring about. When two parents split up or end their marriage, it does not mean that they become any less responsible for those expenses. The purpose of child support is to allow the child to enjoy the same quality of life that they had when the child’s parents were together. Some parents try to avoid paying their fair share of these expenses by skipping child support payments. Failure to pay child support can have serious financial and criminal consequences.

Possible Punishments

Each year, some $14 billion in ordered child support goes unpaid in the United States. In order to combat this, penalties exist for parents who do not pay child support. People who chronically avoid child support payments may:

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 Posted on January 09,2018 in Divorce

Almost everyone has seen a dramatic divorce played out in movies or television. One that comes to mind is the scene from the movie Liar Liar when a vindictive mother seeks full custody of her children even after admitting that her husband is a wonderful father. Although movies are usually unrealistic, divorce proceeding can become very ugly somtimes. There are so many memories and emotions that a person goes into a divorce with, it can be difficult to be pragmatic. While there is no way have a completely conflict-free divorce, there are a few things you can do to make the divorce process go more smoothly.

Admit That the Marriage Is Over

Humans are not robots who can suddenly turn off the romantic feelings they once had for a spouse. Many individuals who file for divorce still have residual questions, “what ifs?”, and regrets about the marriage. They may still long for the apology they never got or wish for their spouse to admit to a previous transgression. In order to stay sane during a divorce, you may need to let some of these lingering feelings and desires go. If the marriage is truly over, there is no sense in dredging up the past. The focus now should be on dissolving the marriage in a fair and reasonable way. If you have children together, the focus should be to restructure the romantic relationship you had with your spouse into an effective co-parenting dynamic.

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 Posted on January 02,2018 in Cohabitation

It has been a source of confusion to the older generation that many young people in the United States have chosen either to not marry or to wait on marriage until later in life. It is true that there are some advantages to marrying aside from the obvious ones, such as streamlined tax preparation, but for many, there are perks to remaining single. Besides, many argue that they can obtain the best of both worlds via cohabitation, as long as an appropriate cohabitation agreement is signed and executed, so that both partners’ assets and rights are protected.

Do I Need A Cohabitation Agreement?

Not every cohabitating couple needs an agreement. Some do quite well without any kind of legal documentation of their relationship. The tradeoff, however, is that no assets of any kind may commingle, and one has no legal recourse regarding their partner’s assets if they predecease the other. Illinois does not recognize cohabitating couples as having any kind of legal relationship unless they have a valid cohabitation agreement. While being married may not be a couple’s first choice, if they want any legal rights to the fruits of their relationship, they must take definitive action.

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