Posted on June 02, 2015 in Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements

Many individuals have heard of a prenuptial agreement, but many couples are unaware of an arrangement known as a postnuptial agreement.

Postnuptial agreements are written and signed after you are married. A postnuptial agreement is a way for couples to look over their financial, family, and economic situation without the awkward pre-marital conversation that many recently engaged couples fear having. A postnuptial agreement provides an avenue in which to establish ownership of financial obligations and goals and how the couple will share the burden in the event of a death or divorce.

A postnuptial agreement can be a way of addressing concerns a couple may have once they are married. It helps the couple establish a concrete framework to divvy up the mortgage, savings, business, and household expenses. For example, if one spouse is burdened with heavy student loan or business debt, while simultaneously juggling a mortgage, a postnuptial agreement can create confidence in the marriage by entrenching a financial agreement.

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 Posted on May 28, 2015 in Divorce

In a sign of the times, a Manhattan judge allowed a woman to serve divorce summons to her husband via Facebook.  The 26-year old nurse had been having an extremely difficult time getting a hold of her husband. It was only through phone call or Facebook that she was able to reach him. Even a private investigator was unable to find a location in which to deliver the summons. With those facts in mind, the judge ruled that serving her husband through social media was next best option.

The decision, while novel, is not necessarily surprising. As the judge concedes, “The past decade has also seen the advent and ascendency of social media, with websites such as Facebook and Twitter occupying a central place in the lives of so many people. Thus, it would appear that the next frontier in the developing law of the service of process over the internet is the use of social media sites as forums through which a summons can be delivered.”

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 Posted on May 26, 2015 in Child Custody

As the number of divorced and blended families increases, studying the effects of such arrangements on children has been a growing area of interest. The most recent study by the Journal and Epidemiology and Community Health found that children fare better when they spend timing living with both of their divorced parents. The study looked at 150,000 12 and 15-year-old students across the country. Sixty-nine percent of these children lived in a non-divorced family household, 19 percent lived with both parents separately, and 13 percent only lived with one. The study analyzed a variety of psychosomatic health problems, including sleep patterns, concentration difficulties, headaches, stomach aches, loss of appetite, dizziness, and feeling sad or tense.

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 Posted on May 21, 2015 in Divorce

A recent UK survey solidified what many couples, divorcees, and lawyers already knew: social media is bad for marriage and contributes to divorce.

A survey of 2,000 married couples in England found that one in seven partners contemplated divorce because of their spouse’s activities on Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Snapchat, or WhatsApp. The survey also found a partner’s usage of these social media sites contributed to at least one argument per week in 25 percent of the couples surveyed. Seventeen percent of couples, however, said social media usage led to arguments every day.

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 Posted on May 19, 2015 in Divorce

While the stereotype one sees in Hollywood is people marrying for citizenship, the fact of the matter is many couples have legitimate immigration concerns as they move forward in marriage and in the event of divorce. Depending on which stage of the immigration process you happen to be in, the act of divorcing your spouse can have varying effects on your residency status.

Visa Application (Green Card)

If you are in the start of your immigration process and your spouse has filed a visa petition on your behalf, a divorce would derail that petition and prevent you from moving forward in the process.

Conditional Permanent Residency

Permanent residency status is conditional if it is founded on a marriage that is less than two years old on the day you were given residency. This means your immigration status is affected by your marriage status, and thus you have conditional permanent residency. Ultimately, the federal government wants to make sure you did not fraudulently marry simply for the sake of citizenship.

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 Posted on May 14, 2015 in Child Support

In most cases, child support ends when a child turns 18. If the young adult is still in high school at this birthday, support for him or her may continue until he or she graduates or reaches the age of 19. In some cases, a parent may be required to help pay for some of his or her grown child's college expenses. But what about a child support and special needs situation?

If you are a parent of a child with special needs, you might have wondered what will happen to your child support agreement once he or she reaches adulthood.

Legal Requirements for Child Support

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act addresses the requirements for parents to pay child support for minor children and adult children with special needs. It outlines the factors the court may use to determine a divorcing couple's child support agreement.

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 Posted on May 12, 2015 in Child Custody

When a couple with children divorces, child custody and child support are often two of the most important issues that the couple has to work out. The court tries its best to work with parents to create a custody arrangement that meets every family member's needs. Under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, the court may make the final decision regarding a child's custody arrangement following his or her parents' divorce. There are various guidelines that the court follows when making this decision. These outlines are also part of the Act.

It is important that a child have contact with both of his or her parents following their divorce. In fact, unless there is a compelling reason to award one parent sole custody of the children, the court usually makes sure that both parents have regular custody time with their children. A child's parents are his or her biggest influences. Studies have shown that children who have consistent, positive relationships with both of their parents have higher self esteem, better communication skills, and a lower chance of becoming addicted to alcohol and other drugs.

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 Posted on May 07, 2015 in Asset Division

In a surprising move, the Illinois Supreme Court has decided it will hear a case involving a property dispute between former same-sex domestic partners. The surprise of this decision by the court comes in light of the 1979 Hewitt v. Hewitt decision. The state Supreme Court decided then that the courts should not decide property disputes between unmarried couples. However, with an increasing number of same-sex domestic partnerships (and in turn separation proceedings), the court is willing to evaluate if those same policy concerns apply to same-sex domestic partnerships and divorce now.

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 Posted on May 05, 2015 in Child Custody

In 2012 Illinois updated its divorce statutes to accommodate service men and women who were deployed overseas but were involved in a child custody battle. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act is the statutory body of law in the state that governs divorce and related issues such as child custody. The Act made several key changes to account for parents who are active duty military. The following key provisions were enacted into law:

1. Any order modifying custody (either in part or in its entirety) due to the one parent’s deployment as a member of the United States Armed Forces must now also provide that after a set amount of time following the end of the deployment, the pre-deployment custody order is to be reinstated;

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 Posted on April 28, 2015 in Finances and Divorce

If you are entering a high asset divorce, there are several more facets to the proceedings than a person facing an average divorce will need to deal with. These are not only limited to the separation of more possessions. If you have children with your soon-to-be-ex spouse, of course, there is yet another layer of complications. If you are facing a high asset divorce, the most important step is to seek the counsel of an attorney familiar with high asset proceedings.

If your children are young, one such matter to resolve could be paying a nanny. If children are older, common issues in a high asset divorce could include private or boarding school tuition. Ideally divorcing couples will divide who must pay for what. The agreement, of course, will not be legally binding until ruled upon by a judge or until such clauses are signed upon in a divorce decree, but coming to the conclusion amicably can help ensure that it is followed after the divorce is finalized.

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