Blog | Law Office of Nicholas W. Richardson, P.C. | IL

Why You Might Need an Emergency Temporary Child Custody Order

2026-09-26 00:59:00

When your child is in imminent danger from their other parent, waiting months for a court date simply isn’t an option. Thankfully, Illinois law gives parents a faster path to taking a child out of the care of a dangerous parent. An emergency temporary child custody order can protect a child in days, sometimes hours.

Emergency temporary child custody orders – formally called Emergency Intervention in Cook County – are serious and should only be used in circumstances that justify their seriousness. If you fear for your child's safety in 2026, you should talk to an attorney about how these orders work and when a Court will grant one. If an emergency temporary custody order is necessary in your case, our Hoffman Estates family law attorney can help you file and try to get your child to a safe place.

What Is an Emergency Temporary Child Custody Order in Illinois?

Illinois law dropped the word "custody" back in 2016. The law now splits the old idea of custody into two parts: parenting time and significant decision-making authority. Parenting time covers the hours a child spends in a parent’s care, while significant decision-making covers the big choices about school, health care, religion, and activities.

The Cost of Divorce in Illinois

2026-09-14 11:57:45

There’s no getting around it – if you live in Illinois and want a divorce, it’s going to cost you something. Even if the divorce is amicable and you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse agree on all aspects of property division and child custody, you will still face Court costs and may have attorney's fees.

The bigger question for most people is how much the entire divorce will cost. Unfortunately, there isn’t a reliable statewide average to answer that question for every family. A couple who has already agreed on nearly everything may spend relatively little. Spouses who spend months fighting over parenting time, property, or alimony spend substantially more.

If you are considering divorce in 2026, understanding where those expenses come from can help you make decisions that keep unnecessary costs under control. At The Law Office of Nicholas W. Richardson, P.C., our Palatine divorce attorney can help you do exactly that.

How Much Does It Cost Just to File for Divorce in Illinois?

For divorce cases filed in Cook County, the Clerk of the Circuit Court currently lists a $388 fee to file a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. The responding spouse pays a $250 appearance fee. Other counties charge different amounts, so the filing cost depends on where the case is filed. Getting divorce papers served may create another expense at the beginning of the case. Illinois Supreme Court-approved fee waiver forms are available for civil cases, including divorce.

What Is Considered a High-Net-Worth Divorce?

2026-08-26 00:00:00

A high-asset or high-net-worth divorce involves substantial property or complicated finances. No law sets a specific net worth that automatically makes a divorce "high asset." The term most often applies when a couple owns valuable real estate, businesses, significant investments, or other property that requires careful valuation.

A couple with a net worth of $1 million may face complicated financial questions, while another couple with a much higher net worth may own assets that are relatively easy to divide. The amount of money is important, but so is the type of property involved.

If you are preparing for a high-asset divorce in 2026, our Mt. Prospect divorce lawyer can protect your financial interests throughout the case no matter the size of your marital estate.

What Assets Are Commonly Involved in a High-Asset Divorce?

Illinois law requires the Court to classify property as marital or non-marital before dividing it. Under 750 ILCS 5/503, property acquired during the marriage is generally presumed to be marital property unless a spouse can show that an exception applies. Property owned before marriage or received individually through inheritance may qualify as non-marital property.

Does Gender Matter When It Comes to Alimony?

2026-08-09 00:00:00

Alimony, technically called spousal maintenance in Illinois, is a financial payment one spouse makes to the other during or after a divorce. Illinoisans often wonder whether gender affects who must pay or receive alimony. Simply put, a spouse’s gender does not at all influence whether he or she gets alimony.

Instead, the Court looks at each spouse’s finances, needs, how much he or she can earn, and the spouses’ arrangement during the marriage. A husband may receive maintenance from a wife, a wife may receive maintenance from a husband, and the same rules apply to same-sex spouses.

To explore how maintenance works in 2026 and understand how it may affect your divorce, contact a Mt. Prospect, IL divorce lawyer.

Does Illinois Alimony Law Favor Women?

One common misconception about alimony in Illinois is that only women receive it. This belief comes from past decades when men were usually the primary breadwinners and women were more likely to stay home to care for children.

Can a Stepparent's Income be Used to Determine Child Support Payment?

2026-07-30 00:00:28

Remarriage can significantly change a household’s financial situation. A new spouse might earn a salary, pay many household expenses, or allow the remarried person to live a lifestyle that would otherwise be unaffordable. If the newly remarried person is a parent making child support payments, the child’s other parent may naturally wonder whether the new spouse’s income can justify an increase in child support.

Illinois calculates child support using the incomes of a child’s two legal parents, not the income of a stepparent. A stepparent normally has no legal duty to support a child from another relationship.

However, a stepparent’s finances may still matter in limited situations. An Inverness child support lawyer can explain whether remarriage may affect child support payments in your case.

Does Remarriage Automatically Change an Existing Child Support Order in Illinois?

A remarriage does not automatically increase or decrease child support. A parent who wants to change an existing order generally must file a petition for modification and show there are grounds for a change.

Traveling Out of Town with Your Children: Do You Need Permission?

2026-07-09 00:13:47

Summer road trips, holiday flights, and family vacations are a normal part of parenting. However, when parents are divorced or in the middle of a custody dispute, taking the children out of town can bring up legal questions. Whether you can leave town with your child depends on a few things: Where you are in the divorce process, what your parenting plan says, and whether you are crossing state lines or international borders.

Getting this right is important; you could accidentally get into quite a bit of trouble for traveling with your child when you weren’t supposed to. Call our Barrington, IL child custody attorneys to get more information about whether you can safely leave town with your child.

Can You Travel Out of Town with Your Child if You Are Still Going Through a Divorce?

If your divorce or custody case is open and active, you should assume you need permission before taking your children out of Illinois, even briefly. Illinois Courts often give parents orders that restrict travel with children during ongoing cases.

Cohabitation and Alimony Payments in Illinois

2026-06-30 18:17:37

When a divorce includes spousal maintenance (Illinois's legal term for what most people call alimony), the person making payments is usually also the person most interested in stopping them. However, both spouses need to understand the situations in which alimony payments can end.

Cohabitation, or living together, is one of the most common reasons for ending spousal maintenance in Illinois. There are specific rules about how this can be done. Don’t stop making alimony payments even if you’re sure your ex is living with a new partner. Instead, meet with our Palatine alimony attorney and make sure you understand when and how you can end support.

How Does Illinois Law Define "Cohabitation" in an Alimony Case?

Under 750 ILCS 5/510(c) of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, alimony ends automatically if the recipient spouse cohabits with another person on a resident, continuing, conjugal basis.

What is the Right of First Refusal in an Illinois Parenting Plan?

2026-06-15 00:46:29

Every couple going through a divorce with children must make child custody arrangements before they can complete the process. These arrangements are written in a legally binding parenting plan.

Every parenting plan contains information about how parents will split parenting time (visitation) and share decision-making responsibilities (legal custody). Parenting time is often a tough issue for parents during a divorce. Many parents do not want to give up spending time with their children any more than they absolutely have to because of the divorce.

One way to make sure you see your child as often as possible is by including a clause known as the "right of first refusal" in your parenting plan. Our Inverness, IL divorce attorney has helped countless families work through the options for parenting time and decision-making responsibilities. We can help you, too.

Should I Talk to My Spouse Before Filing for Divorce?

2026-05-27 00:33:11

One of the first questions people ask themselves when they decide to end a marriage is whether to say something to their spouse before getting the official process started. Unfortunately, this is a difficult question without a single right answer.

Whether you should discuss divorce with your spouse before filing depends on your specific circumstances, your spouse's personality, and what you are hoping to get out of the divorce process. Talking this through with an experienced Palatine divorce attorney can give you some insight and help you develop a strategy.

What Are the Benefits of Talking to Your Spouse Before Filing for Divorce?

In marriages where problem-solving communication is still possible and neither spouse poses a risk to the other, having an honest conversation before filing for divorce is generally a good idea. Divorce is usually expensive and complicated even in the best circumstances, and if you can work with your spouse even a little, you can often make the entire process much smoother.

What is a QDRO and How Does it Work?

2026-05-15 00:00:00

Getting divorced is almost always a major financial stressor, but this is especially true when the person getting divorced is over 50 and approaching retirement age. The financial implications of divorce at this age can be especially pressing because there may not be much time to contribute to savings, investments, and other sources of retirement income.

If you are considering divorce and either you or your spouse has investment accounts that are marital property, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) will probably be an important part of your divorce. Whatever challenges your finances present during divorce, our Hoffman Estates, IL divorce attorney is here to help.

What is a Qualified Domestic Relations Order, or QDRO?

A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) is a legal document that directs a retirement plan administrator to divide a retirement account between the account holder (the plan participant) and their former spouse (the alternate payee) as part of a divorce settlement. QDROs are required for certain types of retirement accounts governed by federal law, such as 401(k) plans, pension plans, and other employer-sponsored plans covered under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(3).