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What You Need to File for Divorce in Illinois
For better or worse, divorce is an event and concept that is firmly rooted in modern life. Yet while divorce is not a recent invention, divorce does not hold the stigma of previous generations.
A recent article looked at the history of divorce in America and noted that Americans have looked to this legal remedy to end untenable marriages as early as the American Revolution. In fact, Americans connected the right to dissolve union with England with the analogous right to end unions as couples. However, divorce is never an easy decision, now or 200 years ago.
Struggling couples may spend tremendous amounts of time and effort trying to save their relationships, but sometimes remaining together is not a viable option. Once the decision to divorce is made, the practical consequences of untangling two lives come into focus. Who will keep the family car? Should the house be sold? Where will everyone live? These are all questions that must be answered in a relatively short period of time, perhaps even before filing for divorce. At some point, though, addressing the mechanics of asking a Court to end a marriage is necessary, and consequently, understanding what the law requires from a party seeking a divorce is important to the process.
What Qualifies as 'Marital Property' in a Divorce?
Divorce is a word with big meaning but even greater implications. At its most basic, divorce means the end of a marriage and the accompanying legal rights and obligations carried by married couples. However, when a couple initiates a divorce, they also unlock a series of legal issues that must be addressed before their divorce can be finalized.
Among these issues is the division of marital property — a considerable point of contention, given the importance of financial resources and contributions each spouse made to the marriage. Amassing assets requires hard work, time and sacrifice. Consequently, when divorce threatens to dismantle this hard-won structure, parties tend to push back against giving more than is absolutely necessary.
As a reflection of being a no-fault divorce state, Illinois divides property according to what is equitable or just. Only marital property is subject to distribution. Therefore, determining what exactly is marital property in a divorce case is a key issue.
Who Pays for Our Child's College Expenses Under Illinois Law?
As children grow, their financial needs tend to increase. College tuition is no exception. In today's world, student loan debts are staggering for new graduates, and many families struggle to financially help their children to go to college. When parents are divorced, the situation can be even trickier, especially when parents do not see eye to eye on the subject.
However, recent revisions to Illinois law have clarified the guidelines for educational support orders, allowing parents to better understand their future potential obligations.
Limits on Payment of College Expenses
As a general rule, a Court can order a parent to pay for a child's college expenses only if the expenses are incurred prior to the child turning 23. For good cause shown, however, a Court can extend this limitation to the child's 25th birthday. Additionally, for a student attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Court may not order a parent to pay college expenses that exceed the cost of tuition, room and board, and any other regular fees.
Dissipation of Marital Assets in Your Illinois Divorce
Illinois law requires Courts in divorce proceedings to divide any marital property between the parties in an appropriate and fair manner. Moreover, all relevant factors in the case must be considered. One of those factors for the Judge to consider is the dissipation of marital assets by one or both spouses.
Dissipation is the legal term for when a spouse wastes or misuses assets for his or her own benefit for a purpose unrelated to the marriage, as the marriage is experiencing an irreconcilable breakdown.
Common Types of Dissipation of Marital Assets
There are several different ways in which a spouse can dissipate assets; however, certain means of dissipation are most common in divorce cases. A spouse might hide marital assets by concealing or transferring the assets to a secret account titled in another person's name. Additionally, selling off marital assets, spending marital funds, or racking up debt without the other spouse's knowledge are common ways of dissipating assets. More specifically, Illinois Courts have found that a spouse dissipated assets in the following ways:
Tips for Developing Your Illinois Parenting Plan
Recent revisions to Illinois law require that parents submit a parenting plan to the Court whenever there is a dispute about the allocation of parental responsibilities, or what was previously known as custody and visitation. Parents can also agree to modify their parenting plan and simply submit the plan to the Court for approval. Whatever the case may be, your parenting plan must address certain concerns that involve your children. Essentially, your plan must contain not only the elements required by Illinois law, but also any provisions that may be unique to your family or important to you.
Parenting Plan Basics
A parenting plan is a written document that sets forth each parent's legal rights and obligations with respect to the children. The plan addresses the same types of issues that a custody agreement or parenting agreement previously addressed. Rather than referring to custody and visitation, however, Illinois law now only refers to the allocation of parental responsibilities, or how parents will effectively parent their child together. Basic elements of a parenting plan include the following:
Changing Your Illinois Child Support Order
Either parent has the right to ask for a change in his or her Illinois child support payments if there has been a substantial change in circumstances since the last order. There are certain types of changes that might qualify as a substantial change in circumstances. Depending on the situation, the Court can decrease or increase the amount of the child support payments.
What Qualifies as a Substantial Change in Circumstances?
There are a number of different situations that might constitute a substantial change in circumstances for the purposes of a modifying a child support order. Sometimes, these situations might result in a decrease in a child support obligation:
- The parent who pays child support loses his or her job;
- The parent who pays child support becomes disabled and unable to work;
President Signs International Child Support Convention
President Obama recently signed the instrument of ratification for the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance. The purpose of this Convention is to establish uniform, simplified, cost-free rules and procedures for processing child support cases on an international level. Ratification of this Convention is groundbreaking; prior to the Convention, there were no standardized and efficient procedures for international child support cases, and each country had different costly and time-consuming procedures to follow. This Convention represents the first global child support treaty ratified by the United States. Now, American children who have a parent living in a foreign country who is party to the Convention will have additional recourse to collect the financial support that they need in a much more timely manner.
Women Suffer Most in Gray Divorces
While experts and researchers tend to disagree on the exact rate of divorce in the United States today, they are in agreement on one issue: the rate of divorce for couples over the age of 50 is on the rise. According to a recent Forbes article, the rate of “gray divorces” has actually doubled over the 20-year period from 1990 to 2010. These divorces tend to involve couples who have been married for many years, which can create huge financial changes for both parties. However, women, in these divorces, tend to suffer most.
How Your Age Impacts Your Divorce
The reality is that when divorce occurs later in life, the impact on your finances is larger. Once you reach retirement age, you are likely to be living on a fixed income, perhaps from Social Security benefits and pension or other retirement benefits. When you abruptly go from two sources of income to one, your budget and expenses will necessarily change. This is usually not a positive change, especially for the woman, who statistically is likely to have had less income over her lifetime than the man. This can cause the woman's retirement benefits to be substantially less than her husband's benefits. Women may be able to draw Social Security benefits from their spouses' earning records, even following divorce, in some situations. However, that source of income is not a guarantee and is not available to all women at the time that they may need it the most.
What Happens if You Marry or Divorce a Foreign Spouse?
While many foreign nationals marry U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens solely for love, some see this type of marriage as a way to bypass the typically lengthy immigration laws and enter the U.S. quickly. In fact, some immigration officials estimate that fraudulent marriages may occur in anywhere from 5 to 15 percent of these types of marriages. While immigration authorities may never discover some fraudulent marriages, those that they do discover can result in serious consequences for the parties involved.
Obtaining a Temporary Green Card Through Marriage
In order to marry a foreign national, a U.S. citizen (or a permanent resident alien) must file an immigration application to sponsor a foreign spouse and grant him or her legal status to remain in the U.S. For a marriage that is less than two years old, immigration officials will grant the foreign spouse conditional permanent residence, or a temporary green card, which permits him or her to live in the U.S. on a temporary basis.
Your Divorce and the Gains Tax Exclusion
Many couples who are facing divorce often question what to do with the marital residence, which often is the parties' most valuable asset and an asset that neither spouse may be able to maintain on his or her own. As a result, many individuals in this situation opt to sell the marital home, either during or just after their divorce. A recent online article highlights the potential benefits of the federal gains tax exclusion that divorcing couples can receive if they decide to sell the marital residence. These benefits may allow you and your spouse to receive proceeds from the sale of the home free of federal income taxes, which can give you the money to downsize into a more affordable home.
How the Gains Tax Exclusion Works
If a couple decides to sell their home, they potentially may be able to receive gains from the sale of up to $500,000 without any federal income tax being assessed on those gains. Even if the couple is separated, they may still be eligible for the joint exclusion if they were still legally married at the end of the year in which the home is sold. If the couple is already divorced, however, and the spouse who receives the home through the divorce proceedings wishes to sell it, he or she can still receive tax-free gains of up to $250,000. If the parties still co-own the home and they are newly divorced, they potentially can each have gains of up to $250,000 free of federal income taxes, assuming that they meet the additional eligibility requirements described below.
Introducing The Law Office of Nicholas W. Richardson
Nicholas W. Richardson is an experienced divorce lawyer and mediator whose comprehensive legal knowledge, commitment to clients and reputation for results bring lasting solutions to your problems.
The Law Office of Nicholas W. Richardson, P.C. serves clients in Illinois cities such as Palatine, Schaumburg, Inverness, Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows, Glenview, Hoffman Estates, Bartlett, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Mt. Prospect, Niles, Prospect Heights, Skokie, Streamwood, Barrington, Buffalo Grove, Wheeling, and others throughout Cook County, DuPage County, McHenry County, and Kane County.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
110 N. Brockway Street, Suite 220, Palatine, IL 60067
847.873.6741
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