Posted on October 13, 2015 in Child Custody

With the recent passage of the “modern family” bill, Illinois family law will soon undergo drastic changes. The Bill amends the law in areas including child custody, the grounds for divorce and parental relocation. Senate Bill 57, signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, goes into effect January 1, 2016.

Child Custody

One major alteration to Illinois law is the abolishment of the concept of child custody. Instead, Judges will allocate parenting time and parental responsibilities between the parents. Each parent will be assigned specific childcare tasks that deal with different areas of upbringing. These tasks may include decision-making responsibility in areas, such as education, religion, nutrition, health care, the child's daily schedule, discipline, relationships with others and childcare.

Parental responsibility will be allocated, according to a child's best interests, dependent on the circumstances of each child's situation. To determine a child's best interests, Courts will examine factors including each parent's abilities and weaknesses, the child's relationship with each parent and the wishes of the parents and children.

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 Posted on October 06, 2015 in Division of Property

In Illinois divorces, Courts divide spousal property, according to the principles of equitable distribution. Therefore, marital property is divided fairly between spouses. Equitable distribution, however, does not necessarily mean equal property division.

Waste

One instance in which marital property will not be equally divided is in the event of marital waste. Marital waste, or the dissipation of property, occurs when one spouse dissipates assets prior to the divorce. Dissipation of both marital and separate property is taken into account. If the Court finds that one spouse has committed waste, the Court will take the waste into account when determining a fair division of property.

Marital waste occurs when one spouse used marital or non-marital property:

• For his or her sole benefit;
• For a purpose unrelated to the marriage; or

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 Posted on September 28, 2015 in Child Support

For children whose parents are separated, and for the parents who have custody over them, child support is key to financial stability. However, if parents fall behind in their child support payments, they can cause their children and co-parents economic distress.

However, a new Bill, recently signed into law, addresses these issues. The Bill is aimed at ensuring that children and their parents receive timely child support payments by studying the root causes of the failure to pay child support. Additionally, the Bill calls for policy recommendations on how to address these root causes and how to streamline the child support system.

The Bill

House Bill 2791, sponsored by State Rep. Camille Lilly, D-Chicago, requires the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to conduct a study researching the reasons why parents do not pay child support. Often, parents fall behind in their support payments because they are unable to pay, not because they do not care.

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 Posted on September 17, 2015 in Paternity

In Illinois, if parents are not married at the time of a child's birth, then the child's paternity must be established by other means. One way to establish paternity in Illinois is to voluntarily acknowledge one's paternity. To do this, both parents must agree that the man is the child's father.

However, sometimes, a mother or father later regrets the decision to acknowledge paternity. Perhaps one party was pressured into signing, or the father of the child was mistaken. Fortunately, there is a way to rescind the acknowledgment.

Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity

In Illinois, when the father of a child is not married to the child's mother, there are three ways in which a child's paternity may be established:

• A Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity form, signed by both parents;
• An administrative order from the Department of Public Aid; or

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 Posted on September 08, 2015 in Divorce

When a couple divorces, one spouse is often left at an economic disadvantage in comparison to the other spouse. When this happens, the Court may award alimony (spousal support), known in Illinois as maintenance.

In Illinois, there are several types of spousal support designed to serve multiple purposes. The duration and the amount of maintenance awarded varies based on several factors and on the circumstances of the marriage.

Temporary Maintenance

Typically, Illinois Courts do not award permanent alimony until a divorce has been finalized. In the interim, the spouses may agree to an amount of support. However, if a couple cannot agree on a support amount, a Judge can order temporary maintenance. Usually, a temporary alimony order ends when the Court issues a final divorce decree.

Rehabilitative Maintenance

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 Posted on September 01, 2015 in Divorce

The calculation of spousal maintenance, or alimony, has become increasingly inconsistent in recent years due to the large amount of discretion given to individual judges in assigning awards. However, in 2014, the Illinois legislature passed an amendment to the state's alimony law. The new law works to limit individual judges' discretion in alimony awards by providing judges with a specific set of spousal maintenance guidelines to follow when making their rulings.

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act

Prior to the passage of the amendments to the Marriage Act, Judges determined whether a spouse was entitled to alimony based on factors listed in the Illinois statutes. These factors included:

• Each couple's needs;
• The ability of each spouse to earn a living;
• The length of the marriage;

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 Posted on August 25, 2015 in Divorce

With the recent historic Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriage is now legal everywhere in the United States. While legal in Illinois for over a year, the effect for couples who may want to move or travel out of Illinois is significant.

Same-Sex Marriage in Illinois

In 2013, the state legislature approved same-sex marriage in Illinois. Effective as of June 2014, the law allows for same-sex marriage while protecting religious liberties and provides that religious groups may choose which marriage ceremonies to perform; they may not be sued if they refuse to perform a same-sex marriage.

Churches, synagogues, mosques and other places used primarily for the practice, study or advancement of religion cannot be required to use their buildings for same-sex marriage events. Declining to provide a space based on religious beliefs provides immunity from civil and criminal liability.

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 Posted on August 18, 2015 in Divorce

In addition to allowing for fault-based divorce, the state of Illinois allows no-fault divorce, based on a couple's “irreconcilable differences.” A no-fault divorce may be pursued if neither spouse was at fault — there was no cruelty, infidelity, bigamy, abandonment, drug or alcohol abuse, etc.

If you simply do not want to air your dirty laundry in Court, or do not want to go through the stress of a trial and having to prove fault, then a no-fault divorce may be your best option.

Requirements

To obtain a no-fault divorce in Illinois, a couple must fulfill three requirements:

• Spouses must have lived separate and apart for two continuous years;
• Irreconcilable differences must have caused the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage; and
• Efforts at reconciliation must have failed, or future attempts at reconciliation must not be in the best interests of the family and must be impracticable.

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 Posted on August 11, 2015 in Division of Property

All U.S. states now have no-fault grounds for divorce. However, Illinois is somewhat unusual — in that Illinois also currently provides for fault-based grounds for divorce. Obtaining a no-fault divorce in Illinois generally requires a two-year waiting period. Fault divorces are quicker, however, and require no waiting period. Still, the spouse seeking a divorce does have to prove fault, which can be difficult.

Grounds

Illinois law provides for several different fault-based grounds for divorce and include the following:

• One spouse is impotent at the time of the marriage, and continues to be impotent;
• Bigamy — one spouse had another husband or wife alive at the time of the marriage;
• Adultery;
• Willful desertion for a period of at least one year, including any time during which a divorce or legal separation was pending;

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 Posted on July 30, 2015 in Children of Divorce

A Florida mother, who violated the terms of a child custody agreement by refusing to turn her four-year-old son over to the father for an agreed upon circumcision, finally consented to having the procedure done at the end of May. During the court proceeding, the judge advised the parents that as they continue to raise their son, disagreements need to be worked out through communication, and not by taking the law into their own hands.

Advice, however, is sometimes easier to give than to take. When a relationship ends because the spouses cannot get along, how are they supposed to work together to raise their children?

While it may not be easy, successful co-parenting is possible after a relationship has ended.

Focus on Communication

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