Posted on December 21, 2013 in Family Law

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on December 17, 2013 in Divorce

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on December 13, 2013 in Divorce

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on December 10, 2013 in Divorce

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on December 03, 2013 in Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements

In the midst of planning a wedding and a romantic honeymoon, having a conversation about a prenuptial agreement might be awkward at best. A Harvard researcher suggests that these documents are underused for two primary reasons: people underestimate the value of a prenuptial agreement, and an underlying belief that signing a prenuptial agreement spells out marriage disaster. Heather Mahar, a Research Fellow in Law and Economics at Harvard, conducted a study to determine what leads people to avoid the prenuptial agreement conversation. Since there’s no registry of prenuptial agreements, it’s difficult to know exactly how many people have such a document. However, legal practitioners and scholars estimate that approximately 10% or less of the population uses a prenuptial agreement. Although statistics from the US Census Bureau and other experts would indicate that the rate of divorce is particularly high in the United States, it’s interesting that so few people elect to have a prenuptial agreement. What she found is that many people believe that signing a prenuptial agreement is a negative signal for the relationship. In her results, nearly 64 percent of the respondents stated that they believe divorce was more likely than not if they were asked to sign a prenuptial agreement. A majority of respondents also indicated that despite their awareness of current divorce statistics, they believed their relationship would be more likely to succeed. This is referred to as "optimism bias" and is a second leading reason for why individuals choose not to pursue prenuptial agreements. A prenuptial agreement doesn’t have to signal a negative outcome to the relationship. What it does signal is an awareness of your individual situation and an interest in outlining expectations if the relationship doesn’t work out. For some people, putting together prenuptial agreement is simply prudent planning. If you would like to speak with a professional about house to put together it prenuptial agreement, contact in Illinois family law attorney today.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on November 29, 2013 in Divorce

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on November 25, 2013 in Divorce

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on November 22, 2013 in Divorce

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on November 18, 2013 in Divorce

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on November 14, 2013 in Divorce

More and more grandparents in America are “stepping up to help their adult children raise kids,” according to a recent study reported by the Huffington Post. The research was conducted by US 2010, a project that tracks changes in American society. Its findings correspond to a similar study conducted by the Pew Research Center that recently found that “7.7 million U.S. children—one in 10—were living in the same household as one of their grandparents in 2011.” In several of these cases, it’s not as if the grandparent was living with their adult child, having moved in so that their child could help with the ageing process. In most of these cases a single parent had moved back into his or her parents’ home. According to the Huffington Post AARP expert Amy Goyer told the Washington Post that. “grandparents have always been a safety net… adding that nearly 20 percent of grandparents with grandchildren in the house are living below the poverty line.” The 2007–2008 recession added to the number of children living with grandparents across the country, according to the Huffington Post. The study conducted by US 2010 also found that “almost one-third of grandmothers who live with their grandchildren are the primary caregivers.” The percentage of children living with grandparents increased depending on race and socioeconomic status. “Black and Hispanic grandmothers are more likely than white grandmothers to live with grandchildren and black grandmothers are more likely than Hispanic grandmothers to be the primary caregivers,” according to the Huffington Post. It’s not just in opening their homes that grandparents are helping parents out raising children, either. According to a 2012 Reuters report, “the AARP reported that a quarter [of grandparents surveyed] spent more than $1,000 a year on their grandkids, with 37 percent saying that they helped cover daily living costs.” Grandparental visitation and grandparents’ rights are an important aspect of family law, whether the child is living with the grandparent or not. If someone in your family has gone through a divorce and you’re curious about your rights as a grandparent, don’t go through it alone. Seek the counsel of a qualified family law attorney today.

Continue Reading ››