Recent Blog Posts
Dissipation of Assets in an Illinois Divorce: What You Need to Know
Going through a marital separation is always challenging—even more so if you find out that your spouse is wasting money or property immediately prior to the divorce. The intentional or reckless waste or abuse of marital property is called the dissipation of assets, and it could be grounds for a remedy in the division of property. As you prepare for your divorce, here are the most important things you should know in order to recognize and address the dissipation of assets if necessary.
How Does Illinois Define Asset Dissipation?
In Illinois, the dissipation of marital property is broadly defined as the unreasonable or improper waste or abuse of jointly held assets for one spouse’s sole use. Under the state’s family law code, dissipation only occurs relatively shortly before a divorce petition was filed or after a divorce petition was already filed. Some specific examples of conduct that could constitute the improper dissipation of marital assets include:
When Are Expert Witnesses Used in an Illinois Family Law Case?
If you are involved in a family law dispute—a divorce, a child custody case, a disagreement over child support, etc.—you may need to go to court to obtain a fair and just resolution. When in family court, it is essential that you are able to present a strong, well-supported case. In some circumstances, expert witness testimony may be needed. Here, our attorneys explain the important things you should know about using expert witnesses in a family law case in Illinois.
Expert Witnesses Provide Context and Clarity For Complex Matters
Witness testimony is an important form of evidence in many kinds of legal cases. In family law disputes, there are three main types of witnesses. Fact witnesses testify to a specific event they saw or a specific matter about which they have personal knowledge. Character witnesses testify to the overall disposition of the parties involved in the case. Expert witnesses are educated specialists who help bring context and clarity to a complicated matter. In family cases, an expert witness may be called to testify regarding:
When is a Qualified Domestic Relations Order Necessary in a Divorce?
Dividing property in a divorce is never easy, particularly when it comes to complex financial assets, such as retirement benefits or a retirement account. This raises an important question: How do we divide retirement assets in a divorce? A special type of legal order known as a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) offers a solution. In this article, our divorce lawyers provide an overview of QDROs and explain how they can be used to protect your financial interests.
Understanding the Basics of QDROs
A Qualified Domestic Relations Order is a tool that a divorcing couple can use to effectively and efficiently split up certain types of retirement assets. As described by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a QDRO is “a judgment, decree or order for a retirement plan” for the purposes of dividing marital assets or providing child or spousal support. The importance of a QDRO cannot be overstated. When divorcing couples in Illinois fail to get a proper Qualified Domestic Relations Order, they often face the following three problems:
When is Imputed Income Used in an Illinois Child Support Case?
Parents have a legal responsibility to provide financial support to their children. In Illinois, child support obligations are calculated based on state guidelines that look primarily at each parent’s income. While these guidelines work well in many cases, there are exceptions. One possible exception is a case in which a parent’s actual income differs substantially from what they could be earning.
Imputed Income Explained
Whenever reasonable, the Illinois child support calculation will account for each parent’s actual income at the time when the order is established. This helps to ensure a fair and equitable result, and it often provides protection for a parent with few financial resources. However, in some cases, a parent’s actual current income is misleading given their financial resources or their ability to earn. Under these circumstances, the court may decide to use imputed or potential income in the calculation instead.
How to Uncover Hidden Assets in an Illinois Divorce
In Illinois, parties to a divorce are often required to complete a financial affidavit. A financial affidavit is a legal document used to declare the income, expenses, assets and property, and outstanding debts of each spouse. Parties to a divorce have a basic duty to make full and transparent financial disclosures.
Unfortunately, not everyone plays by the rules. If you believe your former partner is hiding assets, your rights are being violated. Fortunately, there are tools you can use to help uncover property and assets that are being improperly concealed by your spouse.
How Do I Know if My Spouse is Hiding Assets?
Divorce cases involving hidden assets are notoriously complex. The spouse who is playing by the rules faces a significant challenge: How do you find the assets that your spouse is hiding? After all, if your spouse is trying to hide money or property to keep it out of the divorce, they are not going to make it easy to locate.
Can Fathers Seek Full Child Custody in Illinois?
As a father, you play a critically important role in your child’s life. At the same time, fathers face some unique challenges in custody and visitation cases. You may be wondering: Can a father seek sole custody in Illinois? The answer is a clear “yes”—a father has just as much right to seek custody as a mother. Nonetheless, the United States Census Bureau reports that it is significantly more common for mothers to have primary custody than fathers. Here is an overview of the most important things dads should know about their parental rights in Illinois.
A Father Must Establish Parentage to Have Rights
As a starting point, a father must establish legal parentage. Without paternity, a man has no access to parental rights. Paternity is simply defined as the legal relationship between a father and a child. How exactly paternity is best established depends on the specific circumstances of the case.
Spousal Support and Remarriage: What to Know About Illinois Law
Following a divorce in Illinois, the party in a better financial position may be required to make ongoing payments to their former partner. Known as alimony, spousal support, or spousal maintenance, the exact structure of these payments will depend on many different factors, with some ending after a specified time and others lasting indefinitely.
This raises an important question: Does remarriage affect alimony? The short answer is that the recipient’s remarriage is grounds to end alimony, whereas the paying spouse’s remarriage does not have a direct impact on their financial obligations. Here, our divorce attorneys highlight the key things you should know about spousal support and remarriage in Illinois.
The Recipient’s Remarriage Terminates Alimony Obligations
Illinois law is clear: If the spouse who is receiving alimony gets remarried, payments will automatically stop. According to state statute, “an obligor's obligation to pay maintenance or unallocated maintenance terminates by operation of law on the date the obligee remarries.” In other words, the spouse paying alimony does not have to get a court order to stop the payments. However, if the spouse paying alimony gets remarried, they cannot stop making payments, as their remarriage or new relationship is not grounds to terminate their alimony obligations.
Can I Challenge a Prenuptial Agreement During an Illinois Divorce?
In today’s world, prenuptial agreements are increasingly common, as people are waiting until they are older to get married for the first time, which also means that they are likely to have accumulated significant assets before they are married. Nobody wants to think about the prospect of divorce, especially before you are even married, but a prenuptial agreement can be greatly beneficial if you and your spouse do eventually decide to call it quits. A prenuptial agreement can help you and your spouse determine the majority of your financial and property division issues with little resistance. Even though a prenuptial agreement is a legal contract, it is not set in stone and can be challenged if you believe the agreement is unfair in some way.
Challenging Your Prenup
As a legally-binding agreement, a prenuptial agreement is also legally enforceable. This means that you must abide by the terms of your prenuptial agreement unless the agreement or portions of the agreement are invalidated. If you feel as if your prenuptial agreement is invalid or unfair, you have the right to ask the court to hear your case. The judge will not simply invalidate a prenuptial agreement because you do not like the terms of the agreement anymore. You must prove that there is a legitimate reason for the invalidation of a section or the entire agreement. Common reasons that a judge may invalidate a prenuptial agreement include:
How to Address Spousal Maintenance in an Illinois Divorce
During a divorce case, there are a wide variety of legal and financial issues that will need to be addressed. One key issue that may play a role in some divorces is the matter of financial support paid by one spouse to the other. This form of support, which is commonly known as alimony, is referred to as spousal maintenance in Illinois. Those who are going through the divorce process will want to be sure to understand the laws surrounding spousal maintenance and the situations in which it may be awarded. By working with an experienced divorce attorney, you can be sure this issue will be addressed correctly as you work to legally dissolve your marriage.
The Purpose of Spousal Maintenance
Contrary to popular belief, alimony is not meant to be a punishment or a reward for either spouse. Instead, it is intended to address disparities in the incomes earned by divorcing spouses. Following a divorce, spouses should be able to continue living at the standard they enjoyed while they were married, but this can be difficult or impossible for one spouse if the other spouse earned the majority of the family’s income. For a person who was reliant on their spouse to provide for their needs, receiving spousal maintenance will allow them to support themselves after their divorce while also giving them the means to obtain education, pursue employment, and become self-supporting.
Goostree Law Group’s Top 10 Family Law Blogs in 2020
At Goostree Law Group, we know that our clients and other visitors to our website use our blog as a helpful source of information and answers about divorce and family law in Illinois. In our blog posts, we try to answer common questions and address issues that can arise in the divorce process, as well as in other types of family law cases, such as parental responsibilities and parental rights. Today, we will look back at the ten blogs that were the most popular among our readers throughout 2020:
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Can I Sign Away My Parental Rights to an Unborn Child? – We talk about the options that a man has when his partner is pregnant but he does not wish or is not ready to be a father.
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Grounds for Terminating Parental Rights in Illinois – We discuss the various conditions under which an Illinois court might terminate a parent’s rights regarding his or her children.