Posted on April 30, 2020 in Divorce

Filing a subpoena for a witness to testify in court is rarely necessary in a divorce case. A subpoena for documents, known as a subpoena duces tecum, is used frequently. Character witnesses were more common before Illinois became a no-fault divorce state, which made it so that couples no longer needed to cite issues such as infidelity as a reason for divorce. Now, financial records are the most vital evidence you can obtain with a subpoena, and documents can give you all the information you need. An experienced divorce lawyer knows who you need to subpoena to find that information.

Your Spouse

When gathering information in preparation for your divorce, you may realize that there are vital documents that you do not have access to, such as:

• Financial statements
• Receipts
• Contracts

Your spouse may possess those documents and would ideally be willing to share them if you ask. If your spouse refuses to share the documents, you can obtain a subpoena requesting the documents, which would force them to comply.

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 Posted on April 26, 2020 in Divorce

The decision to divorce may be more difficult than normal if you are someone with a disability. Though you may be unhappy in your marriage, you may also worry about whether you will be able to support yourself after a divorce. You may rely on your spouse’s income and health insurance if you are unable to work or are limited in your ability. If you have children, you may wonder whether your disability will limit your parenting time. Your disability does not have to trap you in an unhealthy marriage. Illinois divorce laws can help support you financially and protect your parental rights.

Support Payments

In any divorce, a person who is financially dependent on their spouse will usually receive spousal maintenance to support them as they adjust to life on their own. Spousal maintenance is particularly crucial for someone with a disability because they may:

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 Posted on April 23, 2020 in Children and Divorce

As a parent who decided to divorce, you may be concerned about how the divorce will emotionally affect your children. You know that they will be upset, but will the divorce cause long-lasting emotional trauma? The good news is that it is possible for children of divorce to become more resilient because of their experience, making them more capable of handling other hardships that may occur in their lives. There are several ways that you can create an environment that enables your child to build that resiliency:

1. Healthy Communication: To understand how the divorce is affecting your children, you need to listen to what they say and watch how they behave. Encourage them to be open about their feelings without forcing them to talk when they are clearly not in the mood. When they do decide to talk, let them finish speaking without interjecting to correct them or add your own opinion. Resist your instinct to want to solve their problems for them or to reassure them that things are not so bad. The most important thing for you to do is to show sympathy towards their feelings and answer the questions that they ask.

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 Posted on April 20, 2020 in Legal Separation

Filing for divorce is a serious and final decision to make about your marriage. Even when couples know that they are unhappy in their marriages, they may be unsure about whether they want to go as far as divorce. One alternative that couples in Illinois have is filing for legal separation. With a legal separation, you can act as if you are divorced without ending your marriage. If you decide you want to stay together, you can simply end the separation agreement. If you decide to end your marriage, you can file for divorce to make your separation permanent.

Why Should You Use Legal Separation?

Couples can separate from each other at any time without needing any official documents. However, they may lack legal protection when it comes to their individual property and parental rights. A separation agreement can work similarly to a divorce agreement, allowing you to settle on issues such as:

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 Posted on April 15, 2020 in Property Division

If you are a homeowner who is getting a divorce, a real estate appraisal is essential to ensuring that you have a fair division of property. Appraising your home is a natural step if you plan to sell it as part of your divorce. You need to know what your home is worth before you entertain offers for it. However, you also need an appraisal if one of you plans to keep the home following the divorce. The value of the home is part of calculating how to equitably divide your marital properties.

Preparing for an Appraisal

A real estate appraiser will estimate the value of your home based on factors such as its size, amenities, condition, and comparative market value. Your responsibility is to prepare your home so that it looks favorable to the appraiser. This may include:

• Cleaning and organizing the interior and exterior of the home

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 Posted on April 10, 2020 in Child Custody

Despite reasons to not get along, many co-parents manage to have an amicable relationship following their divorce or separation. You do not have to be friends with your co-parent but do need to communicate and cooperate with each other, which allows you to focus on making decisions that are best for your children. A crisis such as the one the world is currently experiencing can test your patience as a co-parent because of the way it disrupts your normal routine and creates uncertainty. It is important to continue to cooperate with your co-parent during any crisis for the sake of creating stability for your children. Here are a few suggestions for co-parenting during our current crisis:

1. Put Health First: The most important thing for you to do right now is to protect the health and safety of everyone in your household. This may mean following public health guidelines and taking extra precautions at home. If you have not already, you should talk to your co-parent about what actions you believe are necessary to protect your children.

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 Posted on April 07, 2020 in Divorce

April is normally the end of tax season, though the U.S. has extended the deadline to July 15 for this year. Still, it is good to get a headstart on filing your federal income taxes if you are dealing with new circumstances, such as your recent divorce. Depending on when your divorce was completed, you may have a decision to make about your tax-filing status. If possible, filing a joint tax return with your former spouse will qualify you for a greater standard deductible and other deductibles and credits. However, you may be forced to file a separate tax return.

If Your Divorce Was Completed by Dec. 31

If you finalized your divorce during the 2019 tax year, then you are considered divorced for the entire year and must file separately. The standard deductible for filing as a single adult is half the amount of what you would receive if you filed a joint tax return. You can receive a higher deductible if you file as the head of the household. In order to qualify, you must:

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 Posted on April 03, 2020 in Divorce

Getting divorced can be a blow to your mental wellness, though each person will react differently to the experience. The stress of completing your divorce agreement and adjusting to your single life can cause depression and anxiety. Sometimes, a decline in your mental health will affect your physical health, such as:

• Changes in your eating habits
• Increased consumption of alcohol or drugs
• Struggles with insomnia
• Higher blood pressure
• A weakened immune system

It is important to take care of your health during and after your divorce. Unfortunately, people are currently limited in the activities they can do. You do not know when you will be able to join a fitness club or go to social gatherings. You may not even have the option of going to work, which would have given you something to focus your thoughts on. There are still several ways that you can improve your physical and mental health:

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 Posted on March 31, 2020 in Child Support

If you are one of the millions of Americans who have recently lost their jobs, you are understandably concerned about your ability to pay for living expenses. For some adults, child support is part of their monthly expenses. Fortunately, you do not have to continue paying the same amount towards child support if you have become unemployed. By requesting a modification of your child support payments, you can reduce your payments to something more manageable, though it is unlikely that you could ever get it reduced to nothing.

Changing Child Support

During a divorce or separation, Illinois calculates child support payments based on the parents’ comparative incomes. Your combined incomes help determine how much you both should be spending on child-related expenses each month, and your comparative incomes determine what percentage of those expenses you will each pay for. You can request an immediate modification of child support if you have a change of financial circumstances, such as losing your job. If the court grants your request, your child support payments will be reduced if you are the paying parent, or the payments you receive will increase if you are the recipient parent. There are a few conditions to the modification that you need to understand:

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 Posted on March 27, 2020 in Children and Divorce

Children of divorce need their parents’ attention to console them and remind them that they will always be loved. If you are worried about your divorce causing lasting emotional damage to your children, active parenting will allow you to watch for signs of emotional stress. However, it is possible to be too active in your parenting, to the point that you may harm your relationship with your child. You need to find a balance in which you are attentive to your children’s needs without becoming controlling or overbearing.

How Divorced Parents Smother Their Children

An overly involved parent can smother their child with positive and negative attention – both of which can be unhealthy:

• Positive attention may be spoiling them with gifts or being overprotective of them.
• Negative attention may be harsh punishments for misbehavior or setting strict rules.

It may not be your intention, but smothering your children is emotionally manipulating them to serve your own desires. Your children may become overly attached and dependent upon you, which hinders their maturation. Your overbearing parenting could also have the opposite effect, causing your children to rebel against you.

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