Posted on August 22, 2018 in Child Support

Child support is a shared responsibility between co-parents who no longer live together. Illinois’ child support laws use the number of children and the income of the parents to determine an appropriate amount to go towards raising the children. When one parent is not paying his or her share of child support, it hurts both the children and the other parent. If you have a co-parent who is not paying the required amount of child support, you may need to take legal action to enforce the child support payments.

Considerations Before Going to Court

When your co-parent misses a child support payment for the first time, your initial response should be to contact him or her and ask about the payment. Going to court may be unnecessary if your co-parent has a legitimate excuse for missing the payment and can assure you that this is a one-time occurrence. In some cases, the threat of legal action may be enough to get your co-parent to cooperate. However, you may need a court to be involved if your co-parent:

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 Posted on August 17, 2018 in Divorce

Outside of March, August is the most common month for people to get divorced. A 2016 study compiled the number of divorce filings per month from 2001 to 2015. Divorce filings reached their highest point of the year in March, immediately dropped for the next few months and suddenly spiked again in August before declining for the rest of the year. The study does not explain why divorces suddenly rose up again in August because the data does not include the reasons for divorces. However, social scientists have speculated several possible causes.

1. The End of the Summer Break: The summer is an important time for families to do enjoyable activities together while their children are on break from school. Parents who are considering divorce may delay their decision to avoid ruining this time for their children. The parents may also be optimistic that family bonding activities may repair their relationship. Unfortunately, spending more time with someone you do not get along with can sometimes make a relationship worse. By the end of the children’s summer break, the parents no longer feel obligated to stay together.

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 Posted on August 13, 2018 in Alimony / Maintenance

Though spousal maintenance is not a requirement in a divorce agreement, one party will likely pay it if the other spouse was financially dependent during the marriage. Spouses can either reach their own spousal maintenance agreement or allow the divorce court to set the terms of the maintenance payments. If you are the spouse who is likely to pay maintenance, it may be more advantageous for you to negotiate your own terms. However, it is important to understand your options and their consequences when creating the agreement. A poor choice can put you at a long-term financial disadvantage:

1. Short-Term Payments Can Be Costlier: A spousal maintenance obligation is often spread out into monthly payments made for several years. Alternatively, the obligated spouse can make a few high-level payments or one lump-sum payment. The one-time payment may seem attractive to you because it may be less money than the total you would pay with a long-term plan. There is also the satisfaction of severing your financial ties with your former spouse. However, large payments work only if you have the money or assets to spare. You also risk overpaying for maintenance if your former spouse remarries in the near future. If you have a long-term payment plan, the payments will end upon your spouse's remarriage.

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 Posted on August 09, 2018 in Divorce

People who claim that divorce rates are on the rise in the U.S. will commonly say that half of all marriages end in divorce. The most amazing thing about this statistic is how frequently it is cited, despite it not having been accurate in more than 30 years. The U.S. divorce rate is believed to have reached its peak in 1980 at more than 50 percent, but the rate has steadily declined since then. The modern divorce rate is usually calculated as between 40 and 50 percent, with senior citizens being the only demographic for whom the divorce rate has consistently risen. However, it is accurate to say that the divorce rate is much higher than it was before 1970. There are several explanations for the sudden rise in the divorce rate and its gradual fall.

On the Rise

During the 1970s, the divorce rate rose to 50 percent after having been in the 20-percent range during the 1960s. A combination of factors lead to the divorce boom:

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 Posted on August 03, 2018 in Child Custody

Determining which state’s court has jurisdiction in a divorce case is tricky when the spouses reside in separate states. State jurisdiction is particularly important when deciding the allocation of parental responsibilities because the parent living in that state has an advantage in receiving a majority share of parenting time. Courts use the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act to determine state jurisdiction, which favors the child’s home state. However, parents often debate which state is a child’s home.

Recent Case

The home state in a child custody case can also include states or provinces in other countries. In the case of In re Marriage of Milne, a divorcing father residing in Canada argued that Ontario should have jurisdiction in their case instead of Illinois. The spouses had met and married while living in Illinois. The husband adopted the wife’s child from a previous marriage, and the couple later had their own child. The family relocated to Canada in August 2015, after which:

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 Posted on August 01, 2018 in Divorce

A wedding is a landmark occasion in the lives of yourself and your spouse. A good wedding is a happy memory that you will share, but can a bad wedding spell doom for your marriage? Researchers have discovered that some factors in a wedding correlate with a higher rate of divorce, including:

• How much you spend on your wedding; and
• The wedding date you pick.

There are too many factors leading up to a divorce to definitively say that a wedding caused a divorce. However, there are ways that your wedding can potentially cause marital strife.

Cost of Wedding

Weddings have become increasingly extravagant and expensive affairs. Young couples can have ambitious ideas about a dream wedding that includes exotic locations and ample amenities for their guests. Having a wedding that matches your expectations is a good way to start your marriage, but there can be consequences:

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 Posted on July 28, 2018 in Divorce and Finances

A recent report by the website Student Loan Hero claims that student loan debt is contributing to couples’ decisions to divorce and affecting when they divorce. In a survey of more than 800 divorced adults:

• 13 percent of the respondents blamed student loans for their divorces;
• 35 percent of the respondents with student loan debts said that the debt caused them to delay their divorces because they could not afford the process; and
• 58 percent of divorcees with student debts had to take on additional debt to pay for their divorces.

With the cost of higher education increasing, student loan debts are likely to continue to be a problem for people during their marriages and divorces.

Student Debt Leading to Divorce

Financial stress is one of the main causes of divorce, and student loan debt can be particularly stressful because:

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 Posted on July 23, 2018 in Divorce

The divorce process is designed so that neither side will have a complete victory over the other. You will not keep every property that you owned during your marriage. If you are making more money than your spouse, you may be required to pay spousal maintenance as compensation. Unless there are unusual circumstances, you will be dividing your parenting time with your children. If you measure winning in absolute terms, then there are no winners in a divorce. However, redefining winning can help you feel that your divorce was successful:

1. Winning with Realistic Goals: You should start your divorce negotiations with goals that you want to achieve. Identify marital properties that are priorities for you to retain. Understand what an acceptable allocation of parental responsibilities would be. Determine the value of the financial assets you will need for short-term financial stability and long-term prosperity. You will lose some marital properties to your spouse. Instead of losses, think of them as assets you are trading in order to retain other assets you value more.

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 Posted on July 20, 2018 in Order of Protection

Illinois recently signed the Firearms Restraining Order Act into law, which allows someone to petition for the temporary removal of firearms from the possession of a family member who is deemed to be a threat to him or herself or others. With recent mass shootings in mind, lawmakers created the bill as a legal means for law enforcement to act on credible warnings of potential gun violence. Victims in domestic violence cases could petition for a firearms restraining order if they fear that their abuser may use a gun against them. However, the petitioner must prove that there is a need for the restraining order.

Order Details

Illinois already has a law that revokes a person’s Firearm Owner’s Identification card if he or she is convicted for domestic violence. However, an alleged offender may be a threat to use gun violence before a conviction can occur. An order of protection can immediately make it illegal for the domestic violence suspect to contact the alleged victim. A firearms restraining order addresses the specific threat of gun violence by:

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 Posted on July 17, 2018 in Property Division

Choosing where you will live is one of your most immediate concerns when you file for divorce but also one of the most consequential decisions you will make. The spouse who lives in the marital home will have an advantage when deciding who will keep the home during the division of property. When there are children involved, it is logical for the primary parent to stay in the home with the children. Absent children, you have more flexibility in deciding your living arrangements. Each option has its own financial and practical implications.

Keeping the Home

The instinct of many divorcees is to try to stay in the marital home and retain possession of it after divorce. The home is likely the most valuable property in your marriage and something you have greatly invested in. There is also an emotional benefit to keeping some stability in your living situation while going through a turbulent divorce. However, owning the home without your spouse can be expensive. You must consider whether you can afford:

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