Why Don’t More People Consider Prenuptial Agreements?

 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.

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The Impact of Household Conflict On Children

 Posted on November 29, 2013 in Divorce

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Benefits of Getting Married Young

 Posted on November 25, 2013 in Divorce

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Childhood Photo Characteristics Linked To Divorce Likelihood

 Posted on November 22, 2013 in Divorce

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Tips for Writing Your Prenup

 Posted on November 18, 2013 in Divorce

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More American Children Living With Grandparents

 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.

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Norwegian Initiative to Curb Divorce: Date

 Posted on November 11, 2013 in Divorce

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Long-Term Separation vs. Divorce

 Posted on November 07, 2013 in Divorce

For many divorcing couples, a long-term separation may seem like the ideal way to warm up to the idea of marriage dissolution and determine if it’s really the best move for you and your partner. According to The New York Times, long-term separation works very well for some couples experiencing marital trouble. For one couple, John Frost and his wife, they see no need to divorce though they don’t even live in the same city. “Since separating we get along better than we ever have,” Frost told the Times. They still file joint tax returns and she’s still covered by his insurance. “To tie a bow around it would only make it uglier,” he says. “When people ask me about my relationship status, I usually just say ‘it’s complicated. I like my wife, I just can’t live with her.’” During the Great Recession of 2008, according to the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, “among those who were considering a divorce prior to the recession, a large minority of couples say the recession caused them to postpone or put aside divorce.” This meant that more unhappy couples were living together than ever before because they had no other option—but it also meant that many couples were opting for legal or long-term separation rather than divorce to save on divorce costs. Surprisingly, less than 30 percent of surveyed couples said that the recession brought financial stress to their marriage, which means that most couples that divorced during the recession likely were headed in that direction anyway. The idea that a long-term trial separation before a divorce is a good idea may not be true for everyone, however. According to Forbes, “without a formal legal agreement that defines its terms, long-term separation can be a recipe for financial disaster.” This is especially the case for women. According to Forbes, reasons that a long-term separation without divorce can be disastrous include (but are not limited to):

• An opportunity for the primary earner spouse to hide assets

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Cohabitation and the Termination of Maintenance Payments

 Posted on November 03, 2013 in Alimony / Maintenance

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Equitable Property Distribution in Illinois

 Posted on October 25, 2013 in Divorce

When divorcing, there are several factors that come into play. One of the more complicated processes of divorce—an aspect that has long-reaching effects well beyond divorce proceedings—is the distribution of property. Generally, anything acquired during the marriage, regardless of which partner’s name the purchase was in, is considered marital property and is liable to be split evenly. Yet states all have their own rules when it comes to property division after divorce, and, according to the Huffington Post, this matters. Most states, Illinois included, “use a set of rules called equitable distribution to divide a couple’s assets.” While this places “considerable power in the judge,” a fallible human being who happens to be presiding over that particular divorce, this is what most people consider the fairest way to divide marital property.

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