Posted on April 01, 2021 in Divorce

Divorce can create a lot of problems for business owners. If you have put your assets into a business and they are subject to division during divorce proceedings, it could jeopardize everything that you have worked hard to achieve.

There are a few things that business owners can do to proactively protect a company against divorce. Some simple but effective precautionary steps may make it possible for you to preserve your interests, keep your business going, and continue meeting your obligations to partners or creditors.

Create a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement

An agreement stating that the assets you invest in a business are not marital property is an excellent way to safeguard them. If you are already married but do not have a prenuptial agreement, a postnuptial agreement can have the same binding effect.

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 Posted on February 01, 2021 in Property Division

Determining who keeps the family home after divorce is often a financially, legally and emotionally complex process, especially when a couple shares young children.

During an uncontested divorce, spouses may be able to negotiate an agreement. However, if spouses cannot agree on ownership, the court treats the home as it does other types of assets that may be subject to equitable distribution under the law.

1. Is the family home marital property?

With the exception of personal gifts and inheritances, nearly all assets that either spouse acquires during marriage automatically become shared marital property subject to court division upon divorce. This includes the family home, even if only one party’s name is on the deed.

2. How might the court handle award of the home?

Rather than dividing each marital asset equally, the court distributes property according to what it deems fair to the needs of each party and shared children. For example, a judge may award the home to the parent that has primary childcare responsibilities but award a greater portion of another type of asset to the other spouse.

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 Posted on February 01, 2021 in Child Support

When a couple getting divorced relied on one high-income breadwinner, it is often a priority for the other spouse to receive enough marital property to maintain the lifestyle they enjoyed during the marriage. Alternatively, spousal maintenance can help a divorced person continue to enjoy the same comforts they did during the marriage.

While divorce will affect their children’s lives, most Naperville parents would want to minimize the impact — both emotionally and economically. Child support is how divorced and unmarried parents in Illinois make sure that their children’s basic needs are met. But for high-income families, child support can also have the purpose of maintaining the children’s lifestyle after their parents split up.

Child support can be different for high earner parents

State law includes a formula for calculating child support based on several factors, including each parent’s income. But family court judges can deviate above the calculated level of support when the noncustodial parent’s income is high. Depending on that parent’s income and financial resources, the court might order them to pay thousands of dollars a month in child support. Besides the basics like food and shelter, the custodial parent can use this money to pay for things like sports, private tutors, designer clothes and vehicles.

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 Posted on December 01, 2020 in Child Custody

As in other states, Illinois law now uses the term “parenting time” in lieu of “physical custody”. This reflects the fact that family courts prioritize thebest interests of the childwhen determining whether he or she lives with one parent or alternates between households.

In general, the court favors an arrangement that fosters a close relationship with both parents. However, even when parents share physical custody, the time that the child spends with each parent may not be evenly split. Additionally, if one parent has demonstrated that he or she is unfit, the court may award sole custody to the other ex-spouse.

Physical custody and parenting plans

Even when parents share physical custody, it is unlikely that the child will spend precisely half of his or her time with each parent. Rather, divorcing individuals must submit adetailed parenting planthat specifies which days of the week the child will spend with each parent, including holidays and school breaks.

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 Posted on December 01, 2020 in Alimony

Though permanent spousal maintenance is rare in Chicago-area divorces, it does happen. Spousal maintenance, commonly known as alimony, is meant to provide financial support to one spouse. The purpose is to give the spouse time to develop the job skills necessary to be financially independent or maintain the spouse’s lifestyle during the marriage but cannot afford to keep up on their own.

Most of the time, spousal maintenance is temporary. The spouses either agree to alimony for a set number of years, or the judge presiding over the divorce awards maintenance with a certain end date. But indefinite alimony is allowed in Illinois. When permanent spousal support is part of a divorce order, it is usually because one of the exes gave up working to support the other ex’s career. They agreed to be the primary homemaker and child-rearer to allow their spouse to focus on achieving their work goals. Now, after many years of depending on their spouse for income, they have few, if any, job skills.

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 Posted on October 01, 2020 in Child Custody

When you and your spouse are unable to come to an agreement about parenting time and parenting responsibility, you may ask Illinois’ family court system to make such decisions for you. When tasked with doing so, the court system typically refers to the same set of factors.

While how much weight the court system gives each factor may depend on your child’s age, among other variables, understanding what these variables are may give you a better sense of your custody chances. What are some of the areas Illinois family courts consider when allocating parenting responsibilities?

Your child’s preferences

If your child is an infant or toddler, his or her own wishes with regard to where to live may not carry much weight. Older children may have strong opinions about where they want to live. If your son or daughter is old and mature enough to voice an opinion, the court may take it into account.

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 Posted on October 01, 2020 in Divorce

When you are facing divorce, especially if you are a parent, you may worry about how your split will impact you financially. Often, women facing divorce are surprised when they realize they end up with fewer assets than they thought or spousal support that ends sooner than expected.

Five challenges women experience during divorce include the following:

1. Not having a strong understanding of their marital debts vs. assets. Many women underestimate how much mortgage debt they and their spouse share on the family home or in credit card debt. These debts will negate other assets the couple shares in a divorce.
2. Not earning enough money to afford to live without their spouse. In 2020, women earn, on average, 19% less than men their age. That gap may be even higher if you took time off from your career to raise your children.

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 Posted on August 01, 2020 in Divorce

When the Illinois Tollway began offering drivers a way to pay their tolls electronically, few drivers thought that the new system might impact their case if they ever got a divorce. But thanks to an unusual legal loophole, your ex might be able to find out information collected by the Tollway about your movements and use that data against you.

Most people in the Naperville area will remember when the Illinois Tollway began issuing I-Pass transponders to drivers. These devices attach to your vehicle, and whenever you drive through a gate, you pay the toll automatically. Besides the convenience of not having to stop to toss your change into the dish, I-Pass users get a discount on tolls.

Driving data used in divorce proceedings

What you may not know is that I-Pass collects data on users’ travels on the Tollway. While that information generally is kept private, I-Pass will disclose that information when the party to a legal action — such as a divorce — gets the judge to issue a subpoena.

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 Posted on August 01, 2020 in Divorce

If you decide to file for divorce, now is the time to think about items to gather before you start the process. Make a list of everything you will need in terms of paperwork, but also include outcomes you would like to see during the divorce and after it is final. Here are three things to add to your list.

1. Financial and legal documents

Getting together all yourlegal and financial documentsmay support your claims for spousal support and property division. Legal and financial information includes:

• Marriage certificate
• Prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements
• Copies of trusts and wills
• Bank accounts
• Credit cards
• Bank statements
• Balances

Consider opening a bank account and credit card in your name. This is to protect you if your spouse takes money out of your joint account or maxes out the credit cards.

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 Posted on June 01, 2020 in Divorce

Raising children is much more than a full-time job. Their needs dictate the day-to-day goings-on in a household for 18 years, sometimes longer. It is a responsibility that takes up much of the space in a parent’s life.

When those children leave home, it creates a vacuum. This center of gravity, around which life revolved for so long, is simply gone. It is of little surprise this new normal leads some spouses to contemplate divorce.

Divorce and an empty nest

The relationship between divorce and an empty nest is not perfectly clear. There are too many factors to draw a definitive line between the two events. However, there are some clues that suggest it may be applicable to some marriages.

For one, we know there has been a recent uptick in the divorce rate among older adults. There is speculation this could be tied to empty nest syndrome, as the ages generally line up. But it is clear there are other factors at play.

Psychology Today discusses some of these considerations. When the kids leave, it’s not uncommon for one or both spouses to realize:

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