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Recent Blog Posts
What Happens if He/She Still Doesn’t Pay the Child Support?
Many custodial parents depend on the noncustodial parent’s child support payments to ensure that they have at least their most basic needs covered. Sadly, those who depend on this support often do not actually receive it – meaning both the parents and, more importantly, the children, will suffer. In a 2013 press release, the United States Census Bureau reported that only 62.3 percent of all child support owed in 2011 (the latest year for which data was available) was actually paid to the parent owed the support. Fortunately, there are legal actions that can be taken to force the other parent to start paying the child support.
How to Enforce a Court Order
If you have a court order to receive child support, there are ways to legally enforce this order so that parent starts paying. Some of the legal actions you can take include:
Worried About Your Possessions During the Divorce?
Divorce affects everyone differently. Sadly, many of those going through divorce proceedings result to ugly and resentful behavior, primarily aimed towards the soon-to-be ex-spouse. If one spouse has access to the other’s personal property that they know the other cherishes, it is not uncommon for that spouse to threaten or actually sell off or give away those belongings in an attempt to upset the owner. Fortunately, there are ways to deal with this form of attack and ensure that your cherished possessions are protected throughout the divorce process, even while they may be located in the house where your soon-to-be-ex resides.
Protecting Possessions
Think of this real world example: The wife is residing in marital home during divorce. The wife finds her husband’s prized baseball memorabilia collection in the basement and decides to put everything in the collection on eBay to spite her soon-to-be-ex.
Fathers’ Rights
More and more groups and firms are beginning to advertise that they tailor specifically towards “fathers’ rights.” You may be asking yourself why the need for all of this recent focus on fathers’ rights and how fathers’ rights actually differ from mothers’ rights in regards to domestic relations issues.
Fathers’ Rights and Custody Issues
Between the paternity laws and the number of mothers who obtain custody of the children, the issues of what happens when the children have limited or no time with their fathers is becoming a hot topic in the U.S. There have been countless studies that analyze the long-term effects on children who grow up without a father in their life. A recent Huffington Post article discussed the issue of how girls who grow up without fathers often suffer from low self-esteem issues and can have serious relationship problems as a result of not having a dad during their childhood. Another article explored a Canadian study that concluded lack of the paternal parent could cause children to become more aggressive later in life and possibly lead to a higher risk of substance abuse. Despite all of the studies that conclude it is beneficial to have a father in a child’s life, the law puts up certain barriers for fathers.
The Basics of Discovery
If you are currently involved in a divorce or know anyone going through the same process, you have likely heard of the term “discovery.” If it is your own divorce, you may be growing to hate the discovery process. This post seeks to break down the basics of discovery, outlining what you need to know and how it can greatly benefit your case.
What Is It?
The term discovery is used across nearly every area of law, but in divorce proceedings it refers to the process by which both sides of the divorce gather information about the other side. Discovery is a key component in any litigation, but is absolutely essential in any case where assets, property division, child support or maintenance is at issue.
Different documents and requests commonly involved in a divorce discovery stage include:
- Financial disclosure statement, where the responding spouse must list his or her assets, liabilities, monthly expenses, and income.
How Alcohol Can Play A Role in Your Divorce
No-fault divorces have become increasingly common in Illinois. Still, the traditional grounds for divorce are still available for use. One of the grounds still used in Illinois is one party having a drug addiction or drinking addiction for at least two years. Whether that particular ground is used to file for the dissolution or not, alcohol often plays a major role in divorces in the United States.
The Statistics
Studies show that marriages are more likely to end when one spouse has a serious problem with alcohol. One particular study conducted by the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions noted that where one spouse in a marriage (and only one spouse) drank heavily (until intoxicated or having six or more drinks), the marriage was likely to end in divorce 50 percent of the time.
What About the Pets?
Everyone knows custody can be one of the most contentious issues in a divorce. What may shock people is those custody disputes don’t always only involve children – human children, that is. Increasingly, couples are feuding over pet custody during their divorce proceedings.
According to a recent survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 27 percent of those attorneys who responded said they noticed an increase in the number of clients fighting for custody of a pet during the last five years. Of those disputes, they also noted an overwhelming 88 percent of those animals caught in the middle of the custody fight were dogs.
Illinois Laws Used When Pets are an Issue
When couples raise an issue of pet custody in Illinois, the court will likely determine the issue based on traditional property division concepts. It may be hard to think of your beloved family pet as a piece of property, but for the purposes of divorce, your pet will likely be treated as such.
Child Support and College Contribution in Illinois
Traditional child support lasts until the child becomes 18 or is otherwise emancipated. In Illinois, however, child support technically continues in many cases in the form of college contribution. Although college contribution isn’t mandatory like traditional child support payments, it is frequently awarded in Illinois divorce cases and is something every divorcee with kids reaching the age of 18 should understand.
Applicable Law
Judges in Illinois are allowed to award support for educational expenses of non-minors, which may include the costs of college, costs of other professional or technical schools, or for children 19 or older that are still in high school. Although the decision to award this support is discretionary, judges are guided by four major factors in the decision making process. As designated in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA), those four factors are:
Estate Planning After Divorce – What You Need to Know
Most people that have written an estate plan or considered the task assume that upon divorce, any part of that plan that designated money or property to the now-ex-spouse would no longer be in effect. While that is the case with some common estate plan components, it is not always true. It is essential that anyone considering or undergoing a divorce take a look back at any estate planning documents and make some necessary changes.
Changing Beneficiaries of Estate Planning Documents
Many documents in an estate plan list certain beneficiaries designated to take on a certain power or to receive certain assets at a particular time. For example, a trust will have a designated trustee, a will will have designated beneficiaries set to receive assets, a will will name a designated executor, and powers of attorneys will name specific agents to act on behalf of the documents’ creator. In Illinois, a dissolution of marriage will automatically revoke any provisions in a will, trust, or power of attorney that pertain to an ex-spouse. A party pursuing a divorce will not need to worry about changing these particular estate plan pieces after a divorce to ensure that the ex-spouse will not benefit from any prior designations.
I’ve Been Ordered to Take a Parenting Class – What Does That Mean?
If you have been ordered to take a parenting class by a judge, it does not mean anyone thinks you are a bad parent. In Illinois, every person with a minor child who is involved in a divorce, custody, visitation, or paternity case is required by the Illinois Supreme Court to participate in a parenting class. If the thought of taking a class on parenting skills sounds intimidating, hopefully this quick overview of the process will help ease your concern.
The Caring, Coping and Children Program (CCC)
In DuPage County, the mandatory in-class parenting class that may be ordered by the court is called the Caring, Coping and Children Program (CCC). The CCC class is a one-time, four-hour seminar designed to build and enhance not only parent/child relationships, but also co-parent relationships. According to the Family Center page of DuPage County’s website, the course “encourages parents to develop a way to relate to each other that keeps children out of conflict” and “emphasizes the need for parents to set aside personal differences in order to provide the healthiest environment for children.”
How to Stay on Track in Joint Custody Arrangements
Whether individual parents originally wanted to share custody with their ex or not, they often find themselves in formal, court-ordered joint custody arrangements. Each parent needs to figure out how to make the best of the situation for themselves and, more importantly, for their children.
Key Points
Figure out the channel of communication that will work best for you and your ex. Phone calls, texts, emails, or even face-to-face meetings (without kids present) are the likely options, but if those do not work, there are other methods to help you, such as computer programs that can help provide a channel of effective communication between you and your ex-spouse. There is simply no way to avoid communication, so consider which of the many options will be the easiest and least stressful way for you and your ex to talk effectively about your child’s life. Effectively communicating with your ex when emergencies arise that will impact your child’s regular schedule will ensure there is no added stress on your child when the change occurs.
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