Marriage is about much more than money. However, when a marriage ends, financial matters are often a chief concern. If you are getting divorced, you may have questions and concerns about how marital property, such as bank accounts, real estate, and household items will be divided between you and your spouse. The situation becomes even more complicated if you or your spouse own complex assets like investments, retirement accounts, royalties, deferred compensation, businesses, or professional practices.
Divorcing spouses are expected to freely provide financial documents and truthfully disclose their income, assets, and debts. Unfortunately, some spouses lie about…
Continue Reading Financial Dishonesty and Your Illinois Divorce Settlement

The period during which a victim of domestic violence attempts to escape the relationship, often by way of a divorce, can be a dangerous period. Many abusers react strongly to the prospect of losing a person they intend to retain complete control over. There may be an elevated risk of further violence, harassment, or intimidation during the time in which you are making a plan to exit. Seeking an Illinois Order of Protection may be one way to mitigate these risks. Orders of Protection can forbid the abuser from engaging in certain forms of conduct that may have a frightening…
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Depending on the circumstances and timing of a child’s birth, some Illinois parents will need to take additional steps to ensure that they are their child’s legal parent. Other individuals are presumed to be a parent based on a legal relationship with the child’s mother. If you are a presumed parent, then you will generally not need to take additional steps to designate yourself as a legal parent to the child. In Illinois, biological parentage is not required to sustain a presumption of legal parentage. For example, if a woman is married to another woman who gives birth, both…
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A significant percentage of spouses who divorce in modern times are not required to engage in a courtroom battle in order to terminate their marriage. Many elect for cooperative divorce techniques including but not limited to mediation and attorney-facilitated negotiation. Cooperative divorce is often employed regardless of the level of amicability, as the issues incident to divorce can be resolved by mutual agreement even without bringing the spouses face to face. Yet, certain circumstances can render collaborative divorce impossible or impracticable. 
If your spouse is unwilling or unable to cooperate with these alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, it may be prudent…
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Trust and honesty are extremely important in a relationship. You and your spouse should be comfortable telling each other just about anything – especially when it comes to their financial status. Yet, it happens all the time that people sign a prenuptial agreement thinking they have all the right information, only to find out that some very important things were left out. If you were not represented by a lawyer when you signed your prenuptial agreement, you probably did not do a huge amount of fact-checking. After all, this was the person you were about to marry. You were likely…
Continue Reading What If My Spouse Took Advantage of Me Using a Prenuptial Agreement?

As you might imagine, money is a huge factor in any divorce case. This is especially true in contested divorces. When a spouse gets divorced, he or she is expected to provide financial information in a financial affidavit. In Illinois, this document helps to determine things like child support and property division during divorce.
Unfortunately, some spouses lie on their financial affidavits. They may intentionally undervalue their assets or fail to list all sources of income to make their financial situation appear bleaker than it actually is. Spouses may also inflate debts and expenses to reduce financial obligations like child…
Continue Reading How Do Financial Affidavits Influence Divorce in Illinois?

No one wants to be involved in a child custody dispute, but if you have a difficult relationship with your child’s other parent, it can be tempting to resort to unsavory tactics to gain more parenting time. While many divorced or never-married parents dream of getting sole custody, it is rare in Illinois. Your desire to spend as much time as possible with your children is very understandable, but it is important to play by the rules. Here are some common tactics that you should avoid when you are involved in a child custody dispute. 
How Not to Fight a…
Continue Reading What Not to do During a Child Custody Dispute

It is common for the mother of a child to initiate a parentage case, hoping to positively identify her child’s father and seek child support. It is a bit less common for such a case to be opened by a father, but in Illinois, either parent – or alleged parent – can petition a court to declare parentage. Fathers often do so when the mother of the child they believe is theirs is not letting them see the child. Establishing paternity opens the door for a father to seek court-ordered time with his child. This sometimes happens when the mother…
Continue Reading Can a Potential Father Start a Paternity Case in Illinois?