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All parents say they want time with their children. But not all parents actually spend the time they are court ordered to have with their children. What happens when a parent skips the parenting time they’ve been awarded during and after an Illinois divorce or parentage case?

Parenting Time Orders In Illinois

Until there is an order entered by an Illinois domestic relations case, there is no right or obligation to exercise parenting time. Parenting time usually gets established almost immediately in a temporary hearing at the beginning of a divorce or parentage case.

“A court may order a
Continue Reading When A Parent Does Not Exercise Parenting Time In Illinois

Divorce lawyers are there to advise their clients. A lawyer should kindly walk their client through the divorce case with strong opinions about what the client should do. In the end, the decision to settle the divorce belongs to the client.

“[A] client has “an absolute right” to settle her case without her attorney’s consent.” Heiden v. Ottinger, 245 Ill. App. 3d 612, 616 (Ill. App. Ct. 1993)

Furthermore, a lawyer must allow their client to settle a matter if the client wishes.

“A lawyer shall abide by a client’s decision whether to settle a matter.” Ill. Sup. Ct. R. 1.2(a)
Continue Reading Settling An Illinois Divorce Case Without A Lawyer’s Consent

At the end of an Illinois divorce, the two divorced parties will have a variety of obligations to each other. A Marital Settlement Agreement may specify a transfer of deeds, car titles, support payments and attorney’s fees between the parties.

One thing that marital settlement agreements almost never include is payments to the opposing party’s divorce attorney. While your former spouse may no longer like you, I assure you that your former spouse dislikes your divorce attorney even more. Almost no one voluntarily agrees to pay their ex-spouse’s former attorney, instead, parties to a divorce prefer to pay
Continue Reading Chose In Action In An Illinois Divorce

Often, an Illinois divorce lawyer will ask the court to do something and then, instead of citing the law the divorce lawyer will remark, “Well, we’re a court of equity and this is the right thing to do.”

This phrase “a court of equity” harkens back to the old division of courts where courts were divided into courts of law and courts of equity.

A court of equity is “a court which has jurisdiction in equity, which administers justice and decides controversies in accordance with the rules, principles, and precedents of equity, and which follows the forms and procedure of
Continue Reading Is An Illinois Divorce Court A Court Of Equity?

If you are a business owner or you are married to a business owner, you are going to have to become familiar with the concept of depreciation.

For tax purposes, business expenses are deductible to the business owner’s regular income. Big expensive items like a building or a semi truck wear out slowly and the expense to replace them usually occurs every 10 to 30 years. The IRS allows the expense of replacing these business assets to be allocated over time as “depreciation.”

“Depreciation is an annual income tax deduction that allows you to recover the cost or other basis
Continue Reading Depreciation And Divorce In Illinois

People break up. One person usually moves out. When the parties own a house, however, the mortgage for that house still gets paid (or at least it should). Those mortgage payments steadily decrease the amount of the mortgage and increase the equity in the house. Who gets credit for this increase in equity that occurs when mortgage payments are made during the pendency of an Illinois divorce.

There is no on-point statute or Illinois case law for the issue of mortgage principal reduction during the divorce, but there is a lot of discussion that courts can make such an order
Continue Reading Reduction In Mortgage Principal In An Illinois Divorce

When people break up, one parent usually leaves the home…and the children, too. In the midst of a break up, parents usually do not automatically craft a parenting schedule. Instead, the absent parent sees the children haphazardly…or not at all.

Children are usually angry at the absent parent no matter whose fault the absence is. When the parent wants to re-engage with the children, certain steps must be taken for the well-being of the children and to ensure the visitations go smoothly.

Under Illinois law, there are numerous tools that lawyers and courts can use to ensure that the renewed
Continue Reading Visitation And An Absent Parent In An Illinois Divorce

I have told clients for years that the family law system is slow but it is fair. There is one part of the system that is rapid by design…and has instant results to the benefit of one parent and the detriment of the other parent: orders of protection.

Orders Of Protection Lead To Immediate Temporary Custody Orders In Illinois

Orders of protection happen fast. In fact, orders of protection are usually always initially filed as emergencies and heard the same day or the next day.

“If the court finds that petitioner has been abused by a family or household
Continue Reading Custody Of Children And Orders Of Protection In Illinois

Divorce law is incredibly broad in Illinois. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act covers everything from what happens if you miss a visit with a child to how to divide a railroad pension plan.

When the Illinois Marriage And Dissolution of Marriage Act do not specify a rule, the Illinois appeals courts step in to make new case law that comport with the statute and all the other decisions the courts have made in the past.

Still…new issues come up all the time. Important issues that the court, the lawyers and the litigants need to resolve before
Continue Reading Certified Questions In An Illinois Divorce

When two parents live in different states, the divorce can be filed in either state. If the children live in Illinois, it makes sense to file the case in Illinois to resolve the children’s issues.

But, do you have the option to file and finalize the divorce case in Illinois even if the children do not live in Illinois?

UCCJEA Usually Determines The Jurisdiction Of The Proceedings In A Divorce With Children

Illinois has adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). It’s a model statute that Illinois and 48 other states have incorporated into their own statutes
Continue Reading Divorce In Illinois When The Children Live In Another State

The Illinois divorce process does not really start until the other spouse is served. Therefore, some respondents in an Illinois divorce will attempt to evade service in order to avoid the consequences of the pending divorce. Avoiding service is a foolish strategy as service is inevitable in an Illinois divorce.

What Is Service In An Illinois Divorce

“After the filing of the petition [for dissolution of marriage], the party filing the same shall, within 2 days, serve a copy thereof upon the other party, in the manner provided by rule of the Supreme Court for service of notices in other
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Parents get time with their children before, during and after their Illinois divorce…until they do not.

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act provides two separate statutory schemes for allowing parents to see their children and, conversely, for forbidding parents from seeing their children. It is crucial that a parent understand those distinctions in order to see their own children and keep their children safe from an unreliable/dangerous co-parent.

Allocating Parenting Time In An Illinois Divorce Court

Everything regarding children in an Illinois divorce case is done to further the best interests of the child.

“The court shall
Continue Reading Allocation Of Parenting Time vs. Restricting Parenting Time In An Illinois Divorce

Petitions For Orders of Protection in Illinois are all the same. They are all on the same state-wide Petition For Order Of Protection form which has multiple lines stating on line 7

“An Order of Protection is needed because Respondent did these things: Date: Time: What happened:”

The instructions for this line say “In 7, start with what happened most recently. Enter the date and time and describe what happened. Be as specific about dates and times as you can. You can include any past abuse and any criminal convictions that resulted. If you don’t remember exact dates of things
Continue Reading Prior Abuse In A Petition For Order Of Protection In Illinois

In the movie “The Dark Knight” Batman’s loyal butler, Alfred, remarks that The Joker is inscrutable “because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Well, imagine if you are married to a person like that…and they have control of your marital assets!

Your spouse may allow rental properties and businesses to fall apart during the course of the divorce. The control of said assets may require some level of expertise beyond a judge merely issuing you temporary control of those
Continue Reading Receivership And Divorce In Illinois

Parents always want to know when their child can choose which parent they want to live with. There is no specific age or date when a child’s opinion becomes determinative of that child’s parenting time (formerly known as custody). In the end, it is a decision for the parents to agree upon or for an Illinois divorce court to decide based on the evidence presented.

“The trial court’s decision to choose a custodial parent when both parents are fit and capable is always difficult.” In re Marriage of Seymour, 206 Ill. App. 3d 506, 514 (Ill. App. Ct. 1990)
Continue Reading A Child’s Preference And Parenting Time In An Illinois Divorce

In the course of a relationship, people make a lot of promises. When those promises go consistently unfulfilled, the disappointed party files for divorce and all promises are cast to the wind (including “until death do you part”)

Still, the broken promises sting remains. Is there anything that can be done to enforce a spouse or former spouse’s promises?

Promises Made Before Marriage

There is only one binding promise before marriage in Illinois: A Prenuptial Agreement.

“The terms of the agreement, except those providing for the support and parental responsibility allocation of children, are binding upon the court unless
Continue Reading Promises And Divorce In Illinois