Posted on February 23, 2015 in Child Custody

In some cases, courts have trouble enforcing child custody orders and orders forbidding removal of the child from the court’s jurisdiction. If the respondent improperly removes the child from the petitioner’s physical custody or improperly retains the child after his visitation time legally ended, then the court may enter an enforcement judgment.

If the child’s whereabouts are known, then the judgment may direct law enforcement to assist the petitioner in apprehending the child. Moreover, the judgment may authorize babysitters, teachers or anyone who has custody of the child to surrender the child to law enforcement.

The enforcement order may be entered without providing notice to the respondent if the court determines that notice would make it more difficult to locate the child. For example, the respondent might conceal the child or take him out of the state.

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 Posted on February 18, 2015 in Family Law

Illinois does not recognize alimony between unmarried couples, commonly referred to as palimony. Palimony, similar to alimony (maintenance), is an arrangement whereby one partner makes support payments to the other partner after the relationship ends. This law was established by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1979. However, a state appellate court recently held that the Supreme Court’s decades-old decision has been rendered obsolete.

The appellate case involves domestic partners (Jane and Eileen) who met in the 1980s. During their years together, the couple raised and cross-adopted three children. They also merged their finances, purchased real estate and registered as domestic partners in Cook County in 2003. After the relationship ended in 2008, Jane moved out of the house that they had purchased together. Two years later she filed a petition seeking to divide the value of the house. Eileen filed a counterclaim, arguing that she should have sole title since she had been a stay-at-home mom while the children were young, Jane’s medical partnership was purchased with common funds and Eileen had assumed maintenance costs after Jane moved out.

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 Posted on February 11, 2015 in Alimony / Maintenance

When a couple divorces, the court often orders one party to make maintenance (alimony) payments supporting his or her former spouse. Generally, this maintenance amount may only be modified or terminated if there has been a substantial change in either party’s circumstances. The court will consider various factors when considering a party’s petition for modification or termination, including:

• Changes in employment status, and whether the change was made in good faith (i.e.,  if the receiving spouse quits his or her job for no reason and then seeks additional maintenance, that change was not made in good faith);
• Whether the receiving spouse is making reasonable efforts to become self-supporting;

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 Posted on February 09, 2015 in Divorce

A Florida judge recently allowed a gay couple to divorce, even though the state did not officially recognize the couple’s right to marry in the first place. However, that might change soon. In August 2014, a federal district judge overturned Florida’s gay marriage ban. Both the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to extend a stay on the ruling, which means that gay couples were able to marry beginning in January.

Florida’s first same-sex divorce is a harbinger for gay couples in Illinois, where gay marriage became legal in June 2014. Illinois gay couples now have the same rights as straight couples, which includes the right to divorce. Not every state permits same-sex marriage, though, so a gay couple that marries in Illinois could move somewhere that does not recognize their marriage – or their divorce.

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 Posted on February 04, 2015 in Divorce

Aside from child custody, division of marital property is one of the most contentious issues divorcing couples face, especially if they entered the divorce proceeding without a premarital or postmarital agreement outlining these particulars.

The first thing to understand is exactly what assets constitute marital property, as opposed to non-marital property. The law presumes that all property acquired by either spouse during the marriage is marital property.  However, there are several exceptions:

• Property acquired by gift, legacy or descent;
• Property acquired in exchange for non-marital property (assets brought into the marriage) or in exchange for property acquired by gift, legacy or descent;

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 Posted on February 02, 2015 in Child Custody

A Missouri mother whose teenaged son became a temporary ward of Illinois after a local judge found that she interfered with his medical treatment is fighting back. She has rallied support from Missouri lawmakers, who are considering legislation that would protect guardians from abuse charges when they seek a second opinion from a licensed health care provider and follow that provider’s treatment advice.

The Illinois court’s decision to place the Missouri teen in temporary protective custody due to alleged child medical neglect is not the first – or last – of its kind (although the fact that Illinois is not the teen’s home state does distinguish his case from some of the others). Similar cases have appeared elsewhere across the United States. For example, the Connecticut Supreme Court recently held that the state can require a 17-year-old girl to receive chemotherapy treatment.

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 Posted on January 29, 2015 in Divorce

Divorce is a common occurrence in the United States. Most Americans “enjoy” this right and probably take it for granted that an unsuccessful marriage does not have to last forever. In fact the right to divorce exists everywhere in the world – with one exception.

 The Philippines is the only country that does not allow a majority of its citizens to divorce. (The country permits divorce between Muslim couples.) The only recourse for unhappily married couples is church annulment, civil annulment or legal separation. Of course, couples who legally separate are not allowed to remarry, and annulment requires evidence that the marriage was defective (e.g., one of the parties was too young or already married). Note that a marriage cannot be annulled due to irreconcilable differences or infidelity.

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 Posted on January 27, 2015 in Divorce

Divorce can be a drawn-out process, especially when children are involved. However, courts typically streamline this process by resolving child custody issues in conjunction with the related divorce. Illinois courts also recognize that the child’s best interests might differ from his or her parents’ interests. That is why courts often appoint a guardian ad litem (GAL) to represent the child’s interests during the custody proceeding. To that end, the GAL might submit a rules of the road” order to the court. A rules of the road order outlines how the parents must behave in their child’s presence. For example, the order might prohibit the parents from making disparaging remarks about each other. The point is to limit the emotional toll that the proceedings already have on the child.

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 Posted on January 22, 2015 in Family Law

On Friday, January 16, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in four same-sex marriage cases. The court’s decision to hear these cases is historic – soon, all Americans will have the right to marry and divorce, or they will not.

Specifically, the court agreed to consider whether states have the constitutional power to ban same-sex marriage, and whether the Constitution compels states to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The first issue addresses equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment, while the second issue addresses full faith and credit (e.g., states must recognize marriages legally performed in other states).

Circuit Split on Same-Sex Marriage

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 Posted on January 20, 2015 in Child Custody

When an unmarried couple has a child, the father does not automatically have the same rights to his son or daughter as a married father has to his child. This is because unless a couple is married at the time of the child's birth or the mother was married at the time of conception, her husband or former husband is assumed to be the father. With this assumption comes the title of “legal father,” which comes with all the standard rights a father has to his child.

Unmarried fathers need to prove their paternity in order to have rights to their children. These rights are outlined in the Illinois Parentage Act of 1984 and include the following:

• The right to seek partial or full custody of the child;

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