Posted on May 09, 2017 in Child Custody

The legal definition of domestic abuse is not limited to physical attacks. A spouse or parent can verbally abuse others through harassing and demeaning behavior. Examples of emotional abuse include:

• Insults;
• Foul Language;
• Threats;
• Intimidation; and
• Words meant to humiliate or isolate someone.

During a divorce, one parent may argue that the other parent is abusive and should have limited time with their children. Even without a criminal conviction, the court can consider a parent’s abusive nature in determining the allocation of parental responsibilities. However, emotional abuse is more abstract than physical abuse because there are no visible injuries. You must plan how you will present your evidence in order to prove that your spouse is emotionally abusive.

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 Posted on January 27, 2017 in Children and Divorce

Any divorce proceeding can lead to serious emotional and psychological reactions by either spouse. When children are involved, however, the implications of divorce can be even more serious. Many children of divorce often struggle with their new reality and may display behavioral issues, uncontrolled anger, or symptoms of depression or anxiety. Divorced parents may be left wondering if there is anything the court can do in regard to ordering therapy or counseling and splitting the costs of such services. According to the law in Illinois, a family court can order counseling for children of divorce depending on the family’s circumstances.

Custody Evaluations

When a divorcing couple is struggling to reach an agreement regarding parenting arrangements for their child, such decisions are often left to the court. In doing so, the court has the authority to appoint an appropriate professional to conduct an evaluation of the child and each parent. These evaluations may include interviews, tests, and any other accepted methods of determining the child’s needs and his or her best interests. In addition to the court’s appointed professional, a professional retained by either parent may also conduct such an investigation at the court’s direction. The costs for such evaluations—if they are not conducted by an agency of the state—may be divided between the parties in a manner that is fair and equitable.

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 Posted on January 23, 2017 in Child Support

While very few people would dispute the appropriateness or the need for child support, there are differing opinions regarding how support payments should be determined. For many years, Illinois law based child support calculations primarily on the income of the supporting parent and the number of children needing support. Beginning next summer, however, the state’s approach will be changing to one that is seen by many as more equitable since it accounts for both parents’ income and the actual cost of raising a child.

Income Shares Child Support Model

Last summer, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed a measure several years in the making. The new law provides a totally updated model for determining a parent’s child support obligation. The method is known as “income shares” and is currently in use in more than three dozen other states. According to the income shares model, the combined income of both parents is used to determine a “basic support amount,” or the amount that the couple would spend on raising their child if they had remained in the same household. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services has been tasked with developing a table for determining this amount as a percentage of the parents’ combined income.

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 Posted on October 17, 2016 in Family Law

The Social Security Administration provides disability benefits for individuals who qualify to receive them. This coverage is known as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Parents who receive SSDI can also receive coverage for their children to help cover the costs of raising a child while being too disabled to earn a sufficient income. Like all other forms of income, one's SSDI benefits can be affected by his or her divorce. This can, in turn, affect your child's SSDI coverage. If you are an SSDI recipient with a minor child who receives SSDI coverage and you are considering filing for divorce, discuss this with your divorce lawyer.

How Divorce Affects SSDI Benefits for Minor Children

Any biological child, adopted child, or stepchild under the age of 18 or up to age 19 if he or she is a full-time student can receive coverage of up to 50 percent of his or her parent's SSDI benefits amount as long as the child is not married. This type of coverage is known as auxiliary benefits. In certain cases, the grandchild of an SSDI recipient can also receive auxiliary SSDI benefits.

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 Posted on August 24, 2016 in Child Support

The recent revisions to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act clarified the rules regarding parents' obligations to help their children with college expenses. Specifically, they give the court the right to order that divorced parents contribute to their children's college expenses if the child or one of the parents petition for such an order before the child's 23rd birthday. The amount of money a parent can be required to contribute is limited to the cost of attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the parent may not be required to continue to contribute past the student's 25th birthday.

Parents are also permitted to dispute orders for financial contributions to college costs. The language in the law states that parents may be required to contribute “except for good cause shown.” There are multiple reasons why a parent might feel he or she has good cause to not be required to contribute to his or her child's college bill, one of which is the sense that the money would not be put to good use.

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 Posted on August 16, 2016 in Divorce

Depending on your cultural background, arranged marriage as a concept might be wildly foreign, an outdated idea that perhaps held some prominence with your parents' or grandparents' generation but is not relevant to you, or a completely normal, even expected, part of life. Globally, 53.25 percent of marriages are arranged, according to a 2016 statistics. In 2012, the global divorce rate for arranged marriages was six percent, a much lower figure than the divorce percentage for couples in non-arranged marriages.

Does this mean your marriage is doomed because it was not arranged or conversely, that it is destined to last because it was arranged? Absolutely not. But what the statistics show is that despite certain stereotypes and assumptions, arranged marriages do exist and flourish throughout the world today.

Factors Present in Modern Arranged Marriages

Generally, parents who arrange marriages for their children do so with their children's best interest in mind. That means choosing partners whose beliefs, social status, and education levels match their own. The most common conflicts in marriages are conflicts borne of incompatibility in these areas, such as conflicts about how to spend money or the religion in which to raise their children. By choosing partners with similar worldviews and backgrounds, parents largely eliminate these conflicts.

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 Posted on July 19, 2016 in Divorce

A few of the most common reasons why couples divorce are conflicts about money, infidelity, and conflicting views about how to raise their children. These kinds of issues generally arise within the first decade or so of a marriage. But when a marriage can weather these difficulties and last 20, 30, or even more years, it can be difficult to imagine it ending in divorce. But statistics show that is is becoming increasingly common for older couples, those who have been married for short periods of time as well as those who have been married for decades, to seek divorces. This trend is known as “gray divorce.”

Since 1990, the divorce rate for individuals over 50 has doubled. Certain issues are unique to older couples that drive them toward divorce. These, coupled with the social attitudes and expectations of individuals in their 50s and 60s today versus the attitudes and expectations held by previous generations, are driving the trend of gray divorce in the United States.

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 Posted on June 08, 2016 in Child Custody

Polygraphs, also known as “lie detector tests,” are a fairly common trope in talk shows and crime dramas. In these fictional depictions, the subject is wired to the test and asked questions about his or her alleged crime, usually as the wires of the test move rapidly back and forth on the result paper. But are polygraph tests really used this way? No. Today, most polygraph tests are computerized. They are also not admissible in most courts of law. This includes Illinois. If your former partner asks you to take a polygraph test, do not feel like you have to – the results of the test have no value in the courtroom. You might be advised to undergo such a test if you are facing an accusation of child abuse or domestic violence. Do not take the test unless you have discussed it thoroughly with your attorney. You are under no legal obligation to take a polygraph test in any circumstance, nor are the results of one admissible in court. Talk to your family lawyer about the possibility of using a polygraph as part of your parenting time evaluation.

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 Posted on March 09, 2016 in Divorce

According to Time magazine, despite the recent rise of married women choosing to retain their maiden names after marriage, approximately 80 percent still choose to alter their names in some way, either by taking their husbands' names or by hyphenating their husbands' names with this own. These women often face the issue of changing their names again when they divorce. Although some opt to retain their husbands' names in order to have names that match their children, many divorced women look forward to the day that they can remove this connection to their former husband from their identity.

If you have recently been divorced or plan to divorce in the near future and you want to change your name, you will need to complete the legal name change process. Consider speaking to an attorney for help with this process.

Changing Your Name with the Social Security Administration

To change your name with the Department of Motor Vehicles and on other official documents, you first need to change your name with the Social Security Administration (SSA). This is done through a completed Application for Social Security Card (Form S-55). This must be done in person or by mail. To change your name you need the following:

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 Posted on February 29, 2016 in Divorce

If you find yourself heading to court to reach a decision in your divorce or family law issue, it is important that you dress appropriately for the occasion. It is not uncommon for individuals to show up to court in clothing that is far too casual or otherwise inappropriate for a courtroom setting, due to both the relaxing decorum rules of our society and the fact that many people have never previously been inside a courtroom.

Keep It Conservative

This is the most important rule to keep in mind when determining what you will wear to court. A tasteful, conservative outfit is always your best choice. Ways to style yourself conservatively include:

• Choosing neutral colors like navy blue and forest green. Wear a solid color or a demure pattern, like pinstripes, rather than a loud or distracting pattern or color;
• Leave everything to the imagination. Shirts on both sexes should be neatly buttoned to the top and clothing should not grip the body tightly, but rather fit appropriately. Skirts should reach the knee and shoes should not have open toes;

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