Posted on April 01, 2015 in Family Law

Going to college after completing high school is more than just a popular choice for many young adults in the United States: it has become an expectation. As a parent, you naturally want to help your child in any way possible. But wanting to help your child is not the same as being legally required to help him or her. As your son or daughter reaches adulthood, you might be wondering whether you are required to pay for his or her college education as part of your child support obligation.

There is no clear legal answer to this. In Illinois, there is no law that specifically states that a parent must pay for college expenses as part of his or her child support agreement. However, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act includes language that gives a judge the right to order that an individual parent contribute to his or her child's college costs. This section of the law also gives judges the power to determine how much a parent must pay. This is known as non-minor support.

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 Posted on March 19, 2015 in Family Law

Generally, only a child’s parents or legal guardians have the authority to make decisions regarding the child’s care and well-being. To a certain extent, that authority even extends beyond the grave. Illinois law permits parents and guardians to appoint standby guardians, which allows them to decide who will care for their children if the worst happens. A standby guardian is someone who would immediately take on the care of minor children upon the passing of the parents or guardians.

You may appoint a standby guardian in your will, but the law does not require the designation to be made this way. There are other legal forms that you can use instead. However, the content requirements are the same, no matter the type of document used:

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 Posted on March 17, 2015 in Divorce

Debt is often unavoidable for modern families, whether the debt accrues from credit cards, loans, college tuition or other necessary expenses. However, it is important to remember that marital debt is separate and distinct from personal debt. Illinois law recognizes that married persons can retain property acquired before the marriage as nonmarital property. Furthermore, the law allows married persons to acquire property during the marriage that belongs solely to them (property acquired by descent is one example). That distinction can be confusing for couples and for their creditors. Here are the relevant rules set forth in the Rights of Married Persons Act:

1.       Family expenses (including private school tuition and other education-related expenses) may be considered the property of both spouses, or of either them, in regards to creditors. The couple may face a lawsuit separately or jointly.

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 Posted on March 10, 2015 in Divorce

In 2012, an Illinois appellate court considered a dissipation case called In re Marriage of Berberet. Dissipation occurs when one or both spouses waste marital assets to prevent the other spouse from receiving those assets during a divorce. Under Illinois law, dissipation refers to a person’s use of marital property for his or her sole benefit for a purpose unrelated to the marriage at a time when the marriage is undergoing an irreconcilable breakdown.

Berberet involved several issues related to dissipation. For example, the wife claimed dissipation when the husband took a trip with their children during the divorce proceedings, in addition to a solo hunting trip and a trip to Las Vegas. The court found that these trips did not constitute dissipation because they were not unusual or inconsistent with the lifestyle established during the marriage. In fact, the husband had taken similar trips in the past, and the wife had also taken similar trips with the children.

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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 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 February 28, 2014 in Divorce

There was a time when divorce, same sex marriage and same sex divorce, civil unions and their dissolution, asset distribution, and a host of other family law related issues were non-existent or, at the very least, were very rarely discussed. That is not the case anymore, and the question remains: what has led to this progressive level of thinking? There is not a single encompassing answer, but the changes are occurring rapidly.

Divorce

Divorce was a rare occurrence at one time, and it seems likely that education, technology, and shifting beliefs have all attributed to the increase in divorce rates across all age ranges. Many married couples are still finding a way to make it work, but others choose to opt out.

When the marriage fails to work, there are numerous questions which must be addressed. When those questions arise, a good starting place for those in Illinois is 750 ILCS 5, but in order to interpret all of the nuances which accompany the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, you need an experienced family law attorney.

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 Posted on January 19, 2014 in Divorce

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 Posted on January 14, 2014 in Divorce

One of the most important issues facing spouses in a divorce involves their living arrangements. Homeowners, unsurprisingly, must consider their legal rights upon the division of marital property such as the house and furniture. However, renters must also consider their legal rights under their current lease for their rented home.

The Lease Is Marital Property

The home that spouses or families share is typically called the marital home or residence. Types of marital homes can include, but are not limited to, single-family houses, attached homes, apartments, mobile homes, boats, and trailers. When the marital home is a rental property, spouses’ rights in that property are called a leasehold. The leasehold, rather than the rented property, is what courts consider marital property to be divided upon divorce. Accordingly, divorcing spouses may have to address lease rights in their divorce settlement documents that discuss the current lease and or future rental leases.

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