Posted on March 16,2022 in Divorce

High-net-worth couples who are going through a divorce in Illinois face many unique challenges. While some may casually joke about how hard it must be to divorce a wealthy partner, the truth is that valuable assets and investments can significantly complicate a divorce in ways that may surprise even the most financially savvy partners. Even the smallest mistakes can end up having costly consequences, both during the divorce and long into the future. If you are considering a high net worth divorce in Illinois, make sure you have the help of a divorce attorney with experience in complex assets and make sure you avoid these three common mistakes. 

Hiding or Manipulating Assets

Wealthy couples have often obtained their net worth through years of hard work, ingenuity, risk-taking, and personal sacrifice. The prospect of giving up or dividing valuable assets in a divorce can be understandably upsetting. However, trying to hide assets or dissemble about their value is a strategy that can seriously backfire. Whether you try to hide money in offshore accounts, gift it to a friend with the expectation that it will be returned, or deliberately fail to disclose ownership, if you are caught, you can be held in contempt of court and end up undermining your own agenda. 

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 Posted on March 11,2022 in Divorce

Getting divorced in Illinois presents unique challenges for every couple, but a couple who shares a child with disabilities will need to be prepared to handle common divorce scenarios with a little extra flexibility. Because the needs of a child with a disability are often more complex and demanding, parents will need to adjust their parenting plans accordingly. If you have a special needs child in Illinois and are preparing to get divorced, here are three areas you will need to negotiate. 

Parental Responsibilities

Rather than use the term “custody,” Illinois now uses “parental responsibilities” to describe the rights of each parent to make decisions on behalf of a child. Children with special needs often require intensive, regular intervention from parents about essential issues like medical care, school choices, aftercare programs, and more. Parents often make these decisions together during marriage and shared parental responsibilities are common for special needs children following divorce.

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 Posted on February 28,2022 in Divorce

While divorce rates in the United States are notoriously high, at up to an estimated 40 percent, the reasons behind the divorce rates are more complex than initial statistics suggest. Social scientists have long studied the complex human relationships that form love and marital bonds, and while certain factors can contribute to divorce rates (like early marriage or cohabitation before marriage), people who have gotten divorced have directly shared their reasoning as well. Here are six of the most common reasons that people in Illinois get divorced. 

Lack of Commitment

While couples will often give different reasons for why they got divorced, lack of commitment is frequently cited by both spouses as the reason the marriage ultimately fell apart. Lack of commitment can manifest in other ways, such as cheating and not being willing to work on the relationship, but many people feel as though the true issue underlying these other problems is a lack of commitment to the marriage itself. 

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 Posted on February 20,2022 in Divorce

In addition to the many challenges divorce brings, such as negotiating property division, determining who will move out of the family home, and making parenting arrangements, spouses must figure out how to pay for divorce. This can present particular challenges for spouses who are unemployed or homemakers, but financing divorce can be difficult for everyone. 

However, lacking a clear path towards paying for divorce should not compel anyone to stay in a relationship that has irretrievably broken down. With careful planning, financial conservation, and the help of an experienced Naperville divorce attorney, you can make your divorce work for you. Here are a few things you can do to bring down the cost of divorce in Illinois. 

Consider Doing Some of Your Divorce Yourself

Certain parts of divorce, such as filling out paperwork and delivering it to the appropriate county courthouse, may be easier with the help of an attorney but spouses who are under financial constraints can do it themselves. Limited scope representation is a form of legal representation that allows an attorney to provide assistance to a spouse in the areas where they need it most - without breaking the bank. If you can assess the overall divorce process and determine where you really need help and where you do not, you may be able to reduce your legal fees. 

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 Posted on February 10,2022 in Child Custody

Many parents worry that, after divorce, their ex will try to poison their child against them. Efforts to do this are known as parental alienation and while parental alienation can sometimes be obvious, more often the signs are subtle and difficult to pin down. The effects of parental alienation on a developing child’s psychological well-being can be damaging and Illinois courts take this behavior from parents seriously. If you are worried your child’s other parent is trying to turn your child against you, read on. 

Parental Alienation is Real

Whether you call it parental alienation, psychological manipulation, or child abuse, behaviors that unjustly cause a child to feel hostility towards a parent are wrong. Children need both of their parents and even when parents feel hostility and anger towards each other, they should do whatever they can to keep kids out of the conflict. Unfortunately, many parents use their children in proxy battles with each other to get revenge for hurt and disappointment during their marriage. 

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 Posted on February 03,2022 in Domestic Violence

Getting divorced is a traumatic and difficult process for many people, but if you have a possessive or controlling spouse, the process can be even harder. A spouse’s worst behavior is often brought out during divorce; in fact, research shows that victims of domestic violence are at the greatest risk of being seriously hurt or killed when they try to leave their abuser. If you are considering divorce in Illinois and are worried your spouse may try to stalk you, intimidate you, or otherwise control you, here are four things you can do that may help. 

Change Your Passwords 

Many couples share passwords to their accounts. Without you even realizing it, your spouse may be legally accessing your private information. Emails, bank statements, browser history, social media accounts, and text messages could all be easily available unless you change passwords. 

Open Personal Financial Accounts

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 Posted on January 27,2022 in Divorce

When a couple in Illinois has been married for a short time and wants to legally end their relationship, they may be able to pursue something known as a “joint simplified dissolution.” Joint simplified dissolutions are different from a declaration of invalidity of a marriage, which makes a marriage as if it never happened. Instead, a joint simplified dissolution is a divorce that allows couples with no children and no significant assets to end their relationship in an expedited process. If you want to learn more about whether you may qualify for a joint simplified divorce in Illinois, read on.

Joint Simplified Dissolution Definition and Requirements

A joint simplified dissolution is essentially a fast-track divorce process for simple divorces in Illinois. A joint simplified divorce takes fewer forms, usually costs far less money, and moves much faster than a traditional divorce. Most joint simplified divorces can be completed after only one court appearance.

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 Posted on January 24,2022 in Divorce

Most residents of Illinois know what divorce is, but fewer people understand the concept of a legal separation. While many people think of legal separation as simply a temporary period during which a couple can do a kind of trial run for divorce, legal separation is actually much more complicated. If you want to learn more about legal separation in Illinois and whether it may be right for you, read on.

What Does it Mean to Be Legally Separated?

Legal separation is when spouses choose to separate their lives, physically, financially, and, usually, emotionally. But rather than a temporary breakup, a legal separation is approved by an Illinois court and deals with many of the same issues as divorce. Parents of children under 18 who seek a legal separation must create a parenting agreement and deal with child support. Couples must also divide marital assets and debt, and one spouse may need to pay spousal maintenance or alimony.

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 Posted on January 18,2022 in Divorce

Like most behaviors, gambling is usually done in moderation. Most Hoosiers who enjoy Illinois casinos only do so from time to time and do not allow this pastime to interfere with their marital finances. Unfortunately, for some people gambling is a compulsive behavior that can drain a couple’s finances and put them at risk of losing their retirement and home, and even bankruptcy.

Spouses with a gambling addiction will often try to hide their problem and resort to taking out loans without their spouse’s permission. Credit card debt, home equity loans, and more can be used to secure funds for gambling. If you are divorcing a spouse who has a gambling problem and he or she has racked up substantial debt in the process, you are probably wondering what will happen during the marital debt division process.

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 Posted on January 10,2022 in Division of Assets

Conflict is a natural part of divorce for more couples. Even with the best intentions, it can be very difficult to reach a compromise on important issues like asset and debt division because the consequences can be serious and long-lasting. Illinois requires marital assets to be divided fairly, rather than equally, and “fair” can feel different to each spouse.

Sometimes, frustration at the marital asset division process will lead one spouse to try to hide assets in an effort to put themselves in a better position after the divorce. This is a serious mistake that usually backfires, leaving the spouse who hid assets in a much worse situation than they would have been if they had just followed the law from the beginning. Here are three serious consequences for hiding assets in an Illinois divorce.

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