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Prepare and Protect Yourself During a Divorce

Naperville Divorce Attorney

Prepare and Protect Yourself During a DivorceEven when you know ahead of time that you plan to file for divorce, actually going through with the process can make you feel like your life is spiraling out of control. Try to take some comfort in knowing that this is normal – a divorce means the end of a marriage and all that comes with it, such as a shared home, shared finances, and the day-to-day routine that you built with your partner and your family. If you are a parent, a divorce can also mean a future where you will not see your children every day and, instead, you will have to cooperate with your former partner to raise them while alternating time with them.

You can cut down on the overwhelming aspect of the divorce process by adequately preparing for it. Although you cannot prepare for everything, sometimes, the divorce process may throw a curve ball your way. Therefore, you should begin the process with the documentation you need organized and accessible and in a mental state that is focused on your rights, your interests, and the best possible solution for your family.

How Does Collaborative Law Work?

Naperville Divorce Attorney

How Does Collaborative Law WorkCollaborative law works just as its title says it works: collaboratively. What this means is that instead of having the Court make your decisions for you, as is the case for couples who divorce through litigation, you and your partner can work together to determine the terms of your divorce settlement without Court intervention through collaborative law.

For many couples, collaborative law is a refreshing alternative to divorcing in a courtroom. It is less expensive, less stressful, and can be completed more quickly than a traditional divorce. Although it has these benefits, collaborative law is not perfect, nor is it the right choice for every couple. Couples with a significant power imbalance, a history of domestic violence, or an inability to work productively together are generally not suited to collaborative divorce. Even couples who are on fairly good terms with each other can find tempers flaring when certain issues come up during their collaborative talks, such as how they will structure their parenting agreement. Sometimes, the level of freedom that initially makes collaborative law appealing makes it too open-ended and couples find themselves instead seeking the structure that other forms of divorce provide.

The Collaborative Divorce Process

Although you and your spouse are in the drivers' seats for your collaborative divorce, you will not complete the process alone. You each retain your own lawyer, and during the process, you will likely meet other professionals, like a real estate appraiser or a child custody evaluator to advise you in the decision-making process.

What is Mediation?

Naperville Divorce Attorney

Naperville divorce AttorneyMediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that is popular among divorcing couples. Unlike divorcing through litigation, which means that the couple's divorce is determined in the courtroom by a judge, divorcing through mediation allows a couple to work through the items of their divorce settlement with the guidance of a mediator, a trained third party who can act as a neutral resource for the couple. Mediation is similar to collaborative divorce in that it grants divorcing couples a greater level of control over their divorces than they would have through litigation divorces. The mediator guides the couple's settlement discussions and helps them determine the right settlement terms for them based on applicable laws, their rights, and their individual needs. There are many ways you and your family can benefit from mediation, should it be the right fit for you.

How Does Mediation Work?

When a couple decides to divorce through mediation, each partner retains his or her own lawyer. The process begins with each partner providing the mediator with background information about the marriage, such as their income and assets and the issues at play in the divorce. This may be done in person or over the phone.

What Happens to the Family Home in a Divorce?

Naperville Divorce Attorney

Naperville divorce lawyerFor many Illinois couples, the family home is their most valuable asset. This often speaks not only to its monetary value, but the emotional value that a home holds. This is often the first large purchase that the couple made together, the home where their children took their first steps, and the home where their family memories were made. As such a valuable asset, many individuals fight about what will happen to their home in their divorce.

In Illinois, a divorcing couple's property is divided equitably, which means that it is divided according to each partner's personal and financial needs. A parent who has a greater share of parenting time with the couple's children might use this as an argument that he or she should retain the home, but making such a determination is not easy. To allow one partner to remain in the family home, the court must compensate the other partner somehow.

There are many options for handling a family home in a divorce. Each of these has unique benefits.

Understanding Illinois Child Custody Laws

Naperville Divorce Attorney

Naperville child custody lawyerIn Illinois, the term "child custody" is no longer used. In its place, we use the term "parental responsibilities" when discussing parents' decision-making responsibilities for their childern, and we use "parenting time" to refer to the share of a child's time that each parent spends in the custodial role. This change in terminology is meant to reduce the sense of winning versus losing a custody case among parents, fostering a more collaborative approach to co-parenting after a divorce. Despite the change in terminology and perspective, many of the old custody determination rules are still in place. The most important rule used when determining an appropriate parenting time agreement is to always put the child's best interests first. Sometimes, determining a parenting time and parenting responsibilities arrangement that meets a child's needs requires the aid of an impartial custody evaluator.

In Illinois, a parent may petition to the court to hire his or her own custody evaluator to handle this job. Previously, the decision to allow a parent to hire his or her own custody evaluator was made at the judge's discretion. This does not mean that judges no longer have the ability to appoint independent evaluators – they do. But they cannot prevent a parent from hiring his or her own custody evaluator.

Illinois Parenting Agreements

Naperville Divorce Attorney

DuPage County parenting agreement lawyerOn January 1st, 2016, several significant changes to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act went into effect. These changes revised a variety of topics included in the law, such as the terms we use to discuss parents' time with and responsibilities for their children, how property is divided in a divorce, and the removal of "fault" divorces as an option for Illinois couples.

Some of the most significant changes to the law are the changes to how parenting agreements are handled in Illinois. Previously, divorced parents were granted custody agreements. Parents could have joint custody of their child, meaning that they both had custody over him or her, or one parent could have sole custody while the other had visitation with the child. Custody was broken into two categories: legal, which referred to the right to make decisions on the child's behalf about issues such as education and healthcare; and physical, which referred to the household where the child lived. The court could award parents any combination of these, such as joint legal custody but sole physical custody, one parent having sole legal and physical custody, or parents jointly holding both types of custody.

How to Prepare for a Child Custody Evaluation

Naperville Divorce Lawyer

DuPage County child custody lawyer

For any divorcing couple who has children, determining the children's custody arrangement after the divorce is a key component of the process and, generally, for parents the most emotionally-charged one. The court uses a variety of factors to determine an appropriate custody arrangement for a divorcing couple's children and may involve an outside professional to determine the custody arrangement that is in the children's best interest. This outside professional may be a social worker, attorney (i.e., Guardian Ad Litem) or a child psychologist (i.e., evaluator).

The thought of bringing this outside individual into your home and discussing your personal failures and triumphs as a parent with him or her can be intimidating. You do not want to misrepresent yourself, but you also do not want to inadvertently say or do anything that could imply that you are a less fit parent than your spouse. Before undergoing a child custody evaluation, speak with your own child custody attorney about what you can expect and how to best handle the process.

Big Changes Ahead for Illinois Family Law in 2016

Naperville Divorce Lawyer

Naperville family law attorneysThe Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act is getting a major overhaul to bring it into the 21st century. No law is timeless – as our societal attitudes progress and evolve to match changing technology and new political and cultural landscapes, our laws need to adjust to remain relevant and appropriate. The family-related changes to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act deal with the reality that, today, parents often practice more collaborative parenting, rather than delegating tasks to one parent or the other. Other changes to the law include updated grounds for divorce, changed rules regarding property division, and new rules regarding parental relocation with a child. These changes are fairly extensive and may require a thorough read-through to understand completely. For help working through any unfamiliar language and concepts contained within, contact an experienced Naperville family attorney.

Changes to Terminology

One of the most significant changes included in the amendment to the Act is the updated language. Terms like "custody" and "visitation" will be replaced with the terms "parental responsibilities" and "parenting time" to reflect on how families tend to divide parental duties today.

Dividing Benefits in an Illinois Divorce

Naperville Family Law Attorney

Naperville IL divorce lawyerA key part of any divorce is the division of the couple's marital assets. This means that everything the couple purchased or developed after they were married must be divided between them equitably in divorce court. This includes retirement benefits, such as 401(k)s, IRAs, and SEPs. The only exception to the state's division rules is property that one party received as a gift or through inheritance. This property is retained in whole by the party that received it.

In Illinois, divorcing couples' property is divided according to the principle of equitable distribution. This means that rather than dividing the couple's assets 50/50, the court determines a fair way to divide the couple's net worth among them according to certain criteria including, but not limited to, the length of their marriage, the financial and personal sacrifices each partner made for the marriage's benefit, each partner's financial contribution to the marriage, and each partner's projected personal and financial needs following the divorce. If you are considering filing for divorce, contact an experienced divorce attorney to discuss property division as well as other issues that might be part of your divorce settlement, such as spousal maintenance and child support.

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