Posted on August 24, 2020 in Division of Assets

A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) is necessary when dividing retirement savings. Without it, the payee can be subject to tax penalties, and there is no guarantee that an employer or retirement plan provider will adhere to your divorce decree alone. Because QDROs are necessary so often, most retirement plan providers have standard forms to help you and your attorney create a draft. If you suspect that the division of retirement assets will be complicated, you can still draft your own QDRO. Either way, it is worth understanding some common mistakes people make when creating QDROs and how you can avoid them. Regardless of your situation, you should work with a reputable divorce attorney you trust to ensure that your financial interests are protected.

Typical QDRO Errors

Even though many retirement plan providers have boilerplate forms for you and your attorney to use as a reference when drafting your QDRO, there are still several common mistakes that you should avoid:

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 Posted on August 13, 2020 in Divorce

Over the past four decades, divorce rates around the world have more than doubled. If you are going through a divorce, this can be a comforting statistic: millions of people are experiencing the same struggles as you. The rise in divorce rates, despite the negative emotions it typically entails, has some positive outlooks as well. Higher divorce rates mean more people are escaping abusive relationships, more people believe they can find love again, and more people are pursuing the life that they want to live.

Cheng-Tong Lir Wang and Evan Schofer, two University of California at Irvine sociologists, compiled nearly four decades of divorce data from all around the world. Their goal was not merely to examine changes in divorce rates over time, but to try to understand what societal factors might cause divorce rate growth. Between 1970 and 2008, they discovered that the global divorce rate rose from 2.6 divorces for every 1,000 married people to 5.5 - the rate more than doubled. After analyzing the data, they found a few commonalities.

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 Posted on August 03, 2020 in Divorce

The division of assets is a central component of divorce. Before you can make a settlement with your spouse, both of you and your attorneys will have to go through the discovery process. Discovery is a pre-trial stage of a divorce where both parties investigate and request evidence from the other party, including financial records. A married couple’s finances can get complicated, and couples are frequently unaware of the scope of their partner’s assets. To reach a fair conclusion, no financial information should be withheld from either party. Attorneys rely on several strategies to unveil the information they need to make adequate demands for their clients. We will detail some of the most commonly requested discovery tactics below. As you are preparing for a divorce, ensure that you have the help of an experienced and dedicated divorce attorney who will leave no stone unturned during the discovery process.

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 Posted on July 30, 2020 in Family Law

Illinois has extensive child representation laws to help protect children’s best interests when their parents are divorcing. A court may appoint one of several types of child advocates to investigate before making decisions in proceedings involving child support, custody, visitation, and allocation of parental responsibilities. To represent a child, a court can appoint an attorney, a child representative, or a Guardian Ad Litem.

A Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) is a professional with specialized training to advocate on behalf of children in legal cases. He or she submits a written report that can play a significant role in divorce proceedings and he or she can be called as a witness, so it is common for parents to get nervous when a GAL interviews them. Speak with a divorce attorney who has a rich understanding of a Guardian Ad Litem’s training and responsibilities for help understanding how they fit into your case. In the meantime, here are some tips to increase your chances of making a positive impression on a GAL.

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 Posted on July 22, 2020 in Family Law

Married couples can create a postnuptial agreement to predetermine what would happen if they eventually divorced or in the event of one spouse’s death. Postnuptial agreements are not, however, required to discuss every aspect of separation. Although the process of creating a postnuptial arrangement is fairly uniform, you and your spouse have the flexibility to focus your legal agreement on particular areas of your life. If you and your spouse are interested in drafting one, you can cater the legal document to pertain to your interests, assets, and finances with the help of an experienced attorney.

Topics Couples Tend to Focus on in Postnuptial Agreements

One of the most popular reasons married couples complete a postnuptial agreement is to determine how they will divide assets and liabilities. These agreements also tend to state whether or not one spouse will provide alimony or spousal support. Spouses can waive their rights to spousal support, if they wish, to gain specific marital property. Postnuptial agreements can cover how marital property will be divided and what will happen to any property that either spouse possessed before the marriage. For those who brought a family business into their marriage, the postnup can outline what would happen with the business in case of a divorce.

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 Posted on July 13, 2020 in Divorce

A divorce decree is legally binding and neither spouse is allowed to violate its terms. If your spouse does not abide by the agreement settled on during mediation or by a judge’s ruling, it is vital to work with a divorce attorney to clarify and resolve this conflict. Since there are many aspects to a divorce, there are different ways a spouse can violate a court order and each violation can carry different consequences. There is no one-size-fits-all punishment for violating the terms of a divorce.

Enforcing an Illinois Divorce - Contempt Proceedings

In general, when someone violates a court order, he or she is held in contempt of court. A spouse’s willful neglect to make child or spousal support payments, failure to comply with a parenting time order, and the refusal by one spouse to give specific assets to the other as stated in the divorce decree are all examples of violations. If your ex-spouse violates the terms of your divorce, you can file for contempt proceedings.

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 Posted on June 30, 2020 in Division of Assets

If you are an animal lover, you may have serious concerns about what will happen to your pet after your divorce. For some divorcing couples, deciding who gets to keep the family pet is easy. If one spouse was the main caretaker of the pet or he or she had the pet prior to the relationship, it makes sense that he or she would retain ownership of the pet(s). However, when both spouses want to keep the pet or one spouse insists on keeping the pet simply to hurt the other spouse, the situation becomes much more complicated.

Options When Divorcing Spouses Disagree About Pets

Pets are considered property according to the law and are therefore subject to equitable distribution. If a spouse obtained a pet before getting married, it may be considered a non-marital asset and assigned to the spouse who originally owned the pet. However, if the pet is considered a marital asset, each spouse may have an equal claim to the animal. Your dog, cat, horse, or other pet is probably like a member of the family to you. Because of this, discussions about who should keep the pet can become quite heated. Collaborative law and mediation are two methods of alternative dispute resolution during which spouses work to negotiate issues such as property division. If you are struggling to reach an agreement about pets and other issues, you may want to consider pursuing one of these dispute resolution options.

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 Posted on June 25, 2020 in Child Custody

Unmarried and divorced parents have a legal right to parenting time with their children. However, if the court finds that a parent’s involvement in a child’s life puts the child in danger or has a negative effect on his or her wellbeing, the parent can lose this right. One issue that can sometimes lead to the loss of parenting time is parental alienation. Parental alienation occurs when a parent or other family member attempts to destroy the relationship between a parent and a child.

Turning a Child Against His or Her Parent

Sharing a child with someone you used to be in a relationship with can be a very challenging situation. Parents may hold grudges against each other and harbor resentment because of disagreements that happened while they were in a romantic relationship. Some parents may also feel bitterness toward their child’s other parent because they do not want to be away from their child during the other parent’s parenting time. Whatever the reason, the tension between parents can have a major impact on children’s mental wellbeing. When a parent makes an intentional effort to break down the relationship between their child and the child’s other parent, this may be considered parental alienation. Actions such as refusing to share essential information about the child with the other parent, telling a child that the other parent does not love them, or using lies to convince a child that the other parent is evil may cause a child significant psychological harm.

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 Posted on June 22, 2020 in Divorce

If you have decided to divorce and started the process of researching your options, you may feel as if you are being bombarded with unfamiliar legal terms. Many people who divorce have never been involved in a legal dispute or even stepped foot inside of a courtroom before, so it can understandably be overwhelming. One aspect of divorce that people often have questions about is divorce “discovery.” The discovery process involves each party and his or her respective attorney obtaining information and evidence from the other party. This fact-checking portion of the divorce process is an essential part of ensuring that the divorce settlement or judgment you receive is based on accurate and complete information.

What is Involved in Divorce Discovery?

The duration and complexity of discovery will depend on the value and complexity of each party’s assets, the level of contention between the spouses, and how willing the spouses are to be honest and forthcoming about personal information. When a spouse attempts to hide assets, lie about income sources, or is otherwise unwilling to be transparent about finances, the discovery process becomes even more crucial. Discovery can involve a number of different methods for exchanging information, including:

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 Posted on June 04, 2020 in Divorce

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, nearly 20 million Americans suffered from a substance abuse disorder in 2017. If your spouse has a drug or alcohol addition, you know just how quickly a substance abuse problem can take over a person’s life. An expensive drug or alcohol problem can also cause people to make impulsive and destructive financial decisions. When divorcing a person with a substance abuse problem, it is crucial that you take steps to shelter your assets from misuse. There are several different protections that you can put in place that will help prevent your property from being used to further your spouse’s addiction.

Financial Restraining Orders

When most people hear the term “restraining order,” they think about a protection order for victims of domestic violence. A financial restraining order, however, is a different type of court order that freezes marital assets from being misused during divorce. The order may prohibit both you and your spouse from selling marital property, closing bank accounts, limiting the other spouse’s access to an account, changing beneficiaries, and more. Typically, a temporary financial restraining order lasts only 10 days. However, you can request a longer protection period by attending a court hearing and explaining your reasons for seeking financial protection.

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