When we think of divorce, many of us initially only consider the personal and romantic relationship which is coming to an end. However, divorce is not only the end of a romantic partnership, but also a financial relationship. Finances are usually merged when two people get married and move in together. Divorcing couples who cannot agree on how to split their accumulated assets will have that decision made for them by the court system.

Hiding Assets or Lying About Finances Will Only Drag Out Your Divorce

In order to make decisions about things like child support, spousal maintenance and property division, courts use each divorcing party’s self-reported financial information. For example, when a judge needs to decide how much spousal maintenance a person must pay to their ex, he or she will consider things such as each person’s income and future employability. Sometimes, in order to game the system, a spouse will lie about how much money they make or what their debts are. Doing this can significantly delay and complicate the divorce process. In order for a divorce to go smoothly, both spouses must be willing to be honest regarding their finances.

Divorces can be complicated, and when you believe your spouse is hiding high-value assets to prevent the court from seeing the whole picture in terms of your family's finances, the proceedings can get that much more complex. Hidden assets can directly affect the outcome of your divorce and must be addressed immediately.

If you have reason to suspect your spouse of hiding assets from the court, it is a good idea to consult with an experienced family law attorney right away. Your Wheaton family law attorney will have experience locating hidden assets, persuading spouses to be more forthright with the court, and holding difficult or dishonest spouses accountable for hiding information necessary to gauge how the marital assets should be divided.

What Is a Hidden Asset under Illinois Law?

Financial debt is a major cause for concern around the United States, at the individual and family levels, as well as on collective scale. Families fractured by divorce or other type of similar stresses may be particular susceptible to growing debt, as financial obligations may be harder to meet on a single income, combined with a countless other contributing factors. However, a recently-published study suggests that parents with certain types of debt may place their children at increased risk for behavioral problems in the future.

Quality of Life Connections

The study was conducted by researchers at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and looked at data from more than 9,000 children and their mothers over a period of nearly 40 years. The research also categorized debt into four distinct types: home, education, automobile, and unsecured debt, which included credit cards, certain loans, and medical debt. Looking for possible connections, the team also examined the socio-emotional health and behavioral concerns of the participating children.

In some cases, the division of the couple’s financial assets in a divorce can extend to accounts that a person may consider to be a personal benefit, such as a retirement account. Under Illinois law, a divorcing spouse may be entitled to part of their spouse’s retirement account in some cases. Just as there are rules and guidelines as to the division of marital property, there are rules and guidelines when it comes to the division of retirement accounts.

The Illinois law on the dissolution of marriages holds that pension benefits and other retirement plans that were acquired after a marriage and before a legal dissolution or declaration of invalidity of the marriage are marital property. As such, retirement benefits are divided under the same rules as other marital property between the parties, regardless of which party worked and had the retirement payments deducted from their pay. The determination of the value of a retirement account or pension benefits is done according to the Illinois Pension Code, which recognizes this qualification of pension benefits as marital property.

Unlike most other marital property that may have distinct marital property characteristics, as it was acquired after the marriage began, there are special considerations as to retirement accounts because the total retirement account may be made up of funds that were contributed before the marriage began. This does not restrict a retirement account or pension benefits from being considered marital property. However, typically the only retirement funds that would be considered divisible as marital property are those that were contributed after the marriage.

For individuals needing legal assistance but who are low on funds and assets, a contingency-fee arrangement can seem like the ideal way to secure quality legal representation. In a contingency-fee arrangement, the client agrees to pay the attorney a portion or percentage of the value of the recovery the attorney is able to secure for the client. In most contingency-fee arrangements, the client is not obligated to pay any attorney’s fees to the attorney if he or she is unable to recover any award or compensation for the client (although there may be certain administrative fees or other case-related costs the client is still responsible for paying.)

Obtaining quality legal representation during a divorce may seem too costly for some individuals. Can Illinois attorneys accept divorce or family law cases on a contingency-fee basis?

No Contingency-Fee Agreements for Family Law or Divorce Cases