Recent Blog Posts
3 Tips for Being More Resilient After Your Illinois Divorce
Divorce is labeled as one of the most difficult life experiences one can go through. Some even compare the emotions of divorce to those that come from losing a loved one to death. A scientific journal entitled Psychological Science published a study about which personality trait best enables people to successfully survive a divorce. According to the study, the trait that makes people most resilient after a divorce is referred to as “self-compassion.” Whether or not this trait comes naturally to you, there are a few ways that you can practice self-compassion when it comes to your divorce.
Taking Time to Heal
Self-compassion is exactly what it sounds like: being good to yourself. However, this does not mean materialistically treating yourself. Instead, self-compassion has more to do with your philosophy and approach toward daily life, especially after the divorce. Here are ways to build this self-compassion and allow yourself to bounce back from your divorce:
If I Am Unemployed, Do I Have to Make Support Payments in Illinois?
With U.S. unemployment numbers reaching historic highs over the last several months, many Illinois residents are finding themselves incapable of paying their child support and spousal support. Unfortunately, despite these extenuating circumstances and even if you are unemployed, you are still required to make these payments. Here are the consequences of failure to pay and what you can do if you know you will be unable to pay your spousal maintenance or child support by their due date.
What Happens If You Do Not Pay Child Support or Spousal Support?
If you neglect to pay the child support or spousal maintenance payments ordered by the court in your divorce decree, any or all of the following could happen:
What Are Some Common Tactics For Hiding Assets During Divorce?
If you are not paying close attention to you and your spouse’s finances leading up to your divorce, during your divorce, and after your divorce, you might overlook hidden assets. It is important to keep an eye on your finances to be sure that you are receiving a fair and equitable divorce settlement. Never is this truer than during a complex divorce or a high-asset divorce. In other words, the more property and assets you have as a couple, the greater the likelihood that one or both of you might be hiding these assets. In order to be vigilant about potential hidden assets in your divorce, you need to be aware of some of the most common ways spouses can attempt to hide assets.
What You Need to Know About Prenuptial Agreements in Illinois
Prenuptial agreements are often associated with very wealthy individuals, and people who seek a prenup may be seen as believing that their marriage will not last. Because of this, a stigma was attached to these agreements, but this has changed over time, and prenuptial agreements are becoming more and more common.
When Is a Prenuptial Agreement Appropriate?
Nowadays, it is routine for marrying couples to discuss, agree to, and sign a prenuptial agreement before they exchange marriage vows and seal their marriage. A prenuptial agreement may be appropriate in a variety of situations, including:
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One spouse has significantly more assets than the other spouse. In this case, it behooves the spouse with significantly more assets to have a prenuptial agreement in place to protect against the incidental or deliberate inclusion of their assets as marital property in a potential divorce. Ordinarily, assets obtained before a couple’s marriage are considered non-marital property and therefore not subject to division or sharing after divorce.
How Are a Couple’s Assets Divided in an Illinois Divorce?
While some people who get married may be doubtful that the marriage will last, the expectation for nearly all couples who marry is that their marriage will last a lifetime.
However, the reality of marriage in America is that more than 22 percent of first marriages end in divorce within five years, and 53 percent of marriages dissolve by the 20-year mark, according to the latest available data from the government. No matter the length of a marriage, one common issue that often arises during divorce is how to handle the division of marital property.
What Constitutes Marital Property?
The first question to determine when addressing property division is what is considered marital property as defined under Illinois law. The law defines marital property as "all property acquired by either spouse subsequent to the marriage." Examples of common marital property include physical possessions such as homes, automobiles, and other assets of value. Marital property also includes monetary assets such as retirement accounts like 401(k)s or IRAs, pensions, stocks and bonds, and life insurance benefits.
Welcome to Our DuPage County Family Law Blog
Things change rapidly in the legal world. Every day, the Illinois state legislature and judges make hundreds of decisions that impact the way cases are prepared and presented for court. At the Musielak & Rosinski LLC, we know how important it is to stay current with legal issues. We follow the legal stories that will have an impact on the best strategies to use while protecting your rights in family law and divorce cases, business and corporate law, and estate planning and probate.
Keeping you informed about the legal process will help you make better decisions about your own family law, business or probate case. This Blog page is intended to serve as a forum for discussing case law and relevant court decisions. Periodically, this page will be updated with new information and topics for discussion, so please return often to see the most current post and comments.
Our firm has always emphasized personalized attention and responsiveness to client concerns. We are interested in your input, so please send us your comments. Thank you for visiting. To make an appointment with one of our experienced attorneys, please call 630-407-1225 or contact us online.
Increasing Numbers of Illinois Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
Last month Illinois observed Grandparents Day, and the Illinois Department of Aging took the opportunity to raise awareness of programs and resources available to grandparents serving as the main caregivers for their grandchildren.
Currently over 200,000 kids in Illinois reside in grandparent-headed households, and that number is on the rise. More and more grandparents are being considered the "primary caregivers" of their grandchildren. The state considers a primary caregiver to be the person the child lives with and whom is responsible for meeting the child's basic needs.
The Grandparents Raising Grandchildren is a state program that promotes awareness and provides resources and support services for older caregivers. The acting director of the Illinois Department on Aging explained the program's purpose, "It's an important decision to take on the role as primary caregivers for their grandchildren when the parents are unable to. These grandparents need to know there's somewhere to turn for help during this additional round of parenthood."
Divorce Rates Highest in the South, Illinois Divorce Rate Below National Average
In a first-of-its-kind report released by the Census Bureau titled Marital Events of Americans: 2009, an analysis was conducted around marriage, divorce and widowhood in the United States. The data revealed some rather unexpected trends around marriage rates, divorce rates and geography.
Nationally, 19.1 weddings occurred per every 1,000 men and 17.6 per every 1,000 women. The divorce rate was 9.2 per 1,000 men and 9.7 per 1,000 women. Perhaps surprisingly to some, the South, which also has one of the highest rates of marriage in the United States, leads the country in divorces. The divorce rate in the South was 10.2 for men and 11.1 for women.
In contrast, there were both fewer marriages and fewer divorces in the Northeast. Researchers suggest that this may be because of the tendency of people in that region to marry later in life, which may decrease the chance of future marital conflict.
The Illinois divorce rate was equivalent between men and women with an average of 8.0 divorces per 1,000. This was found to be a statistically significant downward deviation from the national average. With regard to marriages, Illinois was also below the national average with 17.9 marriages per 1,000 men and 16.3 marriages per 1,000 women.
Including Both Parents on School Forms
The return of fall signals back-to-school time for children across the country. A new school year brings a flurry of forms for parents of school-aged children to fill out, such as emergency contact information forms and permission slips for who has a right to pick a child up from school. When a child's parents are not married and share child custody, sometimes school forms cause problems down the road if one parent is not included.
It is usually beneficial to list both parents on most school forms, even if one parent does not have primary physical custody. In fact, most custody judgments require both parents to be listed on school forms. If a non-custodial parent is not listed as a person who can pick a child up from school, the non-custodial parent may not be allowed to get his or her child from school if an emergency arises or during times when he or she has parenting time with the child.
While it may merely be an oversight, the child involved is the one who really loses out, when both parents are not listed on the records as the child has less access to the other parent.
Child Support Taken From Casino Winnings? Not Yet in Illinois
In what some analysts call a rising trend, several states have recently passed laws requiring casinos to check for back child support owed by gamblers before giving them their winnings - minus any child support owed - at the casino cage. Illinois does not have such a law or program in place to recover past due child support payments, but some legislators say they are intent on passing such legislation next year.
Currently, five states divert gambling winnings from people who owe child support to the other parent of their children. According to the Chicago Tribune, the programs have collected almost $3 million in child support while avoiding placing significant burdens on casinos.
In Colorado, where a casino child-support confiscation law took effect in 2008, the system works like this: Casinos check the Social Security numbers of gamblers who win $1,200 or more at gambling machines or who beat odds of at least 300 to one and win more than $600 at table games, which are the points at which gamblers must report their winnings on federal tax forms.