Posted on February 18, 2020 in Cohabitation

“Palimony” is a term sometimes used after a couple has ended a long-term relationship in which they lived together without marriage. There are different definitions for palimony because it is not an official legal term but a play on words using “pal” and “alimony.” The basic definition is that it is the equivalent of spousal maintenance for cohabiting couples. Some expand that definition to include each party’s right to shared properties from the relationship. Illinois residents need to know that the state does not recognize palimony as a right between unmarried couples but that they can establish property claims by creating a cohabitation agreement.

Palimony Rulings

A 1979 Illinois Supreme Court ruling on the case of Hewitt v. Hewitt is often cited as a landmark decision that set the precedent on issues such as palimony. Since the early 1900s, Illinois has outlawed common law marriage, a practice that recognizes long-term domestic partners as effectively married. In the 1979 case, the Supreme Court found that cohabitation does not grant people the same rights to property and financial support as they would receive if they had been married. The Supreme Court was asked to reconsider this ruling in 2016 with the case of Blumenthal v. Brewer but upheld its original decision. Because of these rulings, cohabitants living in Illinois have no legal claim to palimony because it would give them the same benefits as spousal maintenance.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on February 05, 2020 in High Asset Divorce

If you are a business owner who is getting divorced, you will need to conduct a professional valuation of your business. A business is a marital property if you started or purchased it during your marriage. Even if you have owned the business since before you were married, it may have become marital property because you invested personal assets into it. Business valuations are complicated because there are multiple approaches to valuation and several aspects of a business that you must consider when calculating its value. There are three general approaches to business valuation, each with their own strengths:

1. Income-Based Approach: The most popular method of business valuation, this approach values a business based on the earnings that it is able to generate. The business appraiser looks at the business’s past earnings and projects the future earnings, based on trends and accounting for risks.

   Continue Reading ››

 Posted on January 31, 2020 in Divorce

When a couple decides they are getting a divorce, it is not uncommon for one spouse to willingly move out of the home. While this makes the most sense for many couples, it can also raise concerns for some. How can you make sure your spouse is still contributing to household expenses? How do you make sure your children still see their other parent? When this happens, you have two options: come to an agreement about how expenses and child custody will be handled for the time being or go to court to ask for a temporary order to protect yourself and your family.

If you are able to, coming to an agreement with your spouse about how these things will be handled during the divorce process is usually favorable. In some situations, however, this is not feasible. In these cases, your best bet may be to get temporary court orders that you and your spouse must abide by. Temporary orders can help you address some of your immediate concerns while your divorce is going on, and they will last until your divorce is finalized. Here are a few issues you can petition the court to decide using temporary orders:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on December 31, 2019 in Divorce

While it is true that some couples do not end their marriages on the best of terms, many divorces are amicable, with both partners knowing that divorce is the best option for everyone. Getting a divorce means you will have to make some difficult decisions about your life and your children’s lives. Even though you may not agree on everything, your divorce does not have to be a strenuous process. An uncontested divorce can be preferable and beneficial for everyone involved -- that is, if you are able to cooperate and negotiate with your spouse.

Understanding an Uncontested Divorce

In the most basic of definitions, an uncontested divorce is simply one that is able to be negotiated and settled without the intervention of a court or a judge. There are certain things that all divorcing couples will have to decide before they can complete their divorce. These issues can include:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on November 09, 2019 in Child Custody

A child’s safety with a parent is one of the factors that a family court will consider when allocating parental responsibilities during a divorce or separation. Illegal drug use in the home is a red flag that a parent may be irresponsible and creating a dangerous environment for a child. However, some of the assumptions on drug use will change starting in 2020, when Illinois officially legalizes the recreational use of marijuana.

No Discrimination Against Legal Users

The "Illinois Cannabis and Tax Act" includes a section that is titled “Discrimination prohibited.” The section states that the lawful use of marijuana under this act cannot be the “sole or primary basis or supporting basis” for limiting someone’s rights as a parent or their right to become a guardian of a child. This means a court cannot reduce your parenting time or decision making responsibilities based on your co-parent complaining that you use recreational marijuana, as long as you use it in a legal and responsible manner.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 22, 2019 in Child Support

It is difficult to pay for a college education without some form of financial aid. Grants, scholarships, and loans can help cover the tens of thousands of dollars that it may cost to attend a four-year institution. Many students and their parents will use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to see which sources of financial aid are available to them. When filling out the FAFSA form, parents must submit their recent financial records to determine which financial aid resources they qualify for. The application process is more complicated for parents who have divorced.

Who Fills Out the FAFSA Application?

Only one divorced parent will file the FAFSA application because only one of the parents will report their income. The Higher Education Act of 1965 includes a section explaining which parent must report their income if the parents are divorced or separated:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on August 13, 2019 in Child Support

Both legal parents have a financial obligation to support a child from the time it is born, even if one of the parents is not an active part of the child’s life. Child support is a common aspect of divorce but can be more difficult to establish when the parents were never married. A father can submit a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity, or the mother may file a petition to establish paternity. In disputed paternity cases, the court can order the father to pay retroactive child support if it legally establishes his paternity. The retroactive payments could go back to the date of the initial court filing or the date of the child’s birth.

Reason for Retroactive Payments

Retroactive child support commonly starts on the date that the parent filed a petition to establish paternity or to establish child support. In most cases, the mother is the one who is attempting to force the father to take financial responsibility for their child, though a father could file a petition to establish child support from an absent mother. Illinois allows retroactive child support orders to prevent a parent from avoiding their financial obligation by prolonging the court case. A paternity case can take months to settle and can be extended with other legal actions, such as appeals.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 12, 2019 in Divorce

Most divorces are settled between spouses without the need for a lengthy trial. Divorcees start with out-of-court negotiations because it is more beneficial to reach an agreement between each other than to force a judge to decide for them. Even if you are not completely satisfied with your divorce agreement, it may not be worth going to trial because:

• Litigation will cost you more time and money;
• The money you spend on litigation could be greater than what you would have lost by accepting your spouse’s proposal; and
• You could spend all of that time and money only for the judge to side with your spouse or reach a decision that is worse than your spouse’s offer.

Despite the risks, there are situations when going to trial is unavoidable or worth the expense.

Negotiations Breakdown

You will fail to reach an out-of-court divorce settlement if you cannot have reasonable negotiations. You should enter divorce negotiations with a list of goals and a willingness to compromise if it will help you reach an agreement. It is unlikely that either of you will get everything you want from the agreement, and a divorce court may not accept an agreement that unfairly favors you. However, negotiations will fail if:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 01, 2019 in Divorce

Losing your job while in the middle of divorce will cause great upheaval in the process. Your regular income helps determine many parts of your divorce agreement, such as the division of property, child support, and spousal maintenance. It can be difficult to establish your income when you are still looking for a new job. Sudden unemployment should not halt your divorce process, but you will need to consider how losing your job changes what you need from your divorce.

Impact of Unemployment

While losing your job threatens your financial security, it can give you leverage to ask for more in your divorce agreement:

• Because Illinois equitably divides marital properties during divorce, you can receive more than half of the marital properties to make up for lost income;
• A lower income can lower your share of the child support obligation – at least until you get a new job; and

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on May 26, 2019 in Child Support

Becoming permanently disabled does not eliminate your child support obligation after a divorce, but it can change what you pay. People who live off of disability benefits typically have less income than before, which allows them to modify their child support payments. If you are receiving Social Security Disability Insurance, your children may be eligible to receive SSDI dependent benefits as well. In shared parenting situations, these payments would go directly towards child support.

What Are SSDI Dependent Benefits?

The purpose of SSDI dependent benefits is to help a disabled parent support his or her children who rely on the parent’s income. A child can qualify for SSDI dependent benefits if he or she is:

• Younger than 18 and unmarried;
• Younger than 19 and enrolled full-time in a secondary school; or

Continue Reading ››