Posted on July 03, 2012 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on June 30, 2012 in Family Law

After six years of what seemed to outsiders to be wedded bliss, Katie Holmes shocked the entertainment world by filing for divorce from her husband Tom Cruise on Friday. Whether a nasty legal battle will follow remains to be seen.

Holmes has filed for sole custody of the couple’s six year old daughter, Suri, leading to speculation that there are differences of opinion within the couple on how their daughter is to be raised. The natural assumption among entertainment news sources is that Tom Cruise’s controlling nature and deep involvement with the Church of Scientology have something to do with split.

Custody issues are the number-one cause of nasty legal battles in most divorce cases. Parents want to be with their children, and want to remain as involved with them as possible. Even the most amicable of splits can turn ugly when a custody battle is involved. In Tom and Katie’s case, things can turn even more sour because she has filed for sole rather than joint custody of their only child, which would give her complete power to make decisions on things such as where Suri lives, goes to school, and her religious upbringing.

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 Posted on June 27, 2012 in Family Law

Former Disney teen star Miley Cyrus is the latest celebrity to announce her engagement. The announcement is causing headlines because Cyrus is just 19, while her fiance is 22. And Cyrus isn't the only celebrity getting married young—many others have joined her in the trend. But are these young celebrities sending the wrong message to teens?

Teens are often stereotyped for doing anything that they see their role models doing, and many teens grew up watching Cyrus on television. Research shows that couples who marry before the age of twenty are three more times likely to divorce than those who marry at age twenty five or later.

In addition, many teens are not experienced in dealing with the issues that come with marriage. Many are uneducated about spending and saving money, which is the most common reason for divorce in the United States. Another significant contributor to divorce is disagreement on having chilren, or the number of children each spouse wishes to have. Many teens are still not ready to have open discussions on these topics.

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 Posted on June 21, 2012 in Family Law

In Illinois, as a filing for dissolution of marriage proceeds, your case will eventually get to the “discovery process.”  This is a legal term that refers to a time when your attorney and your spouse's attorney meet to discuss what information each party has about your case.

You have probably seen on tv a dramatic moment when one attorney gives a revelation during a trial that swings the divorce case on a drastically different course.  In real life, this rarely happens.  The court wants each side of a divorce proceeding to share information as soon and as thoroughly as possible to make the process of dissolution of a marriage as quick and as painless as possible.

Each spouses's attorney will carefully look over the marital estate, to determine how best to divide the assets during the settlement.  If both spouses agree to what the assets are, the discovery process will be in informal one.  But if one spouse objects to what the other presents, then the attorneys will have to follow a formal process that involves review of financial documents by accounting experts.

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 Posted on June 16, 2012 in Family Law

A prenuptial agreement is way prospective spouses to put their obligations in writing before a marriage ceremony occurs.  The stipulations in the agreement takes place as soon as the marriage ceremony is concluded.

In Illinois, a prenuptial agreement must be in writing, and must be signed by both parties.  And it is enforceable without consideration, meaning that it becomes legally enforceable without one or both of the spouses promising something of value to make it viable.

A prenuptial agreement can be revoked or amended, but it must be done with the consent of both spouses.  And Illinois law states that and revocation or amendment must also be in writing.

There are some cases in which an agreement or amendment cannot by law be enforced.  They include:

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 Posted on June 11, 2012 in Family Law

When determining which parent receives child custody, Illinois follows the tradition of determining what is in the best interest of the child. State law sets out several “relevant factors” that determine what living condition would be in the child's best interest:

1. The wishes of the child's parent or parents as to his custody. Contrary to what you may have seen on TV, the court takes the parent's rights and wishes very seriously. Unless some of the following factors have been involved, the parents' wishes are taken very seriously by the court.
2. The wishes of the child as to his or her custodian.
3. The interactions and interrelationships between the child and his/her parents, between the child and siblings and between the child and any other person who may affect the child's best interest.

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 Posted on June 05, 2012 in Family Law

When going through the process of divorce, you will probably hear the term alimony several times.  But did you know that there are several different types of alimony?  Here are some of the types of alimony the court may choose to award:

Alimony or maintenance:  First, do you know what the term “alimony” refers to?  Often we hear about outrageous sums celebrity spouses demand following the breakup of a marriage.  Alimony (known in some courts as maintenance) refers to payments from one spouse to the other spouse for the benefit of the spouse receiving the payment.

Temporary alimony is given while the spouses are separated, but before the divorce is final.  The alimony may or may not be continued once the divorce is final.

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 Posted on May 27, 2012 in Family Law

In the United States, credit card debt is a large portion of a divorcing couple's debt; depending on the type of account, each spouse may carry the debt long after the divorce is settled.

If you are listed as an authorized user on a a credit card, you are not held liable by the issuing bank for the debts charged on the card.  Only the card holder will be held responsible for the debts.

If, however, both spouses are listed on the card account as joint card holders, each will be held responsible for paying the debt on the card.  In that case, it is vital that each spouse speak with their divorce attorney to create a plan for each spouse to pay down the debt together before the divorce is finalized.  Another option would be to close the account and transfer the balance to a card held in only one spouse's name.

It's a good idea to decouple the debts for each spouse before or during divorce proceedings.  In order to do so, the card holder simply has to call the card company and ask that the authorized user be taken off of the card.  Decoupling will protect the other spouses's credit during and after the divorce proceedings.

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 Posted on May 23, 2012 in Family Law

Each state determines how property is distributed when a couple is divorced. The property is divided into marital property and non-marital property, and then split between the two parties.

In Illinois, property is distributed equitably, but not necessarily equally, between the individuals. Marital property includes anything that was acquired after the date of marriage and before the legal dissolution of the marriage or legal separation, with several exceptions. These include gifts and property that has been acquired through descent, or exchange for such property, or anything that both parties have agreed not to group as marital property.

When going through the divorce process, couples can determine the division of property outside of a courtroom. An experienced and caring Illinois divorce attorney can mediate a discussion between the two parties to split property. Without the help of an attorney, these discussions can get ugly.

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 Posted on May 16, 2012 in Family Law

Divorce is not at all an easy thing to be dealt with. It can be both mentally and financially exhaustive. It is very much complex and tiresome a process. This is supposed to be true for both of the spouses. So, before you take the decision to renounce the marriage vows, think twice. It is such complex a situation that even the debt reduction strategies may not be able to help you do away with the debt problems, arising out of a divorce deal.

Division of high value assets

As per the divorce laws in Illinois, there is no such rule that is going to lead to a 50/50 division of the assets. This is mainly because, the state of Illinois does not fall under the community property states and thus, the division of the property and the assets based on these is not followed too. Illinois rather believes in the equitable distribution of properties in between the spouses if the question of divorce arises. So, the property and the assets can be distributed in any ratio like 30/70 or 40/60, 70/30, 10/90 and so on. There can even be situations in which all of the marital property gets handed over to only one spouse. Such cases are in general, settled either by the court or the spouses with the help of the attorneys.

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