Category: Family Law

Parents should strive to work together in creating a parenting-time schedule for the holidays that prioritizes the children’s best interests. They can, for instance, come up with a plan that allows them to share school vacations or alternate holidays every other year. They can also agree to divide some holidays in half, and where possible, designate fixed holidays to either party.

In Illinois, children don’t have the prerogative to choose which parent to live with and can only do so after turning 18. Illinois courts view a person under 18 as a minor who cannot make crucial legal decisions. When a child turns 14 years, courts may take his or her preferences into account. Courts ensure that final decisions about parenting time and responsibilities serve the best interests of the child.

Cryptocurrency issues arise in a divorce when the court tries to value the marital assets of the divorcing parties. Since cryptocurrency has never been officially classified as a specific type of asset, some spouses may fail to disclose it to the other party. Some may even use it as a way to hide assets that are part of the marital estate to avoid equitable distribution. If one spouse suspects the other party has cryptocurrency, he or she should always be on the lookout for large cash transfers and withdrawals to and from a cryptocurrency exchange.

Several misconceptions surround Social Security and divorce, even though the program has been around for over 85 years. To get things straight, here are 7 common myths about Social security and divorce and the facts that disprove them.

When children are born out of wedlock in Illinois, establishing paternity is required to ensure a father's rights and the rights of his children are protected. Illinois law assumes paternity in families where the parents are married, but it does not when the father and mother are not married. Without established paternity, a child's rights to a father's property and other benefits, and the father's parental rights and privileges, can be at risk.

On rare occasions, couples who move forward with plans to divorce find that their marriages were never valid marriages in Illinois, placing them in the category of "putative marriage." A putative marriage creates a number of legal concerns in the divorce proceedings, because the marriage agreement was never valid to begin with and another legal spouse may exist. Those who find themselves in the role of putative spouse need to understand their rights and how to protect them as they move forward.

Medical conditions, both in the child and in on one of the parents, can have a direct impact on the decision about custody in an Illinois divorce. All of the issues handled in custody decisions, including visitation, custody, support, and property division, become more complex when weighing medical needs. Understanding these impacts is important when entering child custody decisions.

With sheltering in place being mandated across the country, divorced parents find it difficult to proceed with their parenting orders and custody agreements while maintaining compliance with the "stay at home" mandates. This situation is actually quite complicated, because moving a child from one house to the next does not follow current stay at home guidelines and can increase exposure to the virus. For parents to maintain their custody agreements while adhering to the mandates, certain steps must be taken.

When a divorcing parent has safety concerns around the other parent, the courts in Illinois often set up supervised visitation opportunities. Many situations can put a child's safety at risk, and parents have the right to request supervised visitation for the other parent if they feel a safety issue exists. Understanding what this entails and how it may protect children will help parents move forward with custody arrangements and make the best requests from the courts.