Category: Family Law

Couples with children who want to get divorced in Illinois are required to take a parenting class, even if the divorce is uncontested. The class can be arranged through the parents or through a family law attorney who is handling the divorce.

Because Illinois recognizes that family circumstances can change following the issuance of spousal support orders, the law allows spousal support to be modified or terminated if one of multiple grounds exists. In order to secure a modification of the maintenance amount or a termination of the payments, the party seeking the change or termination must file a motion with the court that issued the order. The payments must continue as they are currently ordered until and unless the court grants the motion to terminate or modify the support payments. A family law attorney might help with drafting the motion and litigating the matter in a hearing before the court on his or her client's behalf.

These days, more and more Illinois couples are having children without ever being married to each other. In fact, Illinois ranks 6th highest in the nation for births that occur out of matrimony with more than 36 percent of all children in the state born out of wedlock, and a whopping 82 percent of teen births being out of wedlock.

High School seniors across the state are busily awaiting ACT/SAT results and gathering their documentation as they prepare their college applications. It is a stressful time of year that can be made even more stressful for children of divorce who wonder how they are going to pay for the expenses college will present. For this reason, the legislators have made several changes to the law that will go into effect on January 1st, 2016.