In some cases during a divorce, a spouse may attempt to hide certain assets prior to or during a divorce to prevent sharing them. However, the other spouse often has the chance to use legal tools referred to as "discovery" to assist them in finding these hidden assets and income. Finding Hidden Assets To make sure that all assets are accounted for, each spouse should create a categorical list that includes all property. The list should be categorized as "marital" assets (property obtained … [Read more...]

Pensions, which must be divided in Illinois divorces, may not be offset by the other spouse's future expected Social Security benefits. The amount of a spouse's future Social Security benefits may not be used to reduce the amount of marital assets that he or she receives in the property division portion of the divorce. This is true even in cases in which one spouse only makes contributions to Social Security while the other contributes to a government pension. Social Security may not be used to … [Read more...]