If you are going through a divorce in Illinois, you may wonder what spousal support will look like in your situation, whether you expect to pay it or receive it. Illinois calls this support maintenance, and courts usually follow a statutory formula to determine both...
Family Law
Can Illinois parents split child tax benefits?
Divorce or separation in Illinois often leads you to focus on parenting time, child support and school routines. Even so, tax benefits tied to your children may also affect your financial situation each year. When parenting agreements do not clearly address these...
What counts as parental relocation under Illinois law
A move can seem routine until it affects your child’s schedule. A new address can affect school travel time and midweek exchanges. Illinois law draws a legal line for “relocation” when you already follow a parenting plan. When you know where that line may fall, you...
Same-sex couple adoption in Illinois: Key legal insights
Same-sex couples in Illinois face unique legal considerations when pursuing adoption. Although the law does not discriminate based on sexual orientation, certain procedures, documentation requirements and potential court expectations may differ from traditional cases....
How to update a child support order in Illinois
Under Illinois’ child support laws, parents and legal guardians of children can request for an increase or decrease in their child support amount to accommodate a recent change in their circumstances. This modification aims to provide the parents and legal guardians...
When can paying spouses modify maintenance orders?
The Illinois family courts may order one spouse to provide regular spousal maintenance payments to the other as part of a divorce. Also known as alimony or spousal support in other jurisdictions, spousal maintenance helps ensure that lower-earning or dependent spouses...
Parents with mental health conditions and child custody
Divorce is a challenging journey, especially when children are involved. It is not uncommon for one or both parents to struggle with mental health issues. One out of every five Americans lives with a mental illness. That is a significant portion of the population and...
3 tools for co-parenting successfully after a contentious divorce
Parents in Illinois often have a hard time working together to co-parent their children after a messy divorce. The more emotional and intense the process may have become, the greater the likelihood that parents will continue to lash out at each other during custody...
How unmarried dads establish paternity in Illinois
There is rarely any question about a mother's biological relationship with a child. However, the role of a father can be a bit less clear. Illinois has a law that applies a presumption of paternity when a married woman has a child. However, when an unmarried woman has...
What are temporary orders in an Illinois divorce?
Whether you made the decision to divorce, your spouse made it or it was by mutual consent, you now have a whole lot of decisions about the future that need to be made. In the meantime, you have to keep your household running, and that means that bills need to be paid,...
