Over the last several years, the issue of pets in family law situations has drawn an increase in attention. First, pets were allowed to be protected under an Order of Protection and possession be granted to one of the parties. Starting January 1, 2018, the ownership and responsibility of a pet can now be litigated…
Kids everywhere wait in anxious anticipation for the holidays, in particular, Christmas, because it means endless cookies, get-togethers with family, and most of all – presents! For the children of the separated or newly divorced parents, however, it also means a certain amount of anxiety over who does what, when, where, and how. As with…
The law never sleeps. While I am not sure this is a quotation I can attribute to anyone, in particular, the sentiment is all too true. Recently the Illinois legislature made even more changes to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) by the passage of Public Act 100-0520. These changes follow on the…
While many blog articles of late have dealt with the new child support statute in Illinois, the modification to the maintenance statute that went into effect on January 1, 2015, is still a topic that generates a lot of discussions. This is especially true now as many cases decided under the old law are now…
According to The National Center for Education Statistics, about 35% of children ages 3-21 have some kind of learning disability. About 20% have a speech or language impairment. More significantly, about 9% of this population has autism, 6% have an intellectual disability, another 6% have developmental delay, 5% have some kind of emotional disturbance, and…
In case you have not heard, Illinois implemented the income shares model for child support determination, and it took effect July 1, 2017. If you are currently receiving child support, paying child support or are currently involved in child support proceedings or will be in the future, the new change may have a significant impact…
We throw terms around without really thinking about them sometimes, but those terms influence how we think about the things those terms describe. Different terms have different connotations. For instance, the term, “family lawyer”, might generate a sense of wholesomeness; while the term, “divorce lawyer”, may conjure up a different set of feelings. These terms…
After much anticipation and delay, Illinois families can finally utilize the ABLE Account Program. The ABLE Account Program (15 ILCS 505/16.6) allows individuals receiving SSI and other means-tested programs to open up a bank account (similar to a checking account) which does not count against the means-tested program’s resource limit. A means tested program is…
In addition to, How Does the New Child Support Law Affect Business Owners? Starting July 1, 2017, Illinois will join the majority of states by adopting a new child support law. The new Illinois child support law uses an income sharing method of calculating child support. The income sharing method of calculating child support factors in…
Expanding on New Child Support Law: Calculating child support, more often than not, for typical W2 employees is relatively easy under the new child support law. Child support is based on income. A W2 employee starts with a paystub or year end W2 form and factors in other benefits received, like a car allowance, adds up…