The estate planning that you do (or don’t do) will leave a lasting impression upon your loved ones. Will they love you for it? Planning your estate, the extent of your planning, and the thoughtfulness by which you plan your estate is an extension of who you are. It’s your last gift to the people…
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What can a divorce attorney tell you about having a successful marriage? They can say a lot actually. We see all kinds of marriages, including those at the risk of falling apart, those entirely broken down and those hanging on by a thread. Additionally, we draw from our own lives, our own marriages, those marriages…
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While many property owners in Illinois flooded to their assessor’s office to prepay their property tax bills due to the expected reduction of the property tax deduction on their Federal tax returns, the recent tax reform act enacted by Congress and signed by President Trump also contains a significant change to family law matters. Maintenance…
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Many people may not realize, including some attorneys, that each installment of overdue support owed by a noncustodial parent becomes a lien by operation of law against the real and personal property of the noncustodial parent. That means that these liens “arise” whenever child support becomes past due! This is a kind of super lien…
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As a new year comes, so do the effective dates of many new statutes that Illinois has passed in 2017. Several of these laws involve family law matters. Pet Custody The first and most talked about change is the authority for courts to determine “pet custody” in divorce cases. We have previously done a separate…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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