If you’re moving toward a divorce, it’s time to consult with an accomplished divorce lawyer. The terms of your divorce will prove very important in you and your children’s future, which means your divorce needs your utmost attention and assistance from the very start. The surest way to move forward with purpose is with the best divorce lawyer in Chicago in your corner.
Your divorce will be unique to you and your divorcing spouse, but the terms that you’ll need to negotiate are the same as they are for any other couple, including:
Each of these terms (as applicable) will impact your future and should be given the careful legal attention it deserves.
If you share children with your divorcing spouse, the allocation of parental responsibilities is naturally an important component of your divorce terms. Also referred to as child custody, parental responsibility breaks down into both decision-making and physical time, which is parenting time, with your child. Decision-making can be either sole or joint, and it relates to who will be making important decisions on your children’s behalf, including decisions about:
Similarly, parenting time will be established for each party taking many factors into consideration, including the best interests of the children, and it relates to whom the children live with and according to what schedule. The court always bases its decisions on the children’s best interests.
The property and assets that you and your spouse collect during your marriage are considered marital property, which is meant to be divided equitably in the event of divorce. Equitable in this context means fair given the circumstances of your marriage and divorce. The division of marital property tends to be a complex process that is made more complicated still when high assets, multiple properties, and/or business ownership is involved. Experienced divorce attorneys can look at the whole financial picture and help with creative solutions for division and allocation of the assets and debts acquired during a marriage.
Both parents are responsible for supporting their children financially, and child support is the state’s tool for ensuring that this responsibility is shared by both parents in accordance with their financial means to pay. Illinois uses specific calculation guidelines in determining child support payments, but special circumstances can lead to a more individualized approach. The court can order contributions to child-related expenses such as health care, education, schooling, extracurricular activities, and childcare.
Spousal support, alimony or maintenance as it is known in Illinois, is the law’s way of balancing the financial discrepancy between someone who will experience a financial setback upon divorce and his or her ex who will have the financial means to help. Spousal maintenance is not a given, and the court will carefully consider many variables in its decision-making process. Certain factors such as income and duration of the marriage (among other factors) are key components to obtaining a maintenance, spousal support, alimony award.
The divorce lawyers at WARD FAMILY LAW, LLC in Chicago are experienced, capable attorneys who are committed to helping you obtain divorce terms that protect your rights and support you and your children’s brightest future. We’re here to help, so please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information today.
I knew we were going to have a custody battle from day one. It was going to be mean and messy and expensive and long. I did not know if I could handle it but I had to do it for my kids. Jennifer litigated my case to the end - we had an attorney for the kids, we had psych evaluations, we had reports for the Judge, we had court date after court date. She was strategic, smart, planned well ahead, and kept on top of everything. Thanks to her and her legal eagles my kids are in a…
We were not married but had two kids and we were both listed as the parents on the birth certificates. What I did not know at the time was that the birth certificate (for parents who are not married) does not count in Chicago! You have to have a paternity test or have signed some special paperwork at the hospital that we did not know about at the time. Ward Family Law prepared the court filings so that we could establish our parental rights. Thank you!
At the end of my divorce case I realized that the paperwork required us to provide the court with a Qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) in order for our retirement and investment accounts to be divided as we had agreed. The problem was that we did not have them done in time. Jennifer and her team stepped in and handled contacting the plan administrators, completing the draft QDROs, submitting them for pre-approval of everyone and then presenting them to the court. While we had hoped this was super easy there were a lot of steps and a lot of things…
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