If you’re staring down a divorce, it’s difficult to know how best to proceed. Every divorce follows its own unique course, involves its own unique variables, and encounters its own unique challenges. Nevertheless, one important constant among all divorces is that every client does himself or herself a favor by working closely with an experienced Chicago divorce lawyer.
When it comes to divorce, the basic terms tend to sort out into financial matters and child custody arrangements. The financial terms will guide you and your children’s financial future, and they include:
Child custody arrangements are obviously a primary concern in every marriage that involves children. Illinois addresses both legal custody (who makes the important decisions that guide the children’s lives) and residential custody (whom the children live with and when). Both forms of custody can be either joint (shared by both parents) or sole (taken on by one parent alone).
The outcome of your divorce will play a significant role in your future, and that’s why you need a dedicated Chicago divorce lawyer in your corner. The formidable legal team at WARD FAMILY LAW has vast experience helping clients like you obtain favorable divorce terms, 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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