Chicago Family Law Attorney

Chicago Family Law Attorney

Family law is an important area of law that focuses on all legal matters that relate to families. Whether your issue involves divorce, paternity, child support, divorce modifications, or anything else that is family-related, an experienced Chicago family law attorney can help you explore your best options and help you make well-informed decisions that protect your financial and parental rights and that work for you moving forward. 

Family Law: Common Concerns

While divorce is a component of family law, there is a lot more to it than that. Consider all of the following legal matters that are addressed by family law:

• All divorce-related matters
• Child custody and visitation (which is now known as parental responsibilities incorporating parenting time and decision-making into an allocation judgment)
• Child support
• Maintenance, which is also known as alimony
• Division of marital property (including the issue of separate, non-marital property)
• Divorce and college expenses for children
• Divorce and retirement accounts and investments
• Guardian ad litem (GAL)
• Mediation
• Paternity and parentage
• Post-divorce decrees and modifications

Each of these represents an important family matter that a dedicated family law attorney can help you with. 

Divorce: The Basics

Divorce is a common area of family law, and while every divorce is complicated and unique, the basics tend to apply to all divorces equally and include:

• • You and your divorcing spouse will need to hammer out divorce terms between yourselves (with the guidance of your respective family law attorneys), and any terms that you are ultimately unable to resolve will need to be determined by the court.
  • The terms involved in your divorce (as applicable) include the division of your marital property, your child custody arrangements (called parental responsibilities which incorporates decision-making and parenting time into a final allocation judgment), child support, and maintenance (or alimony and spousal support)
  • If your negotiations with your divorcing spouse stall, you can look to increased guidance from your respective family law attorneys and to alternative dispute resolution options, such as mediation.  
  • The more terms you are able to negotiate between yourselves, the fewer that will need to be addressed by the court. 
  • Most divorcing couples prefer to keep their negotiations between themselves as much as possible (because turning to the courts represents an abdication of one’s decision-making power, and this can be very difficult to accept when the decisions involved focus on your family).
  • If your divorcing spouse, however, decides to make your divorce as contentious as he or she possibly can or is completely uninterested in negotiating with you in good faith, turning to the court could be your best path forward.

Because family law matters directly affect your family, they are obviously of primary concern, and working closely with an experienced Chicago family law attorney is always well-advised. 

A Dedicated Chicago Family Law Attorney Can Help You Resolve Your Family Law Concerns

If you are facing a legal matter that involves your family, it is a serious matter that deserves serious legal consideration from one of the trusted Chicago family law attorneys at WARD FAMILY LAW LLC. Our compassionate legal team is on your side and is well prepared to help, so please don’t wait to contact us for more information today.