Family law concerns itself with each of the terms of divorce, post-divorce modifications, paternity, parental responsibilities, parenting time, and decision-making for children issues both inside and outside of marriage, paternity, and much more. Because family law concerns directly affect you and your family, your rights as a parent, and your financial rights, they are all primary concerns and having an experienced family law attorney in Chicago in your corner is well advised.Â
The State of Illinois uses parental responsibilities, which is both parenting time and decision-making, to replace what you may think of as your child custody arrangements. Parental responsibilities incorporate both decision-making authority and the schedule by which you will divide your parenting time with your children’s other parent. Ultimately, the court takes the children’s best interests – as guided by best-interest factors – into consideration when making these primary determinations.Â
Child support is intended to ensure that both parents continue supporting their shared children financially – in accordance with their ability to do so. While many variables can be considered in the calculation process, the primary concerns remain the number of overnights each parent has with the children and each parent’s income. Even when parents divide these overnights fairly evenly between themselves, the child support obligation will likely fall to the higher earner.Â
Illinois distinguishes between marital property – the property you acquire as a married couple – and separate property (non-marital property) – the property that you bring into the marriage with you and keep separate over the years. Upon divorce, marital property must be distributed between the two of you in a manner that is considered fair in relation to the circumstances of your marriage and divorce. Separate property, however, remains the property of the original owner.
Illinois uses the term spousal maintenance to replace alimony, but it only factors into those divorces in which both the following apply:
In Illinois, a child’s father must be identified through the establishment of legal paternity if his or her parents are not married at the time of the child’s birth. This can be as easy as both parents signing off on the father’s paternity or as complicated as the court requiring DNA testing. The establishment of paternity comes with considerable benefits for everyone involved, including:
The seasoned family law attorneys at WARD FAMILY LAW in Chicago are well acquainted with successfully guiding complex family law concerns like yours toward advantageous outcomes, and we’re here for you too. To learn more about what we can do to help, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.
Love and marriage. We needed a prenup because our families made us do one just to be safe. The entire thing was smooth so we could focus on our wedding and not be too crazy with the prenup. The agreement was drafted and reviewed by each of our attorneys, we signed and we were married. Woo Hoo. Thanks again, Ward Family Law.
10/10 is my rating for Ward Family Law. Jennifer and Emily went above and beyond in my divorce case. I cannot say more praise.
I lost my job but still had to pay the child support. I was scrambling. I talked to Jennifer Ward and she explained the process and the need to quickly file to put the court on notice that my child support needed to change. She saved me so much money in the long run while I looked for a new job so that I could start paying to help my kids again. Losing my job was not in the plan but at least my kids are on track.
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