Itasca Divorce Attorneys

Chicago Divorce Attorneys

Divorce causes emotional upheaval – even as it forces you to resolve complex legal matters. In other words, divorce is a difficult transition in anyone’s life, and having an experienced Chicago divorce attorney on your side is in your best interests. 

Parental Responsibilities

An important term of any divorce involving children is the matter of parental responsibilities, which is both parenting time and decision-making. You can negotiate a parenting time schedule that suits you, your children, and your ex’s needs, but the scope of parental responsibilities falls into two categories:

• parenting time
• decision-making

Decision Making 

If you share children with your divorcing spouse, you’ll need to address the matter of parental responsibilities, which determines who will be making the major parenting decisions, such as the following:

• Where your children attend school
• The health care your children receive
• The extracurricular activities your children participate in
• The religious education your children receive

You can make these decisions together, can divide them between you, or can assign this decision-making authority to only one of you. 

Child Support

The State of Illinois has a child support system set up that helps to ensure both parents continue supporting their children financially. Child support is determined according to the state’s calculation methodology, which takes multiple factors into consideration. The factors that typically determine which parent pays child support to the other, however, are the amount of parenting time you each have and your individual incomes. 

The Division of Marital Property 

In the course of your divorce, you and your spouse will need to address the equitable division of your marital property, which refers to all the assets that you, your spouse, or both of you together acquired while you were married. While separate property that either of you owned prior to marriage and kept separate throughout will typically remain that party’s separate property – maintaining the separate status of an asset throughout a marriage can be difficult to accomplish. 

Alimony / Maintenance

If the divorce leaves either you or your divorcing spouse unable to continue supporting yourself financially (while the other has the means to help), alimony – or spousal maintenance – may be awarded. 

Negotiating the Terms of Your Divorce

The terms of your divorce will reflect your parental and financial rights, which makes them of critical importance. Any terms that you and your divorcing spouse do not see eye to eye on will need to be resolved through your own negotiation efforts, with the legal guidance of your respective divorce attorneys, or via mediation. If your ability to negotiate any of the relevant terms grinds to a standstill, you’ll need the court’s intervention on the matter. 

An Experienced Chicago Divorce Attorney Is on Your Side

The compassionate Chicago divorce attorneys at WARD FAMILY LAW, LLC, recognize the gravity of your divorce concerns and are standing by to help. To learn more, please don’t wait to contact us today.