Top Divorce Lawyer Near Me

Top Divorce Lawyer Near Me

Divorce represents a serious transition in your life that is also a serious legal matter. If you’re facing a divorce, you may be asking yourself – how do I find a top divorce lawyer near me – and this is a very important place to start. An experienced Chicago divorce lawyer will help you negotiate divorce terms that protect both your parental and financial rights and find your best path forward. 

Parental Responsibilities: Parenting Time and Decision-Making

In Illinois, what you likely think of as legal custody and physical custody are called now called an allocation of parental responsibilities: parenting time and decision-making guiding your post-divorce parental rights, responsibilities, parenting time, decision-making. The term parental responsibilities refers to parenting time and who will be making important decisions on behalf of your children moving forward, and you and your ex can share this responsibility – or one of you can take it on yourself. The kinds of decision-making involved include the topics of:

• Your children’s schooling
• Your children’s religious upbringing
• Your children’s health care
• Your children’s extracurriculars

Parenting time refers to how you and your ex will divide your time with your children.  Parenting time often includes a detailed weekly routine schedule that includes which days of the week and weekend each parent has parenting time along with pick-up and drop-off times and locations. There is also the consideration of holiday parenting time, spring break parenting time, winter break parenting time, and summer parenting time.

Child Support

Child support is the payment system established by statute through the State of Illinois that ensures both parents remain financially responsible for supporting their children.  Specifically, Illinois has become an income shares model in calculating child support so that both parties are required to provide support. Child support is determined in accordance with a state calculation methodology taking each parties income into consideration along with how many overnights a parent has annually.

The Division of Marital Property

Any and all assets and liabilities that are accrued during the marriage are typically considered marital property; these properties, which also include assets that you and your spouse acquired over the course of your marriage are considered marital property, and upon divorce, they must be divided between you in a manner that is determined to be equitable. Even a fairly straightforward division of marital property can become very complicated very quickly, and some of the factors that tend to further complicate the issue include:

• High assets
• A complicated intermingling of separate or individual property and marital property
• Business ownership
• Pets
• Children
• Investments
• Retirement
• Savings
• Co-mingling of marital and non-marital property
• Inheritance
• Maintenance, which is also known as alimony
• Child Support and Child-Related Expenses
• Non-marital estates
• Trusts

Spousal Support

Spousal support, which is known as maintenance in Illinois, may or may not play a role in your divorce case.  Maintenance, which is also known as alimony, is calculated by the statute provided in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act taking many things into consideration: income, employment, duration of marriage, allocation of the marital estate, the non-marital estate, and other factors.

A Top Divorce Lawyer Near You Can Help

The accomplished Chicago divorce lawyers at WARD FAMILY LAW, LLC, recognize the significant role your divorce will play in your life, and we are committed to knowledgeably negotiating for favorable terms that protect your rights and support your best post-divorce future. We’re on your side and are here to offer our skilled guidance, so please don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us today.