With Chicago Divorce Comes Great Responsibility

During a marriage, more often than not, spouses take on certain tasks, duties, and responsibilities which they assume throughout the entire course of the marriage. Especially, if children are involved, most of the time one parent will take on a bulk of the child-rearing activities such as driving to and from school, transportation to extracurricular activities, school registration, scheduling and transporting to medical appointments. It is very rare, even in this day and age, that both spouses do all of these activities equally, whether it is because of schedules (one parent staying home while the other works), preference (one parent enjoying the organizational aspect of it all), or just sheer dumb luck (one parent starts the wheels spinning and habits fall into place). Regardless of how it comes about, one of the most challenging aspects for people during a divorce with children is having to suddenly take on more responsibility and adapt to being a single parent.

One of the biggest challenges for parents in the middle of a Chicago divorce, that most people do not consider when starting the process, is having to take on the extra responsibilities usually delegated to the other parent. Time and time again, parents are shocked when they learn that they will need to adjust their way of life in order to accommodate the responsibilities taken on by the other parent. The most common way this is seen is when one parent suddenly realizes they are responsible for transporting their children to school or extracurricular activities when they were not responsible for this in the past. It is important that when considering how much parenting time you would like that you also consider the responsibility that comes along with having extended (i.e., 50/50) parenting time and whether you are willing to take on these responsibilities.

While most of the time the shock of extra responsibilities comes in cases involving children, it is important to realize that even if you do not have children, your responsibilities will increase with any divorce. For example, in most marriages (even those involving children) there is often one spouse who takes on a larger role with the finances or managing important documents, or one spouse who does all of the laundry. Whatever the case, it is important when considering a divorce that you familiarize yourself with the role taken on by your spouse because soon you will be taking on 100% of the responsibility of the same. Far too often do we see the spouse who is looking to get a divorce with no grasp on their financial situation because their husband or wife handled it all.

If you are considering a divorce and the task of taking on a new role whether it is with your children or with your personal finances, the attorneys at Ward Family Law would love to help ease the stress and help you navigate this difficult time. Please contact Jennifer Ward, founder, to set up your free consultation at jward@wardfamilylawchicago.com or at 312-803-5838.