Posted on October 04, 2017 in Adoption

Same-sex marriage is now legal in all 50 states, with all the attendant rights and responsibilities that marriage entails. Parenting for same-sex couples can be tricky, however, as certain legal issues are likely to arise. Fortunately, the state of Illinois has measures in place to help same-sex parents obtain and exercise parental rights in variety of situations. One such option is a second parent adoption, or SPA.

SPA Defined

Second parent adoption is defined as an adoption in which a second parent may adopt a child without the first losing any parental rights. Normally, adoptions require a parent to renounce his or her parental rights-or to have them terminated-in favor of another caregiver, but SPA allows both caregivers to have legal rights regarding the child.

This can be critical in the case of something like a change in the law, or an accident that leaves one parent or the child incapacitated in some way. If both halves of the couple are the legal parents of the child, it can prevent most potential battles over competence and jurisdiction. For example, if only a child’s biological mother is their legal parent, the mother’s same-sex partner has no legal authority to make decisions for the child. In extreme circumstances, this could even lead to the child being removed from their home if the legal parent is deceased or disabled.

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 Posted on October 04, 2017 in Divorce

In our modern society, divorce is often unavoidable. But while divorcing couples will need to resolve issues such as the division of assets and debts and the allocation of parental responsibility, reaching a decision on these matters does not have to be contentious.

By using methods of alternative dispute resolution, couples can settle the outstanding issues in their divorce while avoiding costly litigation.

One of the best ways divorcing couples can work together to reach a settlement is through collaborative divorce (also known as collaborative law). This practice has become more common in recent years, and it has been formally recognized in the state of Illinois through the Illinois Collaborative Process Act, which Governor Bruce Rauner signed into law in August 2017 and which goes into effect on January 1, 2018.

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 Posted on September 28, 2017 in Estate Planning

Most people are familiar with the concept of different “stages of grief.” While you may not necessarily be able to list the five stages as they were introduced in 1969, you are most likely aware that grieving, for most people, is a process with fairly distinct elements. While there are other situations that could cause a person to go through the grieving process-such as a divorce or giving a child up for adoption-the most common is during the period following the death of a loved one. When you die, your children, grandchildren, and other family members will almost certainly experience a great deal of grief, which makes responsible estate planning all the more important.

What Are the Five Stages?

In 1969, a Swiss-American psychiatrist named Elisabeth Kubler-Ross published a book called "On Death and Dying" which introduced the stages of grief as she saw them. Based on her experience and study, she identified the five stages as Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Despite being laid out as linear-suggesting that one stage leads into the next-the reality is much more complicated. A person who is largely in the Anger stage of grief is likely to experience moments or days of Denial and Depression. He or she may even skip a stage and effectively come back to it at a later point.

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 Posted on September 28, 2017 in Divorce

Divorce can cause a great deal of financial upheaval in a couple’s lives, and as parents seek to restructure their finances following the end of their marriage, they will need to continue to provide for their children.

One financial aspect of divorce that parents sometimes neglect is how to pay for their children’s college expenses, especially if they divorce when their children are still young and college is several years in the future.

However, as college approaches, and families begin the process of applying for financial aid, they can take certain steps to ensure that children will be able to receive a college education without breaking the bank:

1. Determine the information to use on financial aid forms - When filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, students will need to identify their custodial parent. Even if parents share joint custody, only one parent can be identified, and this should be the parent who the student lived with the most during the previous year. If parenting time was equal during that time, the custodial parent is the parent who provided the most financial support to the child. If the custodial parent has remarried, their spouse should also be listed on the FAFSA.

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 Posted on September 27, 2017 in Divorce

When a couple ends their marriage in divorce, each spouse should be able to maintain a standard of living similar to what they experienced during their marriage. When one spouse earns more than the other, the lower earning spouse may be eligible to receive spousal maintenance (also known as spousal support or alimony).

While the formula for determining the amount and duration of maintenance is straightforward, courts have some discretion when determining whether maintenance is appropriate.

Illinois statutes list 14 factors that a judge should consider when deciding whether to grant maintenance:

1. The income and property of each party - The court will determine both spouses’ net income by calculating gross income from sources including wages or salary, disability benefits, retirement benefits, social security benefits, insurance proceeds, interest earned, and monetary gifts, then deducting expenses including taxes, social security payments, prior support or maintenance obligations, union dues, and medical expenses.

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 Posted on September 25, 2017 in Divorce

Most of the time, when two people want to get divorced, they simply inform the other person by having a copy of the papers served upon them, usually by hand delivery. However, there are some very rare situations when the spouse cannot be located. When that happens, a suitable alternative must be found. The answer in Illinois and many other states is called divorce by publication.

A “Good Faith Search”

In all cases, your soon-to-be-ex-spouse must be informed of your desire and intention to file for divorce. However, if they have moved or are trying to avoid you and have left no forwarding address, the normal methods of mail or hand delivery are impossible. Yet it is contradictory to public policy to demand that two people remain married when they are not even living together and all communication has broken down. Publication is generally the best possible chance for your information to reach your absent spouse.

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 Posted on September 21, 2017 in Estate Planning

Do you have a signed and executed will or any other elements of an estate plan in place? If so, you are already ahead of more than half of American adults.

Next question: Have you had in-depth discussions about estate planning with your children and other important family members? If so, you and your family are well prepared for unexpected surprises-assuming your estate plan addresses all or most of the details that are significant to you and your loved ones.

Final question: Would your children agree that you have had the necessary conversations and do they know where to find important documents, passwords, and account information? Unfortunately, serious disconnects in communication are all too common when it comes to estate planning.

A Relevant Study

Earlier this year, Fidelity Investments released a study showing that aging parents and their adult children are often on different pages in regard to important estate planning conversations. The survey indicated that nearly 70 percent of parents believed that they had talked at length with their children about wills, estate plans, and finances. More than half of their children, however, said that the conversations had not happened-at least not in sufficient detail.

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 Posted on September 19, 2017 in Adoption

Adoption can be a wonderful and happy event for everyone involved. However, there are times when the process becomes quite complex, especially when an adoption involves a parent who ostensibly could assert parental rights, yet is nowhere to be found. There is a very specific process to go through before a child with an absentee parent (or two absentee parents) may be adopted into a family where he or she will receive the kind of attention he or she deserves.

Abandonment and Desertion

In most situations, a child is presumed to have two parents, but this is not always the case. However, this may be untrue in certain cases. Illinois allows paternity to be legally established immediately following the birth of a child, by one of four methods:

1. The mother and father are married either at a child’s conception, birth, or both;
2. Both parents sign and complete a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity form;

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 Posted on September 14, 2017 in Divorce

Today, many couples choose to live together before getting married or even forego marriage altogether, while still combining their finances, intermingling their property, and raising children together. While this type of living arrangement has become more and more common over the past several decades, unmarried couples should understand their rights and take steps to protect themselves in case their relationship ever ends.

Legal Decisions Regarding Cohabitation in Illinois

Illinois does not recognize common-law marriage, and a 1979 decision by the Illinois Supreme Court found that an unmarried person does not have any rights to his or her domestic partner’s property after the relationship ends. When this decision was made, the court stated that it was intended to discourage cohabitation and avoid weakening the institution of marriage.

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 Posted on September 13, 2017 in Child Custody

It is almost too easy to send a text message on your cell phone. It takes only a few moments to type out a quick hello or make plans with friends and family. More than six billion messages are exchanged every day in the United States-that is over 2.2 trillion each year! Unfortunately, the ease of sending a text message can sometimes get people into trouble, as they may send a message without thinking or in the heat of a moment. This can cause problems for those involved in legal proceedings such as a divorce or child custody battle.

Text Messages Last Forever

An individual who is going through a divorce or other matter of family law may experience a wide range of emotions. He or she may feel betrayed, spiteful, confused, and upset. Often, there is animosity and tension between spouses who have decided to end their marriage. Divorce is an especially emotional process, and there may be many things left unsaid between two former romantic partners who have called it quits. There may also be things that are said but that should have been left unsaid. This is when the ease of pulling a cell phone from a pocket and quickly sending a nasty text message can cause problems.

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