Recent Blog Posts
4 Ways to Revoke a Will in Illinois
There is very little risk in making a will, as you can revoke it at any time so long as you are competent to do so. A lot of people revoke and replace their wills for a number of reasons. If you got divorced and remarried, you might want to revoke the will that left everything to your former spouse. If you had a child, or even a new grandchild, you might want to cancel your old will and create a new one that includes them. Some people simply change their minds about giving part of their estate to a particular beneficiary as their lives and priorities change. Fortunately, revoking a will is not usually overly complicated. It is still best to consult a lawyer to make sure that your revocation is effective.
How Can I Revoke My Will?
If you decide that you no longer want your existing will to control your estate, there are a few simple ways to revoke it. Once it is revoked, it will have no legal effect. It is a good idea to make sure that you have a replacement plan of some kind. In Illinois, you can revoke your will by:
Understanding Estate Planning Terminology in DuPage County
The terminology used in estate planning can be challenging to understand. If you feel a little confused when you read about estate planning topics because of all the “legalese,” you are far from alone. Many of the legal terms used in the estate planning field have very specific meanings. Some terms are used when discussing trusts, but not wills, or vice versa. Other terms you may know are outdated and no longer in use. It can be difficult to keep track of all the legal terms you might hear or read when it comes to wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and guardianships. This is one of many reasons that it is very important to let an attorney help you build your estate plan.
What Are Some Legal Terms I Might Need to Know?
Some important terms you might want to be familiar with when you start working on your estate plan include:
-
Testator - The person who is making their will.
-
Grantor/Settlor - These terms are used interchangeably to refer to someone who is making their trust.
Can Legally Smoking Weed Affect My Rights to See My Child in Illinois?
Marijuana is now readily available to residents of Illinois. Coming in the form of vape pens, hard candies, chocolates, and traditional herb, marijuana products are easy to use with very little thought as to whether there may be negative consequences to this change in policy. While marijuana is often marketed as a sort of panacea for illness, pain, and other ailments, like all intoxicating substances, marijuana use can have negative side effects for its users. Additionally, just because marijuana is legal does not mean that parents in Illinois have free reign to use it in ways that could interfere with their parenting. If you are wondering whether your marijuana use could be used against you in a divorce or child custody dispute, read on.
Marijuana Use And Parenting Time
The Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act prohibits marijuana use, in and of itself, to be used against a parent in a dispute about parenting time or parental responsibilities. Like alcohol, responsible marijuana use is legal and does not present a threat to a parent’s ability to parent well or make responsible decisions on behalf of their child.
Estate Planning Tips in High-Conflict Family Situations
As much as we would all like to be part of a loving, old-sitcom-style family where everyone gets along and loves each other, this is simply not the reality for many people. Some people who are trying to create an estate plan have adult children who have not spoken to each other in decades. Others have seen their relatives extensively litigate over another family member’s estate. Some have witnessed utter chaos erupt when a now-deceased relative was nearing the end of their life, as no two family members could agree on how their medical care should be handled.
If this sounds like your family, there are a few steps you and your attorney can take to both protect yourself during your later years and avoid any further conflict over your own estate or end-of-life care.
Tips for Testamentary Planning When Your Family Does Not Get Along
Angry, disinherited, or jealous family members have been known to raise challenges simply to spite each other. You probably already know if this is a risk. Some tips for making sure your estate plan goes unchallenged include:
4 Reasons Young Adults Should Have an Estate Plan
It often does not even occur to young adults that they should have an estate plan at all. You may see creating an estate plan that is likely to change before you need it as a pointless endeavor. However, there are a number of strong reasons that younger adults should consider creating at least a simple estate plan. It can be very difficult for young people to consider their own mortality in this way, but it is important that you do. No one is impervious to things like accidents or illnesses. Having a legally sound estate plan in place is a good idea for everyone. An estate planning attorney can help determine what type of estate plan makes sense for your personal situation.
Why Should Young People Make an Estate Plan?
Life and death can be incredibly unpredictable. For this reason alone, it is a smart move for all adults to establish an estate plan, whether or not they think it will become relevant anytime soon. Reasons young adults should consider creating an estate plan include:
Is My Spouse’s Inheritance Marital Property in an Illinois Divorce?
The issue of inheritance is often a cause of great contention in Illinois divorces. For spouses who have been married for decades, money given from a deceased family member to one spouse may feel like something of a betrayal to the other spouse, especially if the spouse who receives the inheritance decides not to spend it in ways that would benefit the marriage or children.
In other situations, couples may be very generous with each other’s inheritance, and even count on it as part of their long-term financial planning. No matter how an inheritance has been handled, the issue can get thorny when a couple starts discussing divorce. Deciding how to handle an inheritance in the asset division process can be challenging, especially when inheritance funds have been mixed with marital funds. If you are considering divorce and anticipate dealing with inheritance, consider getting the help of a DuPage County attorney with experience in both family law and estate planning.
Why Estate Planning is Critical for Unmarried Couples
More and more modern couples are choosing not to marry. Each couple has their own reasons for making this decision. Some feel that they do not need “a piece of paper” to demonstrate their love and commitment. Others simply are not comfortable with the idea of marriage. However, there are certain legal protections that marriage offers in the event that one spouse becomes incapacitated or passes away. Spouses almost automatically inherit from each other in the absence of an estate plan, and will likely be called upon to make medical decisions for each other when necessary. Unmarried couples do not enjoy these protections.
Fortunately, there are ways other than getting married for committed couples to protect each other. Through a little careful estate planning with the help of a qualified attorney, unmarried couples can set in place largely the same safety nets that married couples are granted. It will likely cost much less than a wedding.
What Documents Should Committed but Unmarried Couples Have in Place?
The 2 Parts of a Comprehensive Illinois Estate Plan
When you think of estate planning, you probably think of wills and trusts - the ways people decide how their property should be distributed after they pass away. This is known as testamentary planning. It is a very important goal of estate planning. However, there is another side of estate planning that addresses what will happen to both you and your belongings later in life should you one day lose the capacity to make your own decisions. This is known as incapacity planning. A comprehensive estate plan will involve both testamentary planning and incapacity planning.
What is Testamentary Planning?
Testamentary planning is the classic form of estate planning. During this process, you will decide who should receive your property when you are gone. The two most common instruments for testamentary planning are wills and trusts. In modern times, trusts are increasingly becoming the preferred vehicle for transferring assets. They offer a number of advantages, most notably by allowing you to bypass probate.
Three Unique Co-Parenting Methods for Divorced Parents in Illinois
Even after going your separate ways in an Illinois divorce, your ex will still have a significant impact on your life when you share children. For many divorced couples, raising children after a divorce is a very challenging issue, and finding an arrangement that works can be frustrating and time-consuming. When parents struggle to work within traditional parenting agreement constructs, it may be helpful to get creative and turn to alternative methods of co-parenting. Depending on your needs, one of these three unique co-parenting methods may be helpful.
Parallel Parenting
For some couples, every point of contact is a fight waiting to happen. When one or both parents are uncooperative or hostile towards each other, they risk constantly exposing their children to conflict. To protect the children from the psychological damage this can cause, parallel parenting offers co-parents an opportunity to treat parenting as a business enterprise. Couples who use parallel parenting strategies only communicate when absolutely necessary, and will usually do so with designated communication channels like a special email address. If you choose to use parallel parenting, be sure to include as many details as possible in your court-approved parenting plan. That way, when issues arise, you already have solutions and can avoid further conflict.
What Happens to Digital Assets During an Illinois Divorce?
Every day, there seems to be a new kind of digital asset making the news. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and non-fungible tokens are just two examples of digital financial assets that we commonly associate with money. But other digital assets must be divided as well - personal photos and videos that exist on each spouse’s phone, streaming accounts, and even purchased media like downloaded videos all need to be dealt with. During the Illinois divorce process, all marital assets must be divided fairly - even the ones that only exist on the internet. If you are getting divorced and wondering what will happen to your digital assets, read on.
Pictures, Videos, Movies, and Streaming Services
Couples can spend thousands of dollars on downloaded videos, games, and other online entertainment over the course of a marriage. If a couple has amassed a valuable digital library of content, this will need to be divided in the divorce decree. Because online content is usually associated with a specific account and these accounts must only be owned by one partner after the divorce, spouses will need to agree about how to split them.
© 2025 A. Traub & Associates 200 W. 22nd Street, Suite 210, Lombard, IL 60148630-426-0196
Disclaimer | Resources Privacy Policy | Sitemap Arlington Heights Divorce Lawyer Mediation
