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Recent Blog Posts
How Is Hidden Cryptocurrency Addressed in Divorce?
As cryptocurrencies become more popular, they are increasingly common in divorce settlements. Hidden assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other digital currencies can create complications during property division. Because of their decentralized and often anonymous nature, cryptocurrencies can make it difficult to determine a person’s true financial status. An Illinois divorce attorney can help you ask the right questions when addressing potential hidden cryptocurrency assets.
What Are Cryptocurrency Assets, and Why Are They Often Hidden?
Cryptocurrency is a digital form of currency that uses cryptography for security, making it challenging to track in comparison to a traditional bank account. Unlike conventional financial assets, cryptocurrencies are stored in digital wallets, often without the oversight of banks or centralized institutions. These relatively anonymous qualities can tempt spouses to hide cryptocurrency assets during divorce proceedings, with the hope that they will not be discovered.
How Does Divorce Affect FAFSA and Financial Aid?
Divorce can significantly alter a family’s financial future, making it difficult to plan ahead for the various needs that will arise. One often overlooked matter is the divorce’s effect on paying for a child’s college education. A once-solidified plan may unravel, leaving families scrambling to adjust to new financial realities. This shift can be overwhelming for parents and students alike, but an Illinois divorce attorney can help you understand how divorce impacts college funding strategies.
What Is FAFSA and Why Is It Important for Divorced Parents?
FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is a form used by the U.S. Department of Education to determine eligibility for federal student aid, which includes grants, work-study, and loans. For divorced parents, it is crucial to understand how FAFSA evaluates parental information. More specifically, only the custodial parent's financial details need to be reported on the form. This can work to the student's advantage if the custodial parent has a lower income, as it may increase their eligibility for need-based aid.
How Much Alimony Will I Need to Pay in Illinois?
Many couples end up unhappy in their marriage, but some decide to stay together out of fear of the financial burden divorce could bring. If you are constantly worrying about what it would be like to split up your assets and have to pay child support and alimony, it can keep you from taking steps to live your best life away from your current partner.
Often, people think about worst-case scenarios and convince themselves they will end up much worse off financially after divorce than they truly might. If you feel stuck in your marriage because of this, a knowledgeable Kane County, IL divorce lawyer can offer some clarity by explaining how alimony is calculated, which might put you at ease.
How is Alimony Entitlement Decided?
There are several common misconceptions about alimony, officially referred to in Illinois law as maintenance. Many people mistakenly believe that alimony is automatically included in divorce and that it is a gender-specific obligation, with the ex-husband always needing to pay alimony to the ex-wife. In practice, the court will examine various factors before deciding whether either spouse should be awarded alimony. These factors include:
Legal Obligations for Parents of Child Influencers
Back in the day, many kids had a newspaper route, mowed lawns, or babysat to make some extra cash. Today, there are so many children with their own monetized social media platforms and massive followings that the law has had to evolve to address it. Children with millions of followers and subscribers, with posts that get hundreds of thousands of views, are earning significant, life-changing money at a scope that has never been seen before. On average, child influencers can make between $600-$20,000 per post, and one of the most popular child influencers who is not yet 13 years old has earned an estimated 100 million dollars over the past few years.
Recent efforts to regulate this field have resulted in new laws being passed to protect children, with various requirements for parents. If your child is an online influencer, speak with a qualified Kane County, IL family law attorney to understand your legal obligations.
What Should You Not Say During Divorce Mediation?
During a turbulent divorce, mediation can be a real lifeline, allowing a couple with a contentious relationship to resolve disputes in a way that does not escalate hard feelings. When mediation works as it should, a divorce agreement can be crafted so that both parties can live with it while avoiding a long, expensive courtroom battle. Although divorce mediation is a more peaceful process, there are things you should avoid saying to ensure the most productive mediation experience.
If you are considering mediation, having an experienced St. Charles, IL mediation attorney from Shaw Sanders, P.C. will ensure the procedure goes smoothly and the outcome benefits you and your future. Our firm has extensive family law experience and can help determine whether mediation is the right choice. It is important that you are fully prepared for the mediation experience to reap the maximum benefits from the process. So, what should you avoid saying during your mediation meetings?
How Can I End My Civil Union in Illinois?
Often, when a man and woman fall in love and think they want to spend the rest of their lives together, they get married. However, until recently, this was not a possibility for gay couples. For a long time, they had no option for being legally recognized as a couple. Then, on January 31, 2011, the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Bill was signed into legislation and enacted later that year.
This bill essentially made it legal for same-sex couples to enter into a civil union, which was to be identical to marriage. By June 1, 2014, a bill went into effect that enabled same-sex couples to get legally married. And just as same-sex marriage is legal, so is same-sex divorce. If you have questions about civil union dissolution, speak with a skilled Kane County, IL family law attorney to learn more.
How Can I Get My Illinois Child Custody Order Changed?
When parents split up, any conflict or acrimony between the two can often spill over into their co-parenting relationship. Even long after the court has issued its final custody decree, parents may still disagree over even some of the most basic issues concerning their child.
However, there are situations where one parent may have a legitimate reason to worry about their child's safety when they are with the other parent. Unfortunately, that parent cannot just decide on their own to stop the child’s parenting time with the other parent. If you find yourself in this situation, it is important to speak with an Illinois family lawyer to determine your legal options.
How Illinois Law Views Child Custody
Several years ago, there was a major overhaul of Illinois family law statutes by lawmakers. One of those changes involved how child custody is viewed. Instead of referring to this issue as "child custody," the court now refers to it as the "allocation of parental responsibilities," which refers to significant decision-making for the child and "parenting time," which replaces the term "visitation."
Do I Have to Divide a Personal Injury Settlement in Divorce?
One of the hardest things to do in any divorce is to split up marital assets. Courts want spouses to to reach an agreement on their own, but sometimes this is not possible because of distrust, hostility, or the complexity of their assets.
People often have questions about what is included in marital asset division. Is the wedding ring? How about the antique car one spouse inherited from his grandfather? Lottery winnings? Personal injury or workers’ comp money? Read more to learn about what the division of marital assets might include. Then, contact our greta team of Illinois divorce attorneys to get advice for your situation.
What Kind of Property is Divided in an Illinois Divorce?
Divorce law is different from state to state, so the law in one state may not be the same as states that are right next door. In some states, for example, personal injury money is not considered marital property. In Illinois, however, it is. This means that if you got a personal injury settlement during your marriage, that money is considered marital property and could be divided in your divorce.
How Can a Financial Restraining Order Protect Assets in an Illinois Divorce?
When people hear the word "restraining order," they often associate it with situations involving domestic violence or harassment. However, other types of restraining orders can be issued under Illinois law, including a financial restraining order. If you and your spouse are getting divorced and have significant assets or anticipate that any negotiations over the division of marital assets will be contentious, a financial restraining order can ensure your right to those assets is protected. A Kane County divorce lawyer can assist you with this process.
Why Would You Need a Financial Restraining Order?
The state of Illinois uses the equitable distribution standard when it comes to dividing up assets and property in a divorce. The goal is to divide these items fairly. However, in many cases, fairness is not necessarily a 50/50 split. Factors the court may consider include how long the couple has been married, what the financial contributions of each spouse were, and what each spouse’s future financial earnings outlook is.
What Can I Do if My Divorce Mediator is Biased?
In times past, the stereotype of divorce was that of an angry, prolonged courtroom battle. Spouses lobbied insults at each other over the heads of their attorneys, while the judge banged the gavel and called for order.
If that ever was the case, it certainly is not anymore. Judges in Illinois want to see couples do their best to solve problems on their own, without the help of a court. Although court intervention is possible and sometimes necessary, divorces with the best long-term outcomes are those in which a couple is able to negotiate important issues outside of court, using divorce mediation if necessary.
Of course, in order to work towards a fair divorce decree, everybody has to be negotiating in good faith. That includes the mediator. Most mediators are careful, wise, and experienced divorce attorneys who understand what it takes to get a reasonable agreement out of a disagreeing couple. Mediators are not perfect, however, and sometimes they run into the same personal biases that the rest of us do. If you are trying to pursue divorce mediation and have a hunch that your mediator is turning the case against you, it is important to take action. The outcome of a divorce decree has the potential to impact you for the rest of your life. Contact our Illinois divorce attorneys today.
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