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A child support case where a Cook County judge ruled that a woman was due $2.3 million from her ex-husband and his employer was recently settled out of court with a settlement listed to be $299,000. This case centers around Scott Bos, the father of the children, and his employer at Country Chevrolet where he was a finance manager. Bos was supposed to pay child support to his ex-wife Lisa Watson and Country Chevrolet was supposed to withhold those payments from his paycheck as per a court order that was entered. However, Country Chevrolet refused to withhold the payments from Bos’ checks and argued that he was an independent contractor instead of an employee and therefore they could not withhold the money. The judge disagreed and sided with Watson finding that Country Chevrolet had a duty to withhold the money from Bos’ check.
How Did the Amount Get So High?
It has been a little over two years since same-sex marriage became legal in Illinois. Bill Flick, a Pantagraph columnist, recently wrote about how now we are starting to see more same-sex divorce. He quotes an unnamed divorce lawyer who said ‘Even unhappy couples make it a year or two.’ Now that same-sex divorces have started to happen more frequently, it is important to understand them and how they may be the same and different from opposite-sex divorces.
The Divorce Process
The divorce process is the same for same-sex and opposite-sex couples and both need to meet the jurisdictional requirements in order to get a divorce in Illinois. Otherwise, the process is generally the same, and most of the considerations are the same, with a few exceptions including the ones explained below.
Property Division
Generally, property division of assets acquired during the marriage will be the same as it is for opposite-sex couples. However, as same-sex marriage only relatively recently became legal, there are only a few years for a couple to have marital property, and all the property from before the civil union or marriage will be considered separate property no matter how long the couple had been together before civil unions and marriage were made legal in Illinois. If a couple was in a civil union before the marriage, then the property the couple acquired during that time will also be considered marital property. Therefore, even though a same-sex couple may have been together for decades, they only get the benefit of acquiring marital assets together during the time after they entered into a civil union and/or marriage.
If you are thinking about getting married and you and your spouse are considering signing a prenuptial agreement, you may be curious as to what you can and cannot include under Illinois law. Theoretically, you can put anything you want in there, but Illinois will only recognize the parts that they allow and, depending on the circumstances, going too far afield may call the entire document into question. If you are thinking about a prenuptial agreement you should talk to a skilled prenuptial agreement attorney to make sure that the agreement will be upheld and also that your rights are protected.
Illinois Law
Prenuptial agreements in Illinois are governed under the Illinois Uniform Premarital Agreement Act. Courts often prefer prenuptial agreements because it makes property division much easier.
The Chicago Tribune reported on a recent Illinois Supreme Court decision regarding property division after cohabitating couples break up. This case was about a lesbian couple who had been together for over 25 years but had recently broken up. The two were never married. The court ruled that the couple was not entitled to the same property division protections that a married couple would have access to.
This Case
This case was brought by Ellen Brewer who was with her partner Dr. Jane Blumenthal for 26 years. They lived together and raised a child together. The couple split up in 2008 before gay marriage was legal in Illinois. The controversy centered around the dividing up of assets after the split. Ms. Brewer says that she gave Dr. Blumenthal the money to buy into the practice she is part owner of and therefore should get a portion of the assets when the business is sold. The court held that because the couple was not married, Ms. Brewer does not get the benefit of a marital type property claim.
A new law was just passed in Illinois that affects people who have restraining orders against them. The law further restricts the ability to own guns for people who have orders of protection against them or other specific domestic violence charges.
The Law
The new law goes into effect January 1, 2017. The statute lets the Illinois State Police revoke gun owners’ Firearm Owner's Identification Cards and deny someone’s application for the cards if they have certain protections filed against them. If someone has an order of protection or an order of no contact for stalking that applies to them, then they are eligible to have their ability to own firearms restricted under this new law.
The law was passed unanimously by both the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois State Senate. It was then signed by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican. Another provision of the bill allows the Illinois State Police to compare the information of the gun owner or prospective gun owner to a nationwide database to search for any restrictions against gun ownership that the person has in other states.
If you are thinking about or in the process of divorce, you need to be careful of making one of the common financial mistakes that many people make during a divorce. Indeed, make sure to understand these common mistakes and how you can avoid them, and do not hesitate to reach out to a skilled attorney for help.
Delaying Talking to an Attorney
One mistake that couples thinking about divorce make is to delay talking to a knowledgeable divorce attorney. There are many things that people may do during the divorce process that may have an effect on the final outcome and they may not know about the consequences of their actions without talking to an attorney first. Even if you have not decided to divorce but are just considering it, it can pay off in the end to talk to a divorce attorney right away. An attorney can also give you an idea of what is likely to happen during the divorce, which may help you to make a decision.
In the beginning of the year, Illinois got rid of the family law terms “custody” and “visitation.” Now the law that governs who children will live with after a divorce and who has the power to make decisions for the children, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, uses the terms “parenting time” and “allocation of parental responsibilities” instead. Though these terms have been in use since the beginning of the year, many people still may be confused about what the change means and the reasons for the change. This article discusses what the changes mean for couples struggling with child custody and visitation issues.
Definitions of the New Terms
While the terms “parenting time” and “allocation of parental responsibilities” are similar to “visitation” and “custody,” they actually divide up parenting concepts in different ways. Custody generally referred to who the children lived with and also who had the power to make decisions on behalf of the children. Visitation meant the legally protected right of the parent who the kids do not live with to spend time with the children. Now, instead of having one parent who the kids live with and who makes decisions, parenting time and allocation of parental responsibilities divides the rights in a different way.
Many news and celebrity gossip outlets have covered the divorce of actor Johnny Depp and his former wife, actress Amber Heard. The divorce was especially messy because there were accusations of domestic violence from Heard. Because of the notoriety of the couple, details of their marriage and divorce have been made public with both sides giving sometimes contradictory messages. NBC News recently reported that the exes have reached a settlement and the divorce can go through.
Even though most of us do not have the fortune of Depp and Heard to divide up, or the paparazzi and other media reporting on the details of our relationship, there are lessons that all of us can learn from their divorce settlement. This article looks at what regular people can learn about divorce settlements from the divorce of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
It is Not Always About the Money
Various news outlets are reporting that in order to settle the divorce, Johnny Depp will pay Amber Heard seven million dollars. While for most of us this is a life-changing amount of money, for Amber Heard, who has a successful modeling and acting career of her own, it may be more about the principle. Amber Heard says that she will donate the money from the divorce to a charity. Even for many couples without the massive wealth of the Depp-Heards, the money itself may not be the point of divorce settlement negotiations. While we all need money to live, sometimes money also represents other things. For example, it may be very important for one person in the couple to get what he or she thinks is fair, even if he or she does not need the money. Other times the breadwinner of the couple may be able to be in the position he or she is in because of the contributions of the other partner and the less earning person may want compensation for the years of sacrifice he or she made for the breadwinner’s career.
Pets can often feel like family members. So, when there is a divorce, the family pets may be affected as well and couples may fight over whom the pet lives with after the divorce. This article looks at the laws and rules regarding pets during a divorce in Illinois.
What Status do Pets Have?
Though pets may feel in a lot of ways like children or other family members, the law generally looks at them as property. However, now that both divorce rates and pet ownership rates have risen, judges may be more likely to take into account the unique needs of pets. Essentially, judges are able to decide themselves whether they treat a pet more like a lamp or like a child.
However, unlike with children, judges are not able to award visitation or approve any other kind of “parenting plan” where time with the animal is legally mandated to be split. Divorcing couples are allowed to make their own arrangements for sharing time with the pet without court involvement.
NOTE: As of July 2017, the law governing child support in Illinois has changed. Please see our Child Support page for more information.
If you are ordered by the Illinois court to pay child support, generally that support obligation will end at age 18 or as long as the child is still in high school. However, when a child is disabled then a parent who pays child support may be obligated to pay child support even after the child reaches adulthood.
Child Support Rules Generally
In Illinois, child support is governed by the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Generally, the parent with whom the child does not live is the one that is required to pay child support to the other parent. Illinois calculates the amount of child support owed based on the income of the parent that is ordered to pay it and the number of children the couple has together. For one child the amount is 20 percent, for two it is 28 percent, for three it is 32 percent, and for four it is 40 percent of the payor’s income. However, the court takes into account the circumstances of the parties, including the income and needs of the parties, and the income and needs of the parents.
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