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Studies show that interfaith marriages are happening much more frequently than in the past. With increasing interfaith marriages often, unfortunately, comes interfaith divorce. Although many aspects of divorce are the same regardless of the religions of the spouses, one particularly unique issue in interfaith divorce becomes the religion of the children.
Even if one of the spouses converts to the religion of the other prior to or during the marriage, it is not uncommon for that converting spouse to return to their original religion upon a divorce. This situation raises serious complications for the children of the divorce, even if the parents had previously agreed to raise their children in one particular belief system. Think of the following real world example:
Bob, raised Jewish, meets Sue, who was raised Catholic. Before marrying, Sue converts to Judaism. The two have three children, whom they agree to bring up Jewish. When the parents divorce years later, Sue returns to the Catholic religion. Soon, an issue develops as to what services the children are/are not allowed to attend on the weekend with their respective parents.
Generally, the duty to pay child support terminates when the child turns 18 or graduates high school, whichever happens last. The law is structured this way because there is presumption that after a child turns 18 or graduates from high school, he or she would be capable of supporting him or herself. However, under certain circumstances the legal duty to pay child support can continue past these two occurrences. One common situation where child support continues is when there is a child with disabilities.
The reason behind continued child support for a disabled child over the age of majority stems from the simple fact that the child is unable, for whatever disability, to support him or herself. Because of this, the legal and financial responsibility often falls on the disabled adult’s parents to continue the support. Unfortunately, disabled adults often have unique financial demands – like tuition for specialized educational institutions or excessive health care costs.
Property division is often a hotly contested issue of divorce. When a family business is involved, property division becomes even more complex and often much more contested. The parties must establish what the business is actually worth and ultimately, what to do with it.
Remember that under Illinois law, property acquired during the marriage (absent property acquired by gift, inheritance, or other special circumstances) is considered marital property subject to the equitable division of the courts. Any business started by either of the parties during the marriage would therefore qualify as marital property.
Valuation of the Business
The first step to including a family business in a property division is to determine the fair market value of the business. Unlike the marital home or family cars, parties generally don’t have an immediate and easily accessible way to value the family business. To make matters more difficult, one spouse is often more involved in the financial matters of the business than the other, which may lead to doubts as to the correct value of the business. The spouse primarily controlling the finances of the business may argue that the business is worth less in an attempt to persuade the other spouse that it isn’t worth that much. Alternatively, the less-involved spouse may have an unrealistic idea of how much the business is actually worth and may insist that the business is worth more than the records reflect.
Many custodial parents depend on the noncustodial parent’s child support payments to ensure that they have at least their most basic needs covered. Sadly, those who depend on this support often do not actually receive it – meaning both the parents and, more importantly, the children, will suffer. In a 2013 press release, the United States Census Bureau reported that only 62.3 percent of all child support owed in 2011 (the latest year for which data was available) was actually paid to the parent owed the support. Fortunately, there are legal actions that can be taken to force the other parent to start paying the child support.
How to Enforce a Court Order
If you have a court order to receive child support, there are ways to legally enforce this order so that parent starts paying. Some of the legal actions you can take include:
Divorce affects everyone differently. Sadly, many of those going through divorce proceedings result to ugly and resentful behavior, primarily aimed towards the soon-to-be ex-spouse. If one spouse has access to the other’s personal property that they know the other cherishes, it is not uncommon for that spouse to threaten or actually sell off or give away those belongings in an attempt to upset the owner. Fortunately, there are ways to deal with this form of attack and ensure that your cherished possessions are protected throughout the divorce process, even while they may be located in the house where your soon-to-be-ex resides.
Protecting Possessions
Think of this real world example: The wife is residing in marital home during divorce. The wife finds her husband’s prized baseball memorabilia collection in the basement and decides to put everything in the collection on eBay to spite her soon-to-be-ex.
More and more groups and firms are beginning to advertise that they tailor specifically towards “fathers’ rights.” You may be asking yourself why the need for all of this recent focus on fathers’ rights and how fathers’ rights actually differ from mothers’ rights in regards to domestic relations issues.
Fathers’ Rights and Custody Issues
Between the paternity laws and the number of mothers who obtain custody of the children, the issues of what happens when the children have limited or no time with their fathers is becoming a hot topic in the U.S. There have been countless studies that analyze the long-term effects on children who grow up without a father in their life. A recent Huffington Post article discussed the issue of how girls who grow up without fathers often suffer from low self-esteem issues and can have serious relationship problems as a result of not having a dad during their childhood. Another article explored a Canadian study that concluded lack of the paternal parent could cause children to become more aggressive later in life and possibly lead to a higher risk of substance abuse. Despite all of the studies that conclude it is beneficial to have a father in a child’s life, the law puts up certain barriers for fathers.
If you are currently involved in a divorce or know anyone going through the same process, you have likely heard of the term “discovery.” If it is your own divorce, you may be growing to hate the discovery process. This post seeks to break down the basics of discovery, outlining what you need to know and how it can greatly benefit your case.
What Is It?
The term discovery is used across nearly every area of law, but in divorce proceedings it refers to the process by which both sides of the divorce gather information about the other side. Discovery is a key component in any litigation, but is absolutely essential in any case where assets, property division, child support or maintenance is at issue.
Different documents and requests commonly involved in a divorce discovery stage include:
No-fault divorces have become increasingly common in Illinois. Still, the traditional grounds for divorce are still available for use. One of the grounds still used in Illinois is one party having a drug addiction or drinking addiction for at least two years. Whether that particular ground is used to file for the dissolution or not, alcohol often plays a major role in divorces in the United States.
The Statistics
Studies show that marriages are more likely to end when one spouse has a serious problem with alcohol. One particular study conducted by the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions noted that where one spouse in a marriage (and only one spouse) drank heavily (until intoxicated or having six or more drinks), the marriage was likely to end in divorce 50 percent of the time.
Everyone knows custody can be one of the most contentious issues in a divorce. What may shock people is those custody disputes don’t always only involve children – human children, that is. Increasingly, couples are feuding over pet custody during their divorce proceedings.
According to a recent survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 27 percent of those attorneys who responded said they noticed an increase in the number of clients fighting for custody of a pet during the last five years. Of those disputes, they also noted an overwhelming 88 percent of those animals caught in the middle of the custody fight were dogs.
Illinois Laws Used When Pets are an Issue
When couples raise an issue of pet custody in Illinois, the court will likely determine the issue based on traditional property division concepts. It may be hard to think of your beloved family pet as a piece of property, but for the purposes of divorce, your pet will likely be treated as such.
Traditional child support lasts until the child becomes 18 or is otherwise emancipated. In Illinois, however, child support technically continues in many cases in the form of college contribution. Although college contribution isn’t mandatory like traditional child support payments, it is frequently awarded in Illinois divorce cases and is something every divorcee with kids reaching the age of 18 should understand.
Applicable Law
Judges in Illinois are allowed to award support for educational expenses of non-minors, which may include the costs of college, costs of other professional or technical schools, or for children 19 or older that are still in high school. Although the decision to award this support is discretionary, judges are guided by four major factors in the decision making process. As designated in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA), those four factors are:
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