One of the most common concerns in an Illinois divorce is how property is divided. That’s true if it’s an uncontested divorce in Illinois, or a high net worth divorce. I’m an Illinois divorce lawyer, and this is my FAQ article about dividing property in an Illinois divorce.
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FAQ: Name Change After Divorce in Illinois
This is an FAQ about how to change your name after a divorce in Illinois. The information is for both an uncontested divorce in Illinois, and a contested divorce in Illinois. As an Illinois divorce lawyer, I thought this article about changing last names would be useful, even for people who aren’t my clients.
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FAQ: Quit claim deed and retitling real estate after divorce
Are you getting divorced and want to change a deed from both spouses names to just one spouse’s name? If so, then you need something called a “quit claim deed.” We wrote this FAQ on quit claim to help you from falling into the trap of ineffective settlement agreements on bogus online services.
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How to: Get an Illinois uncontested divorce, with a lawyer, for a flat fee
Do you want to know how to get an Illinois uncontested divorce, with a lawyer, for a flat fee? I explain the process below in easy-to-understand steps. As an Illinois uncontested divorce lawyer, I know people are sometimes nervous about starting a divorce in Illinois, or they think a lawyer is going to rip them off. Hopefully this “how to” article will help.
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Top 5 Gotchas: Uncontested Divorce Services
Starting an uncontested divorce in Illinois can sometimes feel like a great weight was taken off your back. In fact, if you call or text us at 312-554-5433, or contact us online, you might have that feeling in a few minutes. But you might want to read this article for more info about a few “gotchas” you should watch out for when using any type of uncontested divorce service.
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The Best Divorce Lawyer: Giving all the “right” answers?
Want to best divorce lawyer in Illinois? If you are like some people, then you will search for a lawyer that tells you what you want to hear. And you will most likely be very displeased with what happens in your case.
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What about personal injury lawsuits in divorce?
Let’s say you’ve been been injured at work, or driving a car. If that’s the case, then you might sue someone for a personal injury, or maybe you have ea worker’s compensation case. If so, you might receive a large sum of money as damages. But will you have to split that with your spouse?
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Need an Order of Protection? Then realize . . .
Need an order of protection in Illinois? If you think you do, then you should realize a couple things about orders of protection (or as some call them, “restraining orders”).
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Divorce Lawyer: 5 Tips for Finding the Best Lawyer
I’m a divorce lawyer in Illinois. Specifically, areas such as Chicago, Skokie, Evanston, and Wilmette, and the Counties of Lake and DuPage. If you want to start a contested or uncontested divorce, then you should consider these 5 tips for choosing the best divorce lawyer.
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Summer Time – for fake vacations and interstate custody battles
It’s summertime again. And for an Illinois divorce lawyer, that means it’s time for fake vacations that lead to interestate custody battles.
What happens is that a parenting claims to be taking the kids on vacation to another state – then they don’t come back! It’s sick, but it happens more than you might expect. And that leads to an interstate child custody battle involving the Uniform Interstate Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (the “UCCJEA”).
If this has happened to you, there are steps you need to take NOW. If you wait, you are risking time with your kids in involvement in their lives.
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Want to Start a Divorce? Understand Divorce Dynamics
If you are going to start a divorce in Illinois, and you expect there’s going to be some disagreement, you’re going to need to understand divorce dynamics to make the right decisions.
Divorce can evolve many trade-offs. Understanding them can help you make strategic decisions.
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Free Consultation for Illinois Divorce: Beware!
If you are looking for a free divorce consultation, beware. You probably won’t get what you’re looking for – and if you do, you’re probably not looking for the right stuff.
As an Illinois divorce lawyer who handles uncontested and contested divorces, I get many calls from people asking for divorce consultations – and man people want a free consultation. That’s understandable. But some things that are understandable are still a bad idea.
Let me explain the myth of the free divorce consultation.
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Divorce Tip: Hire a black lawyer
If you want to get divorced in Illinois, then you might be searching the internet for tips on getting divorced. Your divorce might involve child custody, division of assets, and spousal maintenance (alimony). And of course, you want a good lawyer. There are lots of articles out there about finding the best divorce lawyer.
But has anyone come right out and said you should hire a lawyer because the color of that lawyer’s skin? Probably not. Until now.
Read on to find out why I think there are some great benefits to hiring a black lawyer. (more…)
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Child taken to Illinois? It’s a UCCJEA emergency!
If your child has been taken from some other state to Illinois – without your permission – then you are likely experiencing a child custody emergency. That being the case, you will need a lawyer with expertise in the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (the “UCCJEA”). The UCCJEA is a “uniform law” that has been adopted by nearly every state.
The problem is that most lawyers have little to no useful familiarity with the UCCJEA – let alone familiarity with using it within the context of an emergency. But I do.
Furthermore, I was the winning appellant in my own UCCJEA case that was heard before the Michigan Supreme Court.
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FAQ: Depositions for divorce and child custody
If you are involved in a divorce in Illinois, you might wonder, “What is a deposition?” Long story short, it’s an interview of a party or witness that can be used in court. But as a divorce lawyer in Illinois, I know that people actually have many more questions about depositions. That’s why I wrote this FAQ about depositions in a divorce in Illinois. (more…)
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Uncontested Divorce: One-stop Shop
As a Chicago divorce lawyer, I’ve got one word for people who don’t want to needlessly spend money on a lawyer. And that word is “sane.” I’m dedicated to helping people get an affordable divorce in Chicago, and elsewhere in Illinois.
Who can get an uncontested divorce?
An uncontested divorce can work regardless of income level, kids, or property issues. “It’s a myth that an uncontested divorce is only for people of modest means. The other week, a neurosurgeon contacted me about the process.
Whether you are a high net worth family or not, an uncontested divorce in Illinois might be an option.
Benefits of an Uncontested divorce
An uncontested divorce is almost always immensely less expensive and faster than one where the spouses fight it out. Divorce is about moving on with life. And often the easiest way to do that is to come to agreement and to put the past behind you. Many people can hire a lawyer for a flat-fee for an uncontested divorce.
My clients benefit from the efficiency of the process I use. I provide documents either by mail or electronically, and in an uncontested divorce, my client usually only has to appear in court once – when the divorce is granted. The divorce might take only one month.
Lawyer provides information about uncontested divorce
UncontestedDivorceInIllinois.com will not provide legal advice, but instead will help arm people with useful information and direct them to a divorce lawyer and Illinois family law attorney. Visitors will also be able to submit questions and have them answered by an Illinois family law attorney and Chicago divorce lawyer.
Questions that will be addressed include:
- What is the process of an uncontested divorce in Illinois?
- Can we both use the same lawyer in an uncontested divorce?
- How long does a divorce take?
- How do I find an uncontested divorce lawyer?
- What are the main issues we need to agree on?
- How is property and debt divided?
- What do we do about the house, and do I need an Illinois real estate lawyer?
- How much child support should be paid in Illinois?
Warning: “Online divorce” nonsense
People should be warned against using online websites to complete divorce documents without the assistance of a lawyer. Using a website to create legally binding documents can lead to what I call divorce déjà vu – problems the spouses think they solved, but instead, may rear their ugly heads years later. Instead of creating problems by trying to use a website as a lawyer, I can assist people with an affordable uncontested divorce so they can try to move on with life with less stress.
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Cheating and adultery: relevant to divorce in Illinois?
“He cheated on me,” my new client told me. “Isn’t there anything I can do about that?” she asked.
As a Chicago divorce attorney, I’m asked that type of question about adultery frequently. And while adultery and cheating often make headlines – for instance with General David Petraeus’ resignation from his position as the
director of the CIA – people interested in divorce in Illinois should realize this one truth: cheating and adultery is almost totally irrelevant to getting divorced.Below is a brief breakdown of cheating and adultery as applied to divorce in Illinois.
Grounds for a divorce and the “waiting period”
When someone files a “petition for dissolution of marriage” to start off of divorce, he or she must allege grounds for a divorce. Most people allege “irreconcilable differences,” or what people often refer to as “no-fault.” While it is true that adultery can be alleged, almost no one does that any more – not even those who have been cheated on.
In Illinois, when citing “irreconcilable differences” as the grounds for divorce, parties must have been living “separate and apart” for two years before being granted a divorce, a period that can be reduced to six months of both parties agree.
However, when citing “fault-based” grounds such as adultery, there is no waiting period. So for some wanting a quick divorce, it might be tempting to allege adultery. However, proving adultery is time-consuming, and expensive, and quite likely will not speed up the finalization of a divorce.
Dividing marital property
When getting divorce, marital property is divided, while parties’ non-marital property is not divided. Someone who has been cheated on may think that because he or she has been wronged, then the other party should get less of the marital property. Alas, it doesn’t work that way. Adultery is totally irrelevant to the percentage of the marital property awarded to either party.
Spousal Support, known as “alimony”
Did your husband or wife cheat on you? If so, that hurts. But it will have zero impact on the amount of spousal support (aka alimony) that is paid, if any. Some lawyers make think that characterizing a spouse as a “cheater” will make a judge dislike the spouse, and and that the non-cheater will somehow benefit. But that is unlikely – most divorce judge are too busy to worry about something that is legally irrelevant.
Dissipation
The issue of dissipation is the only area in which adultery is pragmatically relevant. Dissipation occurs when, sometime after the irretrievable breakdown of a marriage has begun, one spouse uses marital funds for non-marital purpose. For example, if a husband buys his girlfriend a $200,000 condo in Las Vegas, those funds have been dissipated, and the wife should essentially be paid back. Dissipation can stem from many different activities aside from adultery, like gambling or an addiction to drugs.
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Do I need a Chicago divorce lawyer?
Most people don’t want to spend money on a Chicago divorce lawyer. I have one word for those people – sane!
Unfortunately, when seeking a divorce in Illinois (called a “dissolution of marriage”), when spouses try to handle a divorce on their own, mistakes happen, and time is wasted. I wrote this article to address some common questions about hiring a family law attorney in Illinois.
Do I need a lawyer for a divorce in Illinois?
No, you don’t need a lawyer. Likewise, when you are a passenger on a plane, you don’t need a pilot – but things might go a bit smoother a trained professional at the helm.True, there is a lot of free information out there about how to get a divorce. Some services help you draft material you need to file for divorce. However, an Internet-based form will not answer anyone’s questions, should they arise.
I can tell you from experience that people often have misperceptions about the law of divorce in Illinois – most of which is in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. For example, people often think because one one name is one a bank account, that bank account is absolutely the sole property of the spouse whose name is on it – but that’s not true.
The point is, if you are using a form to help you get divorced without a lawyer, you run the risk of making ill-informed decisions that could impact your life for years to come.
My husband/wife and I agree on everything, we don’t need a lawyer, do we?
Even when people agree, having a lawyer can have benefits for both. First, even if only one party has a lawyer, at least the settlement agreement will be written in a professional manner.
Further, unfortunately, sometimes people think that both spouses are in agreement – but they find out differently later. I cannot tell you home many times a client has said to me “We’re very amicable, I don’t think we’re going to need to worry about that issue,” then a couple months down the line, those same people are driving each other nuts with disagreement. A lawyer can help prevent problems.
It won’t take me too much time to get divorced in Illinois, will it?
It depends what you consider “too much time.” You will need to go to court to file papers, figure out how to draft agreements, and deal with court procedure. Then, you have to actually appear in court several times if you are trying to handle your divorce yourself. Maybe you don’t want to take off time for work? Maybe you don’t want to waste a lot of time with confusing legal forms? That’s another reasons to hire a lawyer.
After we get divorced, will we every have to come back to court?
It’s possible – especially when the divorce doe not appropriately wrap up all the loose ends. Here’s an example involving a house. During a marriage, the wife agreed to co-sign on the sister-in-law’s mortgage. The spouses drafted their own settlement agreement, which included a provision that stated the husband would indemnify the wife against any payments for his sister’s mortgage. However, since the agreement wasn’t professionally drafted, and the judge who approved it must not have read it, the wife (now ex-wife) had to hire me to clean up the mess. And frankly, at this point, it might be impossible to fix everything.
Long story short, prevent divorce deja vu – don’t try to go it alone and create the risk you will have to revisit the matter years later.
We want an uncontested divorce – can we use the same lawyer?
Some lawyers might agree to represent both parties. If you find one that will – run!
For an uncontested divorce in Illinois, many people want to have both spouses use the same lawyer. But if a lawyer does that, he or she cannot give any legal advice to either party – and that can be a problem. Instead, what I often do is represent the petition in an uncontested divorce (the petition is the person who files for divorce), and i draft all the agreements. Then, the other party (the respondent) can either choose to represent him/herself, or can hire a lawyer to simply review the documents and to appear when the divorce is finalized at the “prove up.” The advantage to this system is that the spouses to have to hire two lawyers to do duplicative and expensive work – the second lawyer’s job is potentially very light and relatively inexpensive.
We don’t have any assets, do we will need a lawyer?
Often people tell me they don’t have any assets, then it turns out they do. The following are examples of assets: checking account, savings account, CD, bonds, stocks, cars, electronics, art work, interests in businesses (even if currently in red), houses. There are few people getting divorced that truly don’t have any assets.
Also, assets are only one half of the marital financial pictures – there is also debt. Marital debt can be divided, just like an asset. Is there a car loan in both your names? That can be divided. Is there a mortgage in both your names? You’d probably want that divided.
By hiring an attorney, you can have a professional manage the process of divorce in Illinois. Otherwise, you risk not properly accounting for assets and debts. When that happens, you could have a nasty surprise years later.
We already divided our assets, so that part is done, right?
No. That’s because in Illinois, when people are married, unless there is a pre-nuptual or ante-nuptial agreement, ownership is not determined by title to any
given assets. Therefore, despite the fact that you think your assets are divided, they are not divided in the eyes of the court.For example, a wife may have a bank account that is only titled to her – the husband’s name is not on it. However, because they are married, that bank accouwith the wife’s name on it is still considered marital property and subject to division upon divorce.
