Recent Blog Posts
What is an Adoption Home Study and How Can I Prepare?
The adoption process is quite lengthy and requires lots of preparation in order for you to be ready to immediately care for your new child. A home study is one step of many in the adoption process. The purpose of a home study is to ensure that you and your spouse are good potential parents who can provide a child with a safe and happy home. The home study is more than just a house inspection. The inspector will also spend time interviewing both parents to gauge their character and parenting ability. This part of the adoption process can be extremely nerve-wracking but is also the part of adoption that you have the most control over.
What Should I Bring to My Home Study?
Home studies vary depending on the type of adoption that you and your spouse decide is best. However, the primary goal and document requirements remain fairly consistent. Home studies often take longer than a single visit, sometimes taking months to fully complete. The best way to reduce the amount of time spent in the home inspection is to educate yourself on the process and have the necessary documents in hand. These can include:
Consider Using a Trust to Manage Your Estate
More than half of Americans do not have any estate planning documents in place at all. Those that do most often have a will and nothing more. However, there are many estate planning instruments above and beyond a last will which can be greatly beneficial. One of these instruments is a trust.
Some people shy away from trusts because they do know exactly how trusts work or how a trust can benefit them and their family. Others assume that only the wealthy require trusts to handle the distribution of assets after their death. Neither of these estate planning myths is true. Read on to learn about the basics of trusts and how a trust may be able to work for you.
How a Trust Works
In a last will and testament, an individual writes directions for how his or her property should be distributed to heirs upon his or her death. A trust can also address how property is passed down to beneficiaries, but in a different way. A trust establishes an agreement between a testator and a trustee. The testator is the person creating the trust and may also be referred to as a settlor or grantor. The trustee is tasked with managing the settlor’s assets and distributing those assets according to instructions contained in the trust. The trustee is a fiduciary with a legal obligation to follow the terms of the trust and avoid any self-dealing or conflicts of interest in managing assets contained in a trust.
Common Parenting Schedules to Take into Consideration
Determining the allocation of parental responsibilities can be one of the most difficult aspects of divorce. Parents are not used to having to schedule a time to see their children. It is typically built into their schedule out of default. Making parenting decisions can be the portion of divorce that causes the most conflict. Emotions can run high, which can lead to an inaccurate representation of who you are as a parent. In order to avoid being overwhelmed by the legal process, it is important to be prepared when discussing parenting schedules.
Common Schedules
Although all parenting schedules can be adjusted to fit your family, there are four common divisions of parenting time that many families follow.
- 50/50: Evident in the name, the 50/50 plan has the child spending equal time with both parents. Some families have the children spend a whole week with each parent while some prefer to alternate days. This schedule is best when both parents live nearby and both are actively involved in parenting. The 50/50 schedule can make it difficult for the child to feel grounded depending on the number of days spent in each household.
Getting Married This Summer? Be Sure to Address These Estate Planning Concerns
Although we generally consider marriage to be primarily a romantic relationship, when two people join their lives together, it is also a financial union. Many studies show that disagreements about finances are the top predictor of divorce. One of the best ways that engaged couples can avoid this pitfall is to be upfront, honest, and proactive about financial plans and concerns from the very beginning. If you are a newlywed or plan to “take the plunge” this summer, it is important to consider the estate planning steps you should take to safeguard your family’s financial future.
Create Your Last Will and Testament or Update Your Existing Will
In past blog posts, we have discussed some of the most ubiquitous misunderstandings about wills. Perhaps the greatest myth regarding wills is that they are only needed after a certain age. The reality is that an adult of any age will benefit from creating a will.
What Is Child Relocation in Illinois and How Can I Get It Approved?
Many people decide to relocate after a divorce in order to have a fresh start. Seeing their former spouse in town or going to places that you used to frequent throughout your marriage can make it difficult to move on and start over. While this does not require court approval for all divorcees, those with children will need to get this legally approved. This is mandated in Illinois in order to prevent the custodial parent from intentionally keeping their children away from their other biological parent. This can occur if the marriage did not end amicably; however, a bad marriage does not make someone a bad parent. Despite the cases where one parent is attempting to control the other, relocation can be done with the child’s best interests in mind.
What Is Considered Relocation in Illinois?
Moving and relocating are not one and the same. Relocating is moving a residence on a much larger scale. According to Illinois law 750 ILCS 5/600, there are a few specific parameters required to be classified as “relocation”:
Comparing Estate Planning to Insurance
Even though there are numerous benefits to creating a will, studies show that only about 60 percent of Americans have established a will, trust, power of attorney, or other estate plans. Many people use misinformed excuses to justify not having estate plans. They may incorrectly think “I am not rich, so I do not need a will” or “I can wait until I am older or in poor health to create estate planning documents.”
Estate planning does require a person to face some uncomfortable inevitabilities and can be tedious, so it is understandable that many procrastinate on this important undertaking. However, waiting too long to think about estate planning may mean that very personal decisions regarding your property, heirs, and even your medical care could be left up to others.
Why You Need an Estate Plan Even If You Are Young and in Good Health
Anyone who drives a car on public roads must have auto insurance according to Illinois law. However, it is safe to assume that many people would have auto insurance even if it was not required by law. They know that car accidents happen across the country every day and that it is better to be safe than sorry. Generally, people understand how insurance protects them much better than how estate planning protects them. However, the two concepts are not entirely different.
Legal Guardianship of a Disabled Adult
We generally think about guardianship with regard to guardianship of children, however, this is not the only type of legal guardianship that exists. When a person cannot care for themselves due to a disability, old age, or a debilitating illness, a family member may take on the responsibility of caring for him or her. Sometimes, visiting the person several times a week and helping with certain errands and tasks is enough while other people need much more extensive assistance. For situations in which a person needs significant help, you may consider guardianship. Seeking guardianship of an adult may be the best way to ensure a disabled adult is receiving the care he or she needs, but the process is not always simple.
When Do Courts Grant Guardianship of Adults?
In Illinois, guardianship of a person over age 18 only takes place through the court system. Before a court will assign someone to be another person’s guardian, it must first confirm that the disabled or sick individual needs this level of assistance. The court will evaluate to what degree the disabled person is incapacitated by mental illness, cognitive decline, physical ailment, developmental disability, or another issue. In some situations, a drug or alcohol addiction may also be considered disabling enough to qualify a person for guardianship. The court will determine the level of incapacitation the disabled person experiences and the particular responsibilities that he or she cannot accomplish for himself or herself. Next, the court will determine what type of guardian should be selected.
How to Be a Stepparent – Legally and Emotionally
Because divorce is so common, having a stepparent or becoming one has also become less of a rarity over time. Children whose parents divorce and remarry at a young age often see this as their norm. Because they grew with it, there is nothing outside of the ordinary about having more parental figures than just the people who are biologically related to you. This is not the case with children or teens whose parents get divorced when they are old enough to remember a life when their parents were married. A stepparent can seem like a foreign concept. The emotional transition can be just as difficult, if not more, as the legal process to becoming an “official” parent through adoption.
What Does the Legal Process Look Like?
An individual is considered a child’s “stepparent” once they marry the child’s biological parent. However, in the eyes of the court, this person has no legal rights with the child. Becoming a legal guardian of a child as a stepparent can be difficult. A child can only have two legal guardians, thus the other biological parent must give up their legal rights in order for the child to gain a new legal guardian. Stepparent adoptions are most common when the other biological parent has passed away. If this is the case, the only permission needed is the stepparent’s spouse. From there, the process is similar to other adoptions. Legal documents must be completed, interviews conducted, and a decision made about whether or not the stepparent is fit to adopt the child.
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Filing for Divorce
Whether it is a long time coming or a recent revelation, divorce is difficult. Leaving someone you have been with for years is difficult regardless of the quality of your relationship due to the familiarity in having a constant presence by your side. It can be challenging for people to separate their current reality from a nostalgic past. Because filing for divorce is one of the most serious decisions you can make, it is important to be absolutely sure that this is what you want and that this is what is best for everyone. Here is a list of questions you should ask yourself before signing official documents:
- Have You Fully Communicated Your Concerns with Your Spouse?: As years of marriage continue on, communication can often get lost in translation. One spouse assumes that they know what the other is thinking due to past experiences. If divorce is on your mind, you should ensure that you have expressed your concerns with your spouse in order to avoid making a rash decision. Disclosing that your unhappiness has led you to consider divorce can sometimes be the wake-up call that spouses need after years of marriage.
Most Common Estate Planning Misunderstandings
Having a will, trust, and other estate planning documents in place can give you the peace of mind that if something happens to you, your final wishes will be fulfilled. Furthermore, comprehensive estate planning allows you to make decisions about your property and healthcare so that your family will not be burdened with making these decisions on your behalf. There are so many benefits to creating an estate plan, that it may surprise that only about 40 percent of Americans have created a will or trust. There are many myths and misunderstandings about estate planning which contribute to this.
Misunderstanding 1: You Need to Be Wealthy to Have a Will
One of the greatest misunderstandings about estate planning is that people assume it is only for the wealthy. On the contrary, anyone over age 18 can benefit from estate planning. Even if you do not have high-value assets, you probably own sentimental items which you would like given to a certain family member or friend upon your death.
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