Posted on February 27, 2025 in Family Law

When parents divorce in Illinois, they must file a parenting plan with the court. This comprehensive legal document outlines parental responsibilities, a parenting time schedule, and several other guidelines that address your children’s needs and best interests. Customizing your parenting time schedule is very important.

Some lawyers do not take the time to understand your family’s dynamic, preferring to use generic parenting time arrangements. Our skilled Lombard, IL parenting time attorneys always tailor your plans to meet your and your children’s needs.

Why Do I Need a Custom Parenting Time Schedule?

Whether you have one shared child or several, each is unique. Your parenting time schedule should reflect their individual needs. If there is a significant difference in your children’s ages or if one of them has special needs, you may want to consider setting a different schedule for each child because:

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 Posted on February 25, 2025 in Family Law

Babies can be born in so many ways in 2025. Thanks to science and medicine, if people are unable to conceive naturally, they have a variety of options available. One of those options is using a sperm donor to help a woman get pregnant. However, if you are considering doing so to start a family, you might be wondering whether the donor could have any legal rights to your child. While the law is clear in many cases, there are some important factors to consider. To learn more, speak with a qualified Illinois family law attorney.

What Does Illinois Law Say About Sperm Donor Rights?

According to the Illinois Parentage Act, sperm donors typically have no legal claim to parental rights to a child born from their donation. The law lists specific situations in which this is the case. For example, if the sperm donation was made through a licensed medical professional entity, such as a fertility clinic, and the donor signed an agreement waiving any parental rights, the donor will not be considered a legal parent. Therefore, the sperm donor will not have any parental responsibilities or visitation rights.

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 Posted on February 20, 2025 in Estate Planning

Drafting your estate plan can be difficult for many reasons. It can take an emotional toll as it is natural for people not to want to dwell on their death or a hypothetical situation when they become incapacitated. It can also be challenging to sort through everything you own and decide what should go where after you are gone.

However, many people overcome their apprehension and manage to create a clear estate plan because the benefits cannot be denied. If you have children or loved ones, having all your wishes and instructions in an orderly manner can make everything go much smoother. They also have the peace of mind that comes from knowing they are doing what you would have wanted without needing to guess, argue, and stress over it. A comprehensive estate plan addresses every question that could arise. While many people know about wills and trusts, there are many aspects of estate planning that often go overlooked. To ensure that your estate plan is comprehensive, speak with a skilled Illinois estate planning attorney.

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 Posted on February 19, 2025 in Divorce

It is a big deal to decide that you are ready for a divorce. If you have made that decision and even spoke to your husband about it but he ends up in jail, it can feel like any possible progress is grinding to a halt. The truth is that although getting a divorce while he is incarcerated might include some challenges and extra steps along the way, it is certainly possible. A knowledgeable Illinois divorce lawyer can help you understand more about your options and what you can expect.

How Do You Divorce an Incarcerated Spouse?

The divorce process includes the same steps regardless of whether your spouse is in jail when you are ready to begin.

Step 1: File a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage

You need to file your divorce papers with your local court. Once you do so, your divorce process has officially begun.

Step 2: Serve Your Spouse with the Divorce Papers

Your husband has the right to be notified of the divorce, just as he would if he was not in jail. You can accomplish this by having a sheriff or process server deliver the papers to the correctional facility where he is being detained.

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 Posted on February 13, 2025 in Family Law

Divorce for parents can be a complicated emotional process to go through. It can be hard to filter out information for your children so they understand the facts of what is happening without feeling the need to take sides. Unfortunately, some parents can be vindictive during their divorce and purposely turn their child against the other parent. Illinois courts take this very seriously, even going so far as to consider it a form of child abuse. If you think you might be a victim of parental alienation, speak with a seasoned Illinois family law attorney who can explain how these concerns can be addressed legally.

How Can I Identify Parental Alienation?

Parental alienation can be hard to identify, especially if your children are angry that you are getting a divorce and might be acting out anyway. However, parental alienation can be particularly harmful to a child’s emotional well-being so it is important to look out for some common signs that it is happening.

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 Posted on February 12, 2025 in Family Law

People do not generally think about creating a family immediately with someone they go on a first date with, but for parents, dating can be different. As a single parent, when you begin dating someone seriously, you likely hope your child and your significant other get along. And as someone without children, dating a parent can feel like an added layer of pressure, beyond just wanting the child to like you.

Some lucky couples manage to achieve the best-case scenario where the child and the parent’s significant other develop a loving relationship. If the couple gets married, the new spouse can be called a stepparent, but if the child’s other biological parent is still in the picture, this parental role is not officially recognized by law. To understand more about the stepparent-stepchild relationship when the child has two biological parents, speak with a compassionate Illinois family law attorney.

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 Posted on February 11, 2025 in Divorce

For some people, just the thought of the financial implications of a divorce is enough to make them settle for staying unhappily married. The idea of needing to divide all your joint assets and debts, in addition to making regular payments for child support and alimony, can seem overwhelming. But like any other area of life, knowledge is power, and understanding how you can have a say in these payments can help you feel more in control.

In fact, even payments that you are ordered by the court to make can be modified under certain circumstances, so an alimony order is not a life sentence. A qualified Illinois divorce lawyer can explain how alimony is calculated and when you might be able to seek modification.

When Can Alimony Be Modified or Terminated?

In Illinois, alimony is officially called spousal maintenance. It is meant to provide financial support to a former spouse who is unable to cover their expenses and not yet financially independent. However, there are also certain circumstances under which these payments can be modified or terminated.

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 Posted on February 05, 2025 in Estate Planning

Whenever someone dies without leaving behind an enforceable will, intestacy laws apply to anything in their estate. Leaving inheritance and other matters up for the state to decide often has unintended consequences, delays, and disadvantages for surviving family members. There are several ways a valid will can prevent that from happening. A knowledgeable Illinois estate planning lawyer can explain the drawbacks of intestacy laws and help you draft a will you can be comfortable with.

Reason #1: Decision-Making

Who Gets Your Assets?

If you die without leaving a valid will, you are not voicing your wishes for how your assets should be divided. The power to make those decisions is transferred to the state.

The Illinois Probate Act has guidelines for such situations: if you have a spouse and children when you die, assets are split equally among them, with your spouse receiving one half and the other half divided by any children; if you do not have a wife or children, your assets might go to your parents, siblings, or even more distant relatives, depending on your specific situation; if the state cannot locate any eligible heirs, your estate could go through the escheat process and be claimed by the state of Illinois.

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 Posted on January 30, 2025 in Child Custody

There is no question that we are living in a technological revolution, with new apps popping up every day to address challenges and help make our daily routines run smoother. It is natural for many people to fear change and be slow to adapt, but some of these apps have managed to streamline parts of life that were previously the sources of stress and tension. One surprising area where technology has developed to meet modern needs is co-parenting for divorced parents.

Ex-spouses often need to engage in a great deal of communication and coordination when they have children. With so much to juggle, including custody schedules, school events, and medical appointments, co-parenting apps are meant to help parents stay on top of everything they need to do and know. While many have advantages and disadvantages alike, a knowledgeable Illinois divorce lawyer can help you understand whether they might be a good fit for you and your ex.

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 Posted on January 28, 2025 in Family Law

One of the aspects of divorce that many parents feel particularly stressed about is child support. People tend to worry about how expensive divorce will be, and parents who need to pay child support can feel overwhelmed about how long this arrangement will factor into their personal finances. Illinois has laws and guidelines that dictate how much support you need to pay and for how long, and a knowledgeable Illinois family law attorney can help you understand them so you can plan for your financial future.

How Long Does Child Support Last?

The general rule of thumb in Illinois is that Child support continues until the child turns 18. Of course, as with all court-mandated issues related to children, your specific arrangement will be determined based on your child’s needs, and that means there can be exceptions to the rule.

For example, if the child has her 18th birthday when she is still in high school, child support payments typically continue until she either graduates or turns 19. Additionally, parents generally need to pay child support indefinitely for children with disabilities who cannot support themselves financially.

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