Recent Blog Posts
Blocking Your Ex From Moving Out of State With Your Child
Family courts in Illinois prefer to see both parents cooperating to raise their child following a divorce, separation or breakup. Regardless of the issues between the adults, the child’s needs should always come first. In most cases, however, shared parenting responsibilities do not usually translate into equal parenting time. One parent is typically designated to have primary residential responsibilities, providing a primary physical address for the child to be used for school enrollment and other considerations. If your child lives with your ex more than half of the time, you may be wondering about your rights if your ex decides he or she wants to move out of Illinois.
New Laws Regarding Child Removal
For many years, if a parent subject to a child custody agreement wanted to move out of Illinois, he or she was required to get the permission of the court. Moving a child out of state was referred to as the removal of the child. Last year’s sweeping changes to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, however, eliminated the term “removal”—and “child custody,” incidentally—and created the new legal concept of relocation.
Caring for Your Furry Friends Through a Pet Trust
In the process of preparing your estate plan, you have probably given a great deal of thought to which of your children, grandchildren, or other loved ones will receive certain assets or a portion of your estate. For example, if you only have one soon-to-be teenage grandchild, you may decide that he or she should inherit your paid-off car. With all of these considerations to be made, it can be relatively easy to forget about the companion animals with whom you share you home. Can your estate plan include provisions for caring for your dog or cat after your death?
Understanding Pet Trusts
The short answer is yes. There are ways that you can provide for the protection and well-being of domestic animals in your estate plan. Illinois law allows you to establish a trust with the sole purpose of providing care for “one or more designated domestic or pet animals.” The law itself is not very specific as to what types of animals may be covered, but case law precedents have been set to allow for the care of dogs, cats, horses, and a variety of others.
What Is the Estate Tax?
Although he was not the first to make such an observation, Benjamin Franklin wrote to a friend in 1789, “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” The tongue-in-cheek quip was not really a commentary on death or taxes, but on his hope for a new country in its infancy. What his contemporaries may not have predicted is that some 240 years later, there may actually be a type of death tax. While “death tax” is not exactly an accurate description, it is possible for the government to claim a portion of a recently deceased person’s estate.
Estate Tax Defined
According to the Internal Revenue Service, the federal estate tax is a formal tax on your right to transfer your assets and property upon your death. The estate tax applies to those the portion of an estate that exceeds a minimum value standard. The standard is increased every year to account for inflation, and, in 2016, that minimum is $5.45 million per person. Those with an estate valued at more than that amount could be subject to the estate tax.
The Basics of Equitable Distribution in Illinois
When you are going through a divorce, it is a reasonable to wonder how you and your spouse will divide the property that you have accumulated during the course of your marriage. For many couples, in fact, disputes regarding the division of assets are among the most contentious in the entire divorce process. If you and your spouse are not able to reach an agreement regarding your property, the court will rely on provisions in the law to determine which of you will be receiving what.
Not Necessarily Equal
Illinois is an equitable distribution state, which means there is not legal presumption that marital property should be divided equally. Rather than a guaranteed 50-50 split, equitable distribution holds that the marital estate must be divided in a manner that is reasonable and fair, based on the circumstances of the marriage and divorce. This means that every situation is unique and must be considered individually by the court.
How Does Divorce Really Affect Children?
Divorce is one of the most stressful life events a person can experience. In fact, according to the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, it is the second most stressful live event a person can endure. Divorce and marital separation are higher on the list of stressful events than imprisonment, death of a family member, pregnancy, and getting fired from a job. Many parents considering or currently going through a divorce will understandably worry how this stress will affect the smallest members of their household.
Children Are Surprisingly Resilient
Approximately, 1.5 million children are faced with this life change every year in the United States. The initial emotional fallout of parental separation may leave children feeling sad, angry, and anxious. They may experience difficulties at school or exhibit behavior changes. However, research from the University of Virginia suggests these negative responses to divorce do not last forever in children. Although children are understandably shaken by their parents’ separation at first, the negative feelings and behaviors are usually gone by after two years. In further research from Penn State University, children were followed after enduring their parents’ divorce for several years. The children, overall, did not show long-term diminishment in their academic success, emotional health, relationships and self-esteem.
Remarrying in Your Golden Years
After retirement, many people feel that their time for making huge life decisions are behind them. They have completed a career, raised families, and now is the time to enjoy the life they created. Many by this point in time are single due to divorce or the unexpected death of their spouse. The option of marrying late in life is often overlooked, but in the right situations may be just what is needed.
Cohabitation vs. Marriage: The Great Debate
A growing trend in the population of those over 65 years of age is cohabitation rather than marriage. These couples still may wish to marry, but due to their reasons, they have made the decision not to do so. For many, the decision stems from the financial benefits of staying single along with a variety of other factors. Those who choose to take the plunge again, or perhaps for the first time, are in a portion of the population that is reducing each year. However, those who do often find marriage to be much more straightforward with less outside influence.
A No-Contest Clause Could Help Solidify Your Will
In a recent post on this blog, we talked a little bit about how to decide if and when you should challenge the will of a recently-deceased loved one. Such a decision is never easy and must be made with great care. But, what about the other side of the equation? Is there anything you can do to help prevent a contest of your own will, if and when the time comes? In fact, there are a few things that can be done, including a provision that can be included right in the will itself. It is known colloquially as a non-contest clause and can be a useful tool in simplifying matters after your death.
What Is a No-Contest Clause?
A no-contest clause is sometimes referred to as an in terrorem provision. In terrorem translates from Latin as “about fear,” and such a clause in a legal document provides some sort of penalty to a party who challenges the document and loses. In the realm of estate planning, no-contest clauses may be used in the creation of wills or trusts to discourage most challenges from named heirs or beneficiaries.
Protecting Your Child From an Alcoholic Parent
If you are a divorced or unmarried parent whose child spends time with your former partner, you undoubtedly have concerns that they are being well-cared for and protected. This is hard enough when there is no rational reason to suspect a problem. When your child’s other parent is battling issues with alcohol use, however, the stakes get very high, very quickly. While you may not be able to control the other parent’s behavior, parenting style, or lifestyle choices, there are ways that you can ensure that your child is protected.
Determine the Scope of the Problem
The first thing you will need to do is determine how serious the other parent’s problem is or could be. One good way of estimating this is by considering how you learned about the possible issue. Was alcohol a problem for him or her during your relationship? If so, was it simply a need to drink or was it a binge-drinking problem? If you have heard rumors from friends or have seen on social media that the other parent is out partying from time to time, you will need to look deeper. If, on the other hand, your child tells you that the other parent had too much to drink and passed out on the sofa while your child was still awake—and it happens regularly—you need to take action. Reports of drinking and driving with your child in the car must also be taken very seriously.
Adopting Your Stepchild in Illinois
While it may seem cold and impersonal to reduce family relationships to mere statistics, the numbers can hardly be disputed. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that, thanks to increasing rates of remarriage and other factors, some 1300 new stepfamilies are formed every single day in the United States. It has become much more common and expected for a child to have a separate relationship with each parent and their respective new partners following their remarriages. In some cases, a child’s relationship with a particular stepparent becomes so strong that the stepparent may be inclined to legally adopt the child.
If you are thinking about adopting your stepchild, however, there are a number of things you will need to consider, including:
You Assume Full Parental Rights and Responsibilities
As a stepparent, you may have been able to forge a healthy, enjoyable relationships with your stepchild, but your legal rights and responsibilities are somewhat limited. You do not have recognized authority to make decisions regarding the child, nor are any inheritance rights presumed. Instead, your role may be somewhat limited, despite your love for the child.
Is Your Prenuptial Agreement Unfair?
In today’s world, more and more couples are drafting and executing prenuptial agreements before they walk the down the aisle. While each couple may have their own reasons for doing so, there are certain cultural trends that have made such agreements more necessary now than perhaps ever before. Research shows that young people are waiting longer to get married, which means that each partner is likely to have accumulated wealth or property prior to marriage, creating the need for financial discussion ahead of time.
Similarly, those who are considering getting married for the second or third time are well served by a prenuptial agreement. In these situations, a prenuptial agreement can be used to secure financial matters and to protect the inheritance rights of children from previous relationships.
Keeping It Reasonable
While a prenuptial agreement can cover a wide variety of economic and lifestyle concerns, it is very important for the agreement to be reasonably fair to both parties. Of course, a couple heading for marriage would want to be fair with one another, but fairness in a prenuptial agreement means more than that. An agreement that is found to be too unfair can actually be set aside by the court as unenforceable, meaning that the agreement loses virtually all of its binding authority.
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