Month: December 2012

Illinois families hoping to adopt a child faced a setback when the state went head-to-head with Catholic Charities in 2011 over adopting to same-sex couples. Now, families hoping for a child from Russia have had that door slammed shut as well. The lower house of the...

In many divorce proceedings, the court is not all that interested in hearing the details of one spouse's extra-marital affairs. That does not stop the media from endlessly recounting their lurid tales of celebrity affairs, including recently that of ex-CIA director...

There are so many i's to dot and t's to cross in a divorce. When kids enter the picture, the details really seem to pile up, and every one of those details plays a role in determining what is in the best interest of the children. Some of those details are related to...

This is the time of year that employees find themselves going through their benefits packages to choose a health plan, to sign up for life insurance and to take care of what amounts to a huge financial outlay for some peace of mind for the coming year. When a couple...

Many years ago, a satiric columnist for now-defunct Premiere magazine wrote about leading male actors of the day. She went through a number of big names, but every so often, three words, in capital letters, would sneak in: DENNIS DENNIS DENNIS. She finally admitted...

In water cooler chats about celebrities' child support debts, most have refrained from making jokes about Dennis Rodman's hair matching his prison jumpsuit if he misses another child support payment. The former Chicago Bull, now retired, recently appeared in court for...

We are currently discussing an international child custody dispute that went before the United States Supreme Court last week. The case involves an American Army sergeant and a British citizen who had a daughter together in 2007 while they were married. They filed for...

When one or both parties to a family law case do not agree with the decision made by a trial court judge, they can file an appeal. Although rare, it is possible for a family law case to be appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, the nation's highest...

Most couples in Chicago and elsewhere probably assume that sharing the housework is an automatic way to improve a marriage. However, according to a new study conducted in Norway, couples who do an equal amount of the household chores are no less likely to divorce than...

In interviews, reality television personality Kim Kardashian has admitted that she knew "right away" that her marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries was a mistake. What she did not realize in all probability was that undoing that mistake would last longer than the...