Month: November 2013

In the years following an Illinois divorce, many families struggle with adjusting to the new structure of the holiday season. Parents can have difficulties accepting that they will lose a measure of time with their children during the holiday season, and struggles...

Once the decision has been made to end an Illinois marriage, many Illinois spouses are eager to get the process started. However, timing can become an issue, especially as the holiday season approaches. For many, the prospect of discussing divorce between Thanksgiving...

Getting through a divorce requires solid negotiation skills. Spouses must negotiate about property, custody, spousal maintenance and child support. It can be tough work when the stakes are so high -- deciding who will have custody is not the same as deciding where to...

We are still talking about the difficulty of enforcing child support agreements. If a noncustodial parent fails to pay, the custodial parent can go to court, certainly, but Illinois has had a poor track record of enforcing those court orders.One Lake County woman...

This is a continuation of our discussion about the problems of collecting child support payments in Illinois. The state has a terrible reputation -- "one of the worst," according to one attorney -- but there are pockets of progress. Lake County is among them.In our...

We are picking up the discussion from our Nov. 14 post. The subject is nonpayment of child support here in Illinois. The state Department of Healthcare and Family Services has been doing a better job of collecting and disbursing support payments from recalcitrant...

Deciding to file for divorce can be a difficult and emotional decision to make. Many people struggle with the thought of ending their marriage, worrying about the impact it will have on their current lifestyle as well as how it will affect their children.Divorce is...

Illinois has a bad reputation when it comes to collecting child support. The system has some very convenient aspects, but it also lets noncustodial parents get away without paying and without penalties for not paying. As a result, cases can languish with the state for...

At this writing, the most the press can find out about Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's plans to sign the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act is that it will happen sometime in November. The signing will likely be a major event, just as the state legislature's...

After what most are hailing as an historic vote in the legislature on Nov. 5, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said he will sign the legislation that legalizes same-sex marriage in the state. When Quinn follows through, the right to marry regardless of the spouses' genders...