Over my many years of specializing in family law I have handled thousands of divorces. These have run from very simple, uncontested matters to complicated cases. Many involve custody and other disputes regarding children. I have also had divorces where people have fought over millions of dollars in [...]
Are you stuck in a bitter divorce fight?
Couples often get caught up with their perceived injustices in the divorce settlement negotiations. The disdain that they personally have for each other usually just adds fuel to the fire when negotiating.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in what we believe to be right that we [...]
Not all divorces are ugly. Some exes mediate instead of hiring pit bull attorneys, sit comfortably together at their kids’ school performances and maintain the same rules in each household.
Child support is paid on time. Neither parent speaks ill of the other in front of the children. Timeshares are flexible to support [...]
With attention fully on the Vikings stadium issue, a bill that would change child custody proceedings for divorcing parents in Minnesota is quietly inching its way closer to the governor’s desk.
The latest version of HF322 would simply increase the presumed time each divorcing parent would get with his or her kids from [...]
One of the most complex issues in a Chicago divorce is that of maintenance (“alimony”). How much maintenance or alimony is paid? Is it paid temporarily or permanently?
If you are divorcing in Illinois, imagine you agree to pay your former spouse a fixed amount of maintenance so long as he or she [...]
As working parents’ roles in the lives of their children evolve with the demands of the modern economy, so too do their parental rights as divorced parents.
Traditionally, a child’s custodial parent would be the primary residential parent and child support recipient and the non-custodial parent would pay child support and [...]
Q: My lawyer keeps talking to me about “temporary orders.” I have no idea what she is talking about, and her explanation makes less sense each time we talk. Can you tell me what these are?
A: If she cannot explain “temporary orders,” you have a serious communication issue. Unfortunately, many lawyers forget that “lawyerspeak” is [...]
In week six of Children of Divorce and Changing Families’ 8-week program, we do an exercise where we ask each child in the 10-12 year old group to create a set of rules that they wish their parents would follow to ease post divorce stresses.
The rules they write privately are then shared [...]
Divorced parents who fail to fulfill their responsibilities to their children stand to lose guardianship under a proposed law that requires both the mother and father to share custody.
The Law Reform Commission in 2005 recommended that a law be introduced requiring divorced parents to share custody of their children in the [...]
If you’ve ever sat down with a tax specialist or a financial advisor, he/she might have mentioned something about a QDRO or Qualified Domestic Relations Order. And, if you’re like the millions of other folks just hearing this phrase, you might be wondering what it means and how it affects you. It’s [...]
