Posted on July 15, 2014 in Divorce

When going through a divorce, one of the most important things you need to be able to is to trust your divorce lawyer. It is essential for you to trust that he or she will represent your best interests during what is quite often a very complicated and emotional process. And in order for your attorney to best represent you, there are certain pieces of information you should share during your initial attorney consultation.

To begin, there may be embarrassing incidents from your past that you are uncomfortable sharing. However, it is better for your divorce lawyer to hear about these incidents from you, and to thus prepare the best case for you, instead of being taken by surprise within the courtroom.

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 Posted on July 10, 2014 in Child Custody and Support

In child custody situations where one parent has primary physical custody, the non-custodial parent is often ordered to pay child support. In Illinois, child support is usually based on the number of children and the net income of the parent who has to pay the support.

The amount of child support for one child is 20 percent of payor’s net income. For two children the rate bumps up to 28 percent. The rate for three children is 32 percent, and for four it is 40 percent. Finally, the rate for five children is 45 percent and six or more children is 50 percent of the payor’s net income.

In order to determine what the non-custodian’s net income is, certain deductions are allowed to be taken from his or her gross income. Those deductions include federal, state, and social security taxes, health insurance premiums, medical expenses, union dues, previous support orders, mandatory retirement contributions, reasonable debt obligations, and reasonable living expenses.

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 Posted on July 08, 2014 in Divorce

Going through a divorce is never easy, even if you are the one who wants out of the marriage. There are steps you can take to help the legal divorce process go smoothly and with less acrimony between you and your soon-to-be former spouse. These steps will also help keep legal costs down.

• Provide the necessary documents and financial records that your attorney requests in a timely manner;
• Bring required documents to the law office or court hearings when your attorney asks you to do so;
• Make sure the records and documents are organized and easy to follow;

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 Posted on July 02, 2014 in Child Custody and Support

A new review, Lesbian and Gay Parents and Determination of Child Custody: The Changing Legal Landscape and Implications for Policy and Practice, conducted by researchers from Drexel University reveals that LGBT parents still encounter bias from the family court system when it comes to child custody disputes. The review appears in the premiere issue of Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, and was published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Despite many states, like Illinois, passing laws allowing same-sex marriages, as well as last year’s Supreme Court decision which ruled the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional, parents in the LGBT community are still being denied the same legal rights as heterosexual parents.

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 Posted on June 28, 2014 in Divorce

If you and your spouse recently decided to call it quits, how you and your body chemistry deal with divorce remains to be seen. For some, there may be a shedding of a few pounds. But for others, the first line of defense is double packing on the pounds by stress eating. One way or another it happens to us all.

As you stress over continual maintenance payments, child support orders, and the division of marital property, it is in your best interest to retain an experienced and knowledgeable divorce attorney, assist your children with their concerns, and take care of your own physical well being.

And with that said, the impact divorce has on your body can go either way. There may be days when you forgo eating. Or, there may be days when your new best friend is a quart of ice cream. The team at Harvard Medical School believes that when stress eating is evident, the body’s hormones create havoc due to an increase of high fat or sugar laden comfort foods. The team also suggests that this cycle can increase overeating.

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 Posted on June 19, 2014 in Divorce

Many believe that police officers probably have one of the highest divorce rates of any occupation. However, in a study conducted by Radford University, law enforcement was not even in the top 15 of occupations with the highest rates. In fact, according to the study, police officers had a lower rate than the rest of the general population. Researchers used data from the U.S. Census Bureau. However, they only looked at people who were currently divorced and not those who may have remarried after previous divorce.

One of the questions raised was whether or not it is the profession itself that causes the high rate of divorce, or if people who are precarious in their marriage commitment are drawn to the profession because of the opportunities it may hold. For example, the profession with the highest divorce rate was dancers and choreographers, which had a rate of 43.05 percent. Professional dancers, entertainers, and athletes have more chances at infidelity because of traveling and time spent away from home.

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 Posted on June 17, 2014 in Divorce

The battle of the sexes is at it again. According to an article published by ABC News, the gender of your children may determine the marital future of their parents.

Of course, as parents, we are primarily concerned with the health and happiness of all our children, but recent data from the U.S. Census shows that couples who raise girls may find it more hazardous to a marriage, as well as to the decision to remarry after the dissolution of a first marriage. Data further suggests that raising boys, on the other hand, tends to hold the family together. Often mothers of boys choose to remarry following divorce. The data further concludes this is not so common for mothers of daughters.

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 Posted on June 12, 2014 in Family Law

According to US News, calculations of men as high as 50 percent will cheat, while only a third of women will do the same. However, clinical data remains sketchy at best.

So what do you do if you suspect your spouse is having an affair? Do you ignore the situation and hope it runs its course? Do you confront your fears and confront your spouse? Or do you hire a private detective to provide the hard core evidence? How you handle your suspicions is entirely your choice. As you contemplate your next move, perhaps having an experienced Illinois divorce attorney on speed dial should also be part of your covert operation.

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 Posted on June 10, 2014 in Divorce

The University of Missouri recently published research results on how Twitter and social media can be hazardous to the health of our personal relationships. And while social networks have revolutionized how we build and maintain our relationships, researcher Russell Clayton, a doctoral student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, claims that active Twitter users are more likely to experience conflict in the romance department.

According to an article recapping Clayton's findings published by the MU News, Clayton's research indicates that active Twitter users may find themselves outside the door looking in, as excessive Twitter use can lead to emotional and/or physical cheating or even divorce.

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 Posted on June 05, 2014 in Divorce

A new study published by the University of Illinois confirms that couples who equally share responsibility for the household chores have a better chance of staying together and avoiding divorce court.

The study, recently conducted with over 220 couples participating, concluded that wives who choose to equally divide the daily household chores are significantly happier, especially when their husbands are totally agreeable. If the husband falls behind in his duties or flat out refuses to cooperate, the wives' happiness sharply plummets. Hence the saying, “a happy wife, a happy life!”

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