Often I am asked when a child of divorced parents (or parents who never married) does not have to visit one parent. Illinois law clearly holds that court-ordered parenting time, formerly called custody and visitation, applies until the child reaches age 18. Until...

Part of Public Act 99-90, taking effect in Illinois on January 1, 2016, substantially adds to the divorce statutes governing parental obligations for their children's college expenses. Under the new law, all educational expenses must be incurred before the child turns...

Part of the new law going into effect in Illinois on January 1, 2016, significantly changes grounds for divorce. Under the law that has been in effect since 1977, a person needs a reason (grounds) for divorce. The grounds can be "no fault" or "fault." Fault grounds...

Effective January 1, 2016, Illinois parentage laws had many changes. Under the new law, a person is presumed to be a child’s parent if the child is born: (1) While the person and the child’s mother are married or in a civil union or substantially similar legal...

Illinois divorce and family law changed significantly beginning in 2016. One of these many changes involves relocating with children, both in and out of Illinois.Under previous law, a custodial or residential parent could relocate anywhere within Illinois without...

Illinois divorce and family law underwent substantial changes that went into effect on January 1, 2016. A major change involves children. Under the previous law, family law courts granted “custody” solely to one parent or jointly to both parents. The non-residential...

Both federal and Illinois state law made dramatic changes to maintenance, also known as alimony or spousal support, that go into effect on January 1, 2019. This article summarizes the major changes, and provides two examples applying the changes to the law. First are...

In September 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Sharpe v. Westmoreland that a civil union partner is a stepparent as defined by Illinois law. Thus a civil union partner can seek visitation / parenting time with his or her stepchildren.In the Sharpe case, Matt...

On November 30, 2020 the Illinois Appellate Court made an important ruling about child support in a post-divorce case. In Marriage of Dahm-Schell, the court decided that mandatory distributions or withdrawals taken from an inherited IRA containing money that has never...

Part of Illinois divorce law allows for child support trusts. "The court if necessary to protect and promote the best interests of the children may set aside a portion of the jointly or separately held estates of the parties in a separate fund or trust for the...

Illinois divorce courts can order parents to pay for post-high school educational expenses of their children not paid by loans, grants, scholarships, and other resources. This area of law has been subject of many recent appellate court opinions. In Marriage of...

Whether a divorce is settled or goes to trial, the final judgment requires considerable and careful crafting. Many divorces involve division of pension and retirement benefits of one or both spouses. The appellate court case of Marriage of Benson shows yet again the...