Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance

Helpful tips for those going through a divorce in Illinois

We have been helping people find Illinois divorce lawyers since 2001. Here is some information that people have found useful and interesting over the years.

• If you sign a prenuptial agreement right before you were married it will not likely be enforceable.
• If both parties agree on every aspect of the divorce, the 6 month waiting period can be waived.
• An Illinois divorce lawyer cannot represent a client on a contingency basis.
• There are no jury trials in Illinois divorce cases.
• Once a divorce case has been filed in the courts, you typically cannot move out of state with your children without the courts permission.
• In an Illinois divorce, in order to get your maiden name back you need a court order.
• Inherited money or property is not a marital asset.
• If you move out of the house during divorce you are not abandoning your rights to that property.
• A truly uncontested divorce means that you and your spouse have worked out every issue.
• In many counties if you are getting divorced and the parties cannot work out a joint parenting agreement the court will order mandatory mediation.
• Where you were married is not relevant in determining where divorce should be filed. What is important is where you are currently living.
• Although adultery is grounds for a divorce in Illinois, judges usually do not factor adultery into their decisions about child custody unless it is affecting the best interests of the child.
• When a divorcing couple lives in a separate county or state, the jurisdiction for the divorce will be determined by the first party that files for divorce and serves the other side.
• Illinois does not have alimony, but does have maintenance which is similar to what most people think of when they say alimony.
• Although there are guidelines on how a judge should decide a divorce case, the parties can agree on whatever they want and the courts will usually approve it.
• Annulment is usually a church term. In Illinois you can only get an annulment if you did not consummate your marriage or if you were forced to marry under some sort of duress.
• If you file for divorce in Illinois you must have lived here for at least 90 days.
• If your spouse cheats on you, in order to sue his or mistress, you must show that the mistress essentially put them under a spell to which point they could not control their actions.

There is no such thing as the best divorce lawyer in Illinois.  Rather you should seek out the best lawyer for your needs.

When people call us looking for Illinois divorce lawyer referrals it is not uncommon for us to have someone ask us for a referral to "the best lawyer in town."   That doesn't exist.   The best lawyer for you may not be the best for your neighbor or co-worker.  Sometimes the "best" are too expensive.  Sometimes they don't deliver customer service. Sometimes they make you think you are hiring them and stick you with a young associate.  Our advice is to come up with a list of goals and when you interview prospective lawyers, ask them tough questions about  how they will help you meet your goals.

We feel that "father's rights" is just marketing done by attorneys who prey on the fear of their clients.

The other day someone called us asking for a Chicago father's rights attorney. The day before that we got asked for a recommendation to a father's rights lawyer in McHenry.  This type of call happens all of the time.  We believe that father's rights is just lawyer marketing that scares some people to hiring a law firm.  Whether you are a father who is being denied visitation of your child or a mother that is battling for custody, there is nothing in Illinois family law that grants rights to one parent over the other. All of these issues are based on what is in the best interests of the child.

While we don't recommend attorneys that sell themselves as father's rights lawyers in Illinois, we do recommend tough, experienced, aggressive law firms that fight for their clients.  We believe that is what most people are looking for when it comes to hiring an attorney in a contested case.  We'd rather give you the substance of a good attorney of the schick of a lawyer that scares you and then does nothing for you.

Even if you and your spouse agree on everything, a divorce doesn’t happen overnight.

If you have to get divorced in IL, it’s certainly best for everyone involved if it can be amicable. While it would be nice if you could just fill out a piece of paper and be done with everything, that’s not how it works in reality.

There are tens of thousands of divorces every year in Illinois and each one is unique. Until they set up a courtroom for uncontested divorces, you still have to pay the filing fee, serve the other party, wait for a court date to be assigned, give the other party a chance to respond and show up to court. Even then if you want to get a divorce, the judge will probably make you come back another day. The quickest divorce we have seen took 30 days, but usually you are looking at a minimum of 60-90 days and if there are any issues that aren’t resolved, it will take much longer than that.

If you have questions about divorce law in Illinois or need a referral, please call us at (800) 517-1614.

If you or your spouse started a business during the marriage then it is a marital asset that is part of the divorce.

In most Illinois divorces the big issues are child custody, child support and dividing up the property that was acquired during the marriage. That usually refers to a home, bank account or personal property like cars. While it can make a divorce very complicated, it’s important to remember that if a business was started during the marriage that is a marital asset.

We were recently e-mailed from a man who was looking for a divorce attorney in Highland Park or Lake Forest or somewhere else near their Lake County home. His wife is a successful real estate broker and opened up her own independent operation 10 years into the marriage. He thought that because he had nothing to do with her business and wasn’t interested in it that it was a non-issue. In reality, he had a claim to half of that business even though his spouse built it up to what it is today. Under Illinois divorce law, his support of her during the time she opened that business was a contribution and as that business was started during the marriage, it is a marital asset. He chose not to make an issue of it, but if he wanted to, he could have forced his wife to buy him out of his interest similar to dividing a house.

 

It doesn’t usually matter where you got married, it’s where you live that is relevant when you are getting divorced.

We received a call from a very nice woman from Florida. She had drove back to Hoffman Estates to seek a divorce because that is where she got married years ago and her husband has since abandoned her. She was under the impression that she should go to the Rolling Meadows court house to file for divorce since that was the closest court to where she had been married. We only wish she would have called before she drove here.

Getting married in Illinois does not provide grounds for divorce in Illinois. It is where you and/or your spouse currently reside that is most important. For example, if you were married in Chicago or anywhere else in Cook County or Illinois for that matter, but now live in Texas, your case would be in Texas unless you moved to Illinois and lived here for 90 days. Even then, Illinois courts most likely could not make decisions relating to any property that is out of state.

If you do live in Illinois, your divorce will take place in the county where you reside. The same is true even if you aren’t married and are seeking child support or custody of a child.

In Illinois child custody, whether or not you were married is mostly irrelevant.

We get lots of calls and e-mails from people looking for help with child custody and child support cases in Illinois. We often hear people say something to the effect of, "since the Mom and I weren’t married, doesn’t she automatically get custody?" The answer is no.

We believe that “father’s rights” and “mother’s rights” is essentially marketing that plays on the fears of people in a tough situation. Being married or not married does not determine who receives custody when a couple splits up. Rather, that is determined by the best interests of the child. There is no formula for this decision and in many cases -especially child custody cases in DuPage, Cook, Lake, Will and Kane counties where there are many Judges- it really depends on the way your assigned Judge leans on these issues. It’s really open to interpretation.

Mothers often get custody over fathers because they can breast feed a child and quite often the mother has been staying at home with a child and the Judge does not want to interrupt an arrangement that is working. All of that said, fathers in Illinois receive custody all the time and certainly neither a father or mother should let the other party dictate when and where they can see their child.

If you are getting divorced in Cook County, either party can make it take place at the Daley Center.

Cook County is unique in that there are multiple places to get a divorce, the Daley Center, Skokie, Rolling Meadows, Marhkam, Bridgeview and Maywood. Where you would file would depend on where you live. In other words, an Orland Park resident can’t file for divorce at the Rolling Meadows court house and a Schaumburg couple can’t get divorced in Maywood.

Most of the suburban courts have only one divorce judge. At the Daley Center there are about 50. No matter where you live in Cook County, you can go to court for a divorce (or child custody, paternity, etc.) at the Daley Center. Even if you file for a divorce at one of the suburban courts, the other party can choose to have it take place in Chicago. To do so they must file that request with their appearance. If they do, the case is automatically transferred. Before you hire an attorney in the suburbs, make sure they go to Chicago for cases on a regular basis or verify your spouse won’t seek to have the case transferred. Otherwise you might end up paying for travel costs or hiring an attorney that isn’t familiar with the Judge.

This isn’t an issue in places like Kane County, DuPage County, Will County or Lake County as there is only one family law court in those locations. In a way it makes it difficult for some people. If you live in Lake Zurich and have a Lake County child custody case, you have to travel to Waukegan for court and there is no easy way to get there.

Without a court order, custody and visitation is essentially a free for all.

This week three separate people called us and essentially said, “my ex has the kids and won’t let me see them. I called the cops and they did nothing.” The reason the police did nothing in this situation is because there wasn’t a court order that states who gets the kids and when they get them. If you live in Naperville as one of the callers did and you have a child custody order that says you are supposed to have your kids at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, if at 5:01 they aren’t there, you can call the police and report that your visitation is being interfered with. If you have a court order for visitation and provide that to the police, they are supposed to act. In addition, if your visitation is interfered with you can go to court and seek to have the other party held in contempt of court. This could result in them losing visitation privileges and even possibly going to jail.

So if you aren’t getting the visitation you want with your kids or feel that someone’s mood determines what happens, you have one choice; get into court. Until you do, it’s a free for all and there isn’t much you can do to stop your problems.

If you are in a same sex relationship and are breaking up, you can’t get a divorce in Illinois, but many Illinois divorce attorneys have experience with same sex breakups.

If you are in a same sex relationship, much like any other couple, it is common for you to acquire property together, especially if you have been together for a long time. If you own a house that is in the name of your partner or have joint bank accounts or other assets together, it would be great if you can work things out together, but like divorces that often is not the case.

Fortunately, many divorce lawyers in Illinois have experience with same sex relationship breakups because the principles in divorce are often similar. Your case won’t get filed in divorce court or be heard by a divorce judge, but you can have your day in court and the same laws will essentially apply. If you need guidance finding a lawyer that can help you just let us know.

Despite what you hear, we don't believe that "father's rights" or "mother's rights" actually exists in Illinois custody cases.

In an Illinois custody case, a judge is supposed to rule based on the best interests of the child. This can include many thing including does the child need to be breast fed, who is there to take care of the child, what support system exists, how the child is doing in his/her current environment, what they want and many other factors.

Whether or not you have been married is irrelevant when it comes to custody. Many people assume that the dad will only get every other weekend or that the mom controls what happens. The reality is that the judge controls unless the parents can work something out (and if you can, we highly encourage you to do so).

We help both men and women find Illinois divorce lawyers and Illinois custody attorneys. Who we recommend is based on whether or not we believe they do a good job and fight for their clients. For more information on what we think of "father's rights" please click here.

We usually recommend an Illinois divorce attorney who does a lot of work in the county where the case is heard, unless . . .

When considering what makes a great Illinois divorce lawyer, we focus on customer service, experience and feedback that we have received on the attorney. We usually tell our callers to hire a lawyer who regularly practices in the county where the case is being heard. Familiarity with the judge can only help.

The major exception to this rule is when an extremely complicated element exists in the case. The most common example is when a business was created during the marriage and the two spouses are battling over that business because it is a marital asset. In these cases we feel that it is extremely important that you hire a lawyer who has experience with forensic accounting.

The Illinois divorce attorneys we know with forensic accounting experience could potentially save you hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more. Valuing a business is technical and many businesses under report their earnings through cash transactions or other dealings. The attorneys we know have a track record of sorting through all of this and succeeding for their clients.

Most of the attorneys that fit this description are Chicago divorce lawyers. That said, we also know similarly experienced divorce attorneys in Wheaton, Waukegan and many other parts of Illinois. If you are fighting over a business as part of a divorce, make sure that your attorney can show you scores of similar cases he/she has handled. If you have to get someone from outside your area it will probably be worth it.

If you owe child support, you could lose your license, your passport or end up in jail.

Every day we get called from people who are looking for help with getting back owed child support or who need help in fighting a child support allegation in Illinois. If you are paying child support and lose your job, you need to get into court to get your payments stopped or lowered. The judges in Illinois don't care that you had a good reason for not paying and the law does not allow them to cut you a break.

If you are owed child support, you can go to the state's attorney's office in the county where your case is and they should represent you for free. The cost is great, but we often hear that the responsiveness is lousy. Hiring a lawyer will usually get things done for you. If you want a referral for an Illinois child support attorney, call us at (312) 346-5320.

If you owe child support (or are trying to go after someone who owes you), be aware that the judge can order that the Secretary of State suspend your license. He can also get an order revoking your passport and can put you in jail.

If your ex-spouse re-marries, Illinois family law courts do not take into consideration the income of the new spouse for child support unless . . .

People call us every day looking for Illinois family law attorneys. We often get calls from people who have been divorced in Illinois and are now re-married. They want to know if their new spouse's income will be taken into consideration when they pay child support.

In Illinois we do not consider the income of a spouse when calculating child support. The only exception to that is if you are hiding your income through your spouse or co-mingling money to make it appear that you are earning less than you really are. For example, if you are a husband and wife real estate team, you can't state that one spouse is earning all of the income. But if you were as a teacher and your spouse as a nurse, you should have no worries about them looking at both incomes.

If this is confusing or you have any questions please call us at (312) 346-5320.

"We weren't married, how does that effect custody."

We get asked this question all of the time. In Illinois, whether you are married and going through a divorce or have never been married is irrelevant when it comes to Illinois custody and child support. The fact of the matter is that a judge is supposed to make a ruling based on the best interests of the child. So whether you were married or not is irrelevant. Each parent has the same rights under the law. In determining best interests of the child, a judge will look at things like ability to care for the child, grades, familial support, where they would live, where they would go to school, financial stability, etc.

If you have any questions about Illinois family law or need an attorney referral for divorce, custody, child support, etc. please call us at (312) 346-5320.

Can I get alimony as a part of my Illinois divorce?

Illinois doesn't have alimony, but we do have maintenance which is comparable to what people are thinking of when they say alimony. Maintenance is designed to help one spouse maintain the lifestyle they have grown accustomed to until they can support that lifestyle on their own. There is no time limit for how long maintenance will last, although typically re-marrying will end it. In cases of extremely wealthy individuals, we have seen spouses awarded tens of thousands of dollars for dog grooming, beauty salon visits and new clothes. Most cases are not like that, but no matter what your situation is, you need to show what your average monthly expenses are. 

If you are looking for a divorce attorney in Illinois or have any questions, please call us at (312) 346-5320.

If you get divorced in Illinois or go through an Illinois child support hearing, the courts might tell you that you have to pay for your child to go to college. If you never get divorced or go through child support court then it is up to you.

The other day we received a call from a man looking for a Chicago child support lawyer. He had previously been divorced in Cook County and had paid child support for his daughter who is graduating from high school in the spring. He told us that money is tight as he has two sons from his 2nd marriage and his daughter wants to go to an expensive college. His ex is about to file a motion for him to contribute to college expenses.

The man's argument and the reason he is seeking a Chicago child support attorney is that it is up to him whether or not to pay for his son's to go to college, but Illinois law doesn't give him a choice when it comes to his daughter. While his argument makes perfect sense, unfortunately the law in Illinois is set up so a judge can determine what each parent should contribute for college expenses. There is no set amount that you have to pay (unlike child support where it's a set percentage) and you can argue that having to pay for college would be an undue financial burden upon you (again that doesn't usually apply to child support). But in the grand scheme of things, it certainly isn't fair to put this requirement on parents who have gone through a divorce in Illinois and not put it on parents who have stayed married.

Not married in Illinois, but you live here and want to get a divorce? Your current residency is all that matters, not where you got married.

A few visitors to our web site recently have been looking for an Illinois divorce attorney, but were concerned that they couldn't get divorced in Illinois because they were married elsewhere. Whether you got married in IL, Iowa, Jamaica, Russia or Mars, you can get divorced in Illinois if one of the parties to the divorce has legal residency in Illinois.

To have legal residency in Illinois, you must have an address that you declare as your primary residence for at least 90 days. For example, it would be proper to seek out a Chicago divorce attorney if you moved to Chicago last summer and want to end your marriage, but a Chicago divorce law firm couldn't handle your case if you were planning on moving here or had just arrived.

Finally, please note that if you got married in Illinois, but neither party lives here, you can not get divorced in Illinois.

Sound confusing? If you have any questions or would like our help in finding a lawyer for divorce in Illinois, please call us at (312) 346-5320.

An inheritance is not marital property.

We recently received a call from a man who wanted to divorce his wife, but was waiting until her father passed away and she would get an inheritance. Unfortunately for him, inheritances are not marital assets so unless his wife were to extensively co-mingle the inheritance with the marital assets.

Jury trials in Illinois divorce cases????

A Chicago based legislator is proposing that parties to a divorce case in Illinois be given the opportunity to have their case decided by a jury, at least when it comes to dividing up property.

In our opinion, it is already too expensive to get divorced in Illinois. Jury trials would add extra time and money to the divorce process. While it sounds good in theory, the reality is that many people wouldn't be able to get divorced because they simply wouldn't be able to afford it.

Currently Georgia and Texas are the only two states that allow a jury trial in divorces. The practice has been outlawed in Illinois since 1977.

How do you figure out what child support should be when there is a business involved?

In most cases, child support is a percentage of someone's net take home pay. For example, if you make $500.00 a week after taxes and mandatory deductions and have one child you would pay 20% of your net take home pay a week or $100.00. Unfortunately, not all cases are that straight forward.

If you are receiving child support from someone who owns a business, there is a risk that they are not reporting all of their income, usually by hiding cash. Since you can't count on a pay stub to verify their income, there is usually only one way to figure out what you are owed. In these cases we recommend Illinois family law attorneys who have experience with forensic accounting. These lawyers have a track record of success in digging through the books of companies as well as working with investigators to get to the bottom of what someone is really making.

The bad news in these situations is that it can be very expensive to hire the right lawyer for this type of scenario. The good news is that if money is being hidden, we can often get the judges to order payment of attorney's fees as part of the penalty for not telling the truth.

My spouse won't agree to a divorce, what do I do?

We often get called by people that tell us that they have wanted a divorce for years, but their spouse won't agree to sign divorce papers. While it is always best when a divorce is amicable, in just about every situation imaginable we recommend that a lawyer look out for your interests. If your spouse won't "agree" to a divorce that doesn't mean you have to stay married. By filing for a divorce, you are forcing your spouse to respond in court and eventually a judge will grant a divorce to you.

While a contested divorce may take more than a year and it may cost some money in legal fees, hiring a good Illinois divorce attorney will allow you to have someone working toward your goals in order to achieve success for you.

If you would like a referral to an Illinois divorce attorney, please call us at (312) 346-5320.

I want a good, cheap lawyer for my Illinois divorce

When people call us looking for Illinois divorce lawyers, we ask a series of probing questions designed to learn about that person's unique situation and recommend the lowest cost attorney we know that fits their needs. A few times a week we are asked to help find someone a good, cheap lawyer or an attorney with "reasonable rates".

If you have a contested divorce or custody case in Illinois, you typically want to hire a lawyer that devotes the majority of their practice to Illinois family law cases. The reality is that these attorneys are established with a good client base and they charge rates that are often too much for the average person. This is a huge problem with our legal system.

The fact of the matter is though, if your ex has an attorney that focuses just on family law, is well regarded in the legal community and regularly appears before the judge, you are a step behind if you hire someone who dabbles in family law or hasn't dealt with a lot of tough cases. Once you lose custody it is really difficult to get that reversed in the future, even if you hire a better law firm.

Our advice is to hire the best attorney possible up front because it gives you the best chance for success in the future. If you are thinking about getting divorced and want to prepare for it financially, while some lawyers charge as little as $1,500 up front, in major areas like Chicago, you can expect to need $3,500 to $5,000 to hire a lawyer with the profile you are looking for. This obviously isn't true in an uncontested divorce case or a divorce with no children and few assets.

If you have any questions or would like a referral to an Illinois divorce attorney, please call us at (312) 346-5320.

Divorces in Illinois are public record

We recently were called by someone who wants to file for divorce, but also wanted to bar anyone in her community from knowing about it. Unfortunately that is not possible in Illinois. All divorces in Illinois are public record no matter who you are. In fact when Michael Jordan got divorced recently his case was public record and anyone that wants to go to the Lake County courthouse to look at his file can do so.

While you can't keep your divorce a secret, it takes a lot of effort for someone to learn about what is happening in your divorce in most cases as Cook County is currently the only court system that puts these records online. Even then they don't publish documents online so if someone wanted to see allegations made in a divorce, they would have to go to the court where it was filed or the records are kept. If you are interested in looking at records from a Skokie divorce that means you would have to likely drive down to Chicago.

If you have any questions about Illinois divorce law or would like an attorney referral, please do not hesitate to call us at (312) 346-5320.

It is up to you to tell the court of a change in your circumstances.

We get a lot of calls from people who have post divorce issues in Illinois. One of the most common calls is from individuals who owe back child support. They often tell us that they lost a job which is why they weren't paying and that their former spouse new about the change in circumstances and was ok with it at the time. Now months later that same former spouse is going after back child support.

Please remember, in Illinois divorce cases, including child support, custody, etc., agreements outside the court room are usually not enforceable. In other words, if your situation changes, go into court and get permission from the judge to reduce your child support. Otherwise you may find yourself owing thousands of dollars even though you didn't have an income for many months.

When is child support not child support?

Many of the Illinois divorce calls we get deal with child support. A lot of callers to findgreatlawyers.com tell us that they have been giving their spouse cash or paying for whatever the child needed. We don't discourage anyone from supporting their children; that said, if you are going to pay what you consider to be child support be strongly encourage you to only do it by check and in the memo section of the check put, "for child support."

We have seen a couple of cases where a mother was on Public Aid and receiving money from the father of her kids even though there wasn't a formal support order. When the Illinois Public Aid Office found out who the father was, they sought reimbursement for money given to the mother and children. The father reasoned that he had already been paying the mother. When he couldn't provide proof, he was required to reimburse Public Aid for payments they made years prior, essentially he had to pay child support twice. In one case, the father had been paying by check, but didn't put anything in the memo. When the mother wouldn't agree that it was for child support, the state made the father pay again.

Our advice isn't just limited to Public Aid cases in Illinois. We have seen other matters where one parent was paying his court ordered support in cash. When the mother lied and told the court she hadn't received a penny, the father couldn't prove that he had made payments and was forced to pay again.

Web Site Disclaimer: None of the information on this website should be considered legal advice. The law in Illinois is constantly changing and although we do our best to keep our website current, you should not make any final determinations based on what you read here. By contacting us or any lawyer that you are referred to through this website, you have not created an attorney-client relationship. The only way to establish an attorney client relationship with us or any other Illinois lawyer is through a signed retainer agreement in which you agree to hire the lawyer and they agree to work with you as a client. The advice that you receive from us should be taken in general terms. Finally, there is never a cost to speak with the Illinois attorneys that run our site and will talk to you on the phone or by e-mail for free. However, the cost to actually handle a case by any lawyer that we recommend is between you and that law firm. If you have questions about anything we offer or anything related to our website please call us at (312) 346-5320.