Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance

Archive for March, 2011

You shouldn’t represent yourself in court

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Even if it’s a traffic ticket, hire an attorney if you can. We don’t say this because we are attorneys, or because we think attorneys are great, or because we want attorneys to take all your money. We have seen case after case where someone represented themselves and messed it up and lost. They missed a date, or some paperwork, or didn’t follow the court rules or the rules of evidence.

Our goal is to be upfront and honest about the law, and this is our honest opinion. If you choose to show up in court as your own attorney, the judge is going to hold you to the same standard as an attorney. You won’t be given a break if you don’t know the rules. It’s an attorney’s job to use all that they know about the law and the legal system to get an outcome in your favor.

We’re not saying it’s right, especially for someone who can’t afford an attorney and is pursuing a legitimate claim or trying their best to defend themselves. But it’s the reality. We get calls day after day from people who tried to represent themselves but made a mistake. They lost their case and they’re wondering what they should do next. Most times the answer is that there’s nothing they can do. They missed their chance.

Posted in Did You Know? | Comments Off

Illinois minimum wage law

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Every Wednesday we offer five tips on various legal issues. Today’s tips cover the Illinois minimum wage law.

1. The minimum wage in Illinois is currently $8.25 per hour. This rate applies to most employees that are at least 18 years old. Illinois has one of the highest minimum wage rates in the United States.

2. If you are an independent contractor and not an employee, your employer does not have to pay you minimum wage. It’s always a good idea to be sure that your employment is classified correctly. You don’t want to be missing out on being paid minimum wage, just because your employer wrongly considers you to be an independent contractor, when you really are functioning as an employee.

3. For the first 90 days after you start your job, you can be paid 50 cents less than minimum wage, if you’re 18 or older. That would be $7.75 per hour.

4. If your job includes tips from customers, your employer can pay you less than minimum wage for your base pay. Your rate can be as much as 40% less than minimum wage, which would be $4.95 per hour for adults.

5. You can’t sign away your right to receive minimum wage. If you are entitled to receive minimum wage for your job, Illinois does not allow an employer to ask you to sign a contract or otherwise agree to receive less.

Posted in Five Tips | Comments Off

Dropping the charges after an arrest for domestic battery

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Of all the types of criminal charges, domestic battery is among the most common, both in Cook County and throughout the state of Illinois. Something else that’s common: the person who reported the alleged crime wanting to take it back. Regardless of the reason, you can’t simply take it back. It’s no longer up to you. “Dropping the charges” is something only the prosecutor can do.

We get a good number of calls from people wanting to drop domestic charges. After hearing that they can’t do that, they often ask what will happen if they simply refuse to cooperate. It depends. If you refuse to testify or show up to court, you could get in trouble yourself. You could be charged with filing a false police report. We usually suggest talking to a criminal defense attorney and getting their advice.

Like many things, it may depend on who you know, or more accurately, who your attorney knows. A defense attorney may be able to negotiate with the prosecutor and get you the outcome you’re looking for. Prosecutors don’t usually negotiate with people who aren’t represented by an attorney. They’re too busy, and they don’t want to give a break to someone they don’t know (someone who could be trying to manipulate the system). If they know your attorney, they’re more likely to listen.

In most cases, there’s not much the victim can do, which makes sense. If victims were allowed to choose whether a case goes forward, they could be threatened or intimidated by the defendant and forced to drop the charges. So usually the answer is no, you can’t drop the charges. But we can’t say it never happens.

Posted in Criminal Defense in Illinois | Comments Off

The Illinois Department of Child Support Enforcement vs. a private attorney

Monday, March 28th, 2011

The Illinois Department of Child Support Enforcement is a state agency that helps parents collect child support. They will help you establish paternity, modify support payments, and collect the amount owed, including back payments, by garnishing wages, intercepting tax refunds, etc.

It’s a necessary service, and it’s free. But the agency’s success rate is fairly low. As you can imagine, they have tons of cases and not enough resources. They are overworked. We get a lot of calls from parents who have been working with the state agency but not seeing any results. These people are concerned that no one is working on their case, or they are falling through the cracks. They are wondering what else they can do.

If you can afford a private attorney to help you collect support (or modify support, establish paternity, etc.) we think it’s a better bet, with a higher rate of success. It’s not an option for everyone, because it’s not free. It will probably cost you around $2,500 upfront. Another benefit of hiring a private attorney is that they can also help you with custody and visitation issues. The state agency only helps with child support.

We don’t have any official research, but we’d guess you’re chances of success are twice as good if you hire a private attorney to handle your child custody issue. It’s not free, but if you want results, it may be your best option.

Posted in Illinois Family Law | Comments Off

Who does your criminal defense attorney know?

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Professional connections are an important factor when looking for the right defense attorney for your case. The judge and prosecutor are going to be making the big decisions. If your attorney knows them, it can give you several advantages. If they are familiar with the judge, for example, they will know how that judge is likely to rule in a particular situation. If there’s something that really annoys that judge, they will know that, too. It can definitely get you off to a good start.

Another important advantage is your attorney’s reputation with the judge and prosecutor. Your defense attorney’s goal may be to get your charges reduced, or dismissed altogether. If your attorney has a good relationship with the prosecutor, it might be easier for them to negotiate on your behalf.

One of the ways to ensure that your attorney has these connections is to hire someone local. Make sure they appear often in the court where your case is being heard. If they have a good reputation in this circle, it can help them get a good result for you.

Also, make sure your attorney focuses on criminal defense, rather than handling a criminal case here and there. If they handled your divorce, even if they did a great job, they might not be right person to defend you if you are charged with a crime.

Posted in Criminal Defense in Illinois | Comments Off

DuPage County rounds up deadbeat dads

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

Six men were arrested on Valentine’s Day because they were delinquent in their child support payments. It was part of a crackdown in DuPage County, where prosecutors and police put together a list of 42 deadbeat parents, obtained warrants, and set out to arrest them. One of the fathers on the list owes more than $215,000. Together, all the parents on the list owe more than $2 million.

In Illinois, there are pretty serious consequences for not paying child support. If the court issues an order telling you to pay, it’s considered contempt of court to not pay. The parent can be arrested and jailed.

Other consequences include: withholding money from paychecks, putting liens on property, taking away the parent’s driver’s license or even a professional license, denying a passport, intercepting a tax refund, and putting the owed amount on the parent’s credit report. Plus, the name and photograph of a delinquent parent can be published online.

Despite the consequences, it’s common for parents to refuse to pay, not pay enough or leave the state or even the country to avoid the obligation. So even when the law is clear on how much is owed, it can be difficult to collect. And even if a parent is located, you can’t collect money they don’t have.

Child support usually ends at age 18 or when the child graduates from high school. However, past due payments are still owed. A court order to pay child support never expires and the custodial parent can try to collect the money at any time.

Posted in Illinois Family Law | Comments Off

5 tips You may not be responsible for a rear-end collision– even if you were in the rear.

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

We often think of rear-end collisions as automatically being the responsibility of the driver whose car hit another from behind. Though it is a harder case to show you weren’t to blame, or were only partially to blame, it is not impossible. Here are 5 tips to think about to see if you might have a defense to your rear-end accident.

1. If the car in front of you that you hit made a sudden and unexpected stop, you could have a defense for the accident. You should have been driving at a safe and reasonable speed and following distance, for the driving conditions. But beyond that, if the driver you hit acted in an unreasonable and unexpected way when stopping in front of you, you might not be completely responsible for the accident.

2. If the car in front of you made some other move that you couldn’t expect, and it caused you to strike the car, you may not be completely responsible for the collision. This is especially true if you have evidence that the other driver acted in a way that you couldn’t expect or avoid. For example: if you were driving in the right lane of a highway, and the car in front of you put on its right turn signal and started to slow down to exit on a ramp, it might be reasonable to rely on the fact that the car is in fact exiting. If it swerves back into your lane and you can show you were driving reasonably and carefully, then you may have a defense.

3. If you were stopped at a traffic light, and a car hit you from the rear, which pushed you into the car in front of you, then you shouldn’t be responsible for the damage to the car you hit. In multiple car accidents, there can be several drivers that have responsibility for the damage caused. But if you were properly stopped and then pushed by someone else, you should have a good defense.

4. If you hit the car in front of you because of some unavoidable situation, you may have a defense. You would try to show that you were driving at a proper speed and following distance, but because of some condition or circumstance you could not stop before hitting the car. These unavoidable situations can include another car swerving into your path, an unexpected road or weather condition, or mechanical problem with your car that you could not have know about.

5. Even if you were at fault in the accident, the other driver’s damages have to be caused by your actions. You shouldn’t have to pay where no one was hurt and there was no property damage.