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If you are a divorced parent in Illinois, and your child is nearing adulthood, you may be wondering what your financial obligations will be after he or she turns 18. Under Illinois law, if you are currently ordered to pay child support, you may also be responsible for covering a portion of your child’s educational expenses. Educational expenses can include post-high school costs, during the period before your child obtains his or her bachelor’s degree.
More often than not, judges entering divorce judgements for couples reserve the decision of college expenses, postponing it until the children grow older. This is because circumstances can change significantly during the time that passes until the children are ready to graduate from high school.
If you are considering divorce, or are already beginning the process, and your spouse has been spending your shared funds imprudently, you may be able to get some of the money back.
Under Illinois’ marriage dissolution law, when one spouse uses marital funds for his or her own benefit, and not for the benefit of the marriage, it is called dissipation. For these purposes, marital assets include income from employment or investments, and funds in shared accounts such as IRAs, savings accounts, CDs, and 401(k)s that built up throughout the marriage. Senseless spending of such funds is only classified as dissipation if it occurs when the marriage is undergoing an irretrievable breakdown.
Often, the date when this breakdown began is very hard to pinpoint, and is a source of bitter disagreement in itself, especially since it can impact how any funds spent during this time will be viewed by a court. Sometimes, the date of separation is used; more rarely, it could be the date when one party filed for a divorce. However, courts often find that the breakdown began well before either of these dates.
As a grandparent, you know that the relationship you have with your grandchildren is one of the most rewarding and special bonds that you can have. However, if your child has gone through a messy divorce or custody battle, it can impact your ability to spend as much time with your grandchildren.
Many states uphold a strong set of rights for grandparents and other close relatives, including siblings. But under Illinois law, many rights afforded automatically to parents are harder for grandparents to assert.
How to Seek the Right to Visitation
Unlike visitation for parents, visitation for grandparents is not guaranteed. However, as a grandparent, you do have the right to ask a family law judge to grant you visitation time with your grandchildren. Under Illinois statute, you can file a petition if certain circumstances exist that have been preventing you from seeing your grandchildren. The statute requires you to establish that one of the parents has caused an "unreasonable denial of visitation," and that one of these conditions applies:
If you are seeking a divorce, there are two major routes under Illinois’ marriage dissolution law. When seeking a Judgment for Dissolution of Marriage from a local judge, you must show that you and your spouse have irreconcilable differences, or that you are seeking to dissolve your marriage on the basis of one of the grounds for divorce.
If you are seeking a no-fault divorce, due to irreconcilable differences, you must complete a two-year waiting period before the marriage can be dissolved. During this time, you and your spouse must live apart, and you must prove to the judge at the end of the two years that your differences have caused the irreversible breakdown of your marriage, that any efforts to reconcile have not been successful, and that any future efforts to reconcile would not be practicable or in the family’s best interests. In some cases, the two-year waiting period can be shortened to six months, if both spouses agree and sign a waiver form. In ever rarer cases, the separation requirement can be disposed of altogether. To know whether your circumstances might allow you to bypass the waiting period, you should consult with a local attorney who has experience with divorce cases.
In Illinois, a divorce marks the legal end of a marriage. Both former spouses are able to marry others. During divorce proceedings, a court can decide on issues such as custody, visitation, and support of children, as well as how to divide marital property and whether one spouse must pay alimony to the other.
On the other hand, a legal separation is not the end of a marriage. Spouses are not free to marry others, but a court can issue an order regarding child custody, visitation, and support, as well as alimony. The marital property of a separated couple cannot be divided by a court, unless both parties agree to have a judge decide how shared property should be distributed. Many couples opt for a legal separation if they know that they cannot live with each other, but are not ready to take the step of filing for divorce.
If you are currently making spousal support payments, filing for bankruptcy does not terminate your obligation. Unlike credit card debt and mortgage payments, which may be put on hold or eliminated completely through bankruptcy, your responsibility to provide for your former spouse and your children remains in place regardless of your financial circumstances.
However, you may be able to have your required payment amount reduced to accommodate your altered means. If you need to have your alimony requirement altered, speak with a trusted divorce attorney about how to complete the modification process.
If your personal debt reaches the point where it is so great that you can not meet your repayment obligations, you may be able to file for bankruptcy. Individuals with outstanding personal debt are eligible to file for two types of bankruptcy: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.
It is possible for a marriage to be considered invalid under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. When this is the case, a couple may end their marriage through a process known as annulment. Annulments are different from divorces for multiple reasons, the most important of which is that a couple's marriage must somehow violate the laws outlined in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.
It is important to contact an experienced divorce attorney to begin the annulment process. Annulments, like divorces, must go through the court system and be finalized by a judge. The process of completing an annulment is known as nullification.
The fundamental difference between a divorce and an annulment is simple: when a couple gets divorced, they complete the legal process of ending a valid marriage. The couple is eligible to divide their jointly-owned property and the lesser-earning spouse may seek spousal maintenance from his or her former partner. With an annulment, the couple's marriage is legally considered to never have happened. This precludes the couple from dividing their property and seeking spousal maintenance in many cases.
If you are currently working through the divorce process, you will likely have to work out a fair division of your shared property with your spouse. This is because, under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, Illinois is an equitable distribution state, rather than a community property state. In an equitable distribution state, the court must determine a fair way to divide property between divorcing spouses, rather than a completely equal one.
Property division can only work when the court has a clear picture of the divorcing couple's complete net worth. When an individual hides some or all of his or her assets to avoid sharing them through a divorce, these assets are known as hidden assets. The process through which a spouse may have his or her former partner's hidden assets brought to light is known as discovery.
Paternity is defined as the legal relationship between a father and child. When a married woman has a baby, Illinois law automatically considers her husband to be the father of the child. However, if the husband believes that he is not the father of a child, he can sign a Denial of Paternity form.
On the other hand, the father of a child born to an unmarried mother is called an “alleged father,” until his paternity is established. Even if the parents are engaged or living together, a legal process must be followed to make his paternity official.
Establishing paternity provides an important legal foundation for one of the most important relationships in a child’s life. After establishing paternity, the father’s name can be added to his child’s birth certificate. Among other benefits, establishing paternity can protect the father’s rights as a parent, enable the father to access important family medical information, and secure support from the father, in the form of child support, Social Security contributions and inheritance.
Watching your parents grow old is never easy, but it is especially difficult when they are having trouble caring for themselves. If one of both of your parents are aging, but have refused your help in caring for them, you may want to consider trying to become their guardian.
Becoming the legal guardian of an adult is a lengthy and complex process, because courts take the best interests of the person over whom guardianship is sought very seriously.
Relevant Laws
Under the Illinois Probate Act, disable adults can have guardians appointed for them, following a hearing before a judge. For purposes of the Act, a disabled person is anyone who is “not fully able to manage his person or estate.” A doctor’s assessment is needed in order to declare a person disabled.
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