Family Law
Illinois Family Law is constantly changing and growing in complexity. Major changes started in 2016, when there was complete overhaul to Illinois Divorce Laws including:
In 2017, the child support laws were completely overhauled as well. Illinois law no longer only looks to the income of the paying parent. We now uses an "income share" approach where both parent's income are factored into the calculation.
In 2019, Illinois implemented modified maintenance (alimony) guidelines. These were meant to address the new tax laws passed by Congress in 2018 that eliminated the tax deduction for those paying alimony.
With all of the changes in Illinois divorce laws over the past 10 years, courts are still adjusting. It is even more important to hire an experienced attorney to guide you through the changes to ensure your interests are protected in litigation.
We have also developed our practice to be flexible to meet each client's needs and contested litigation is not the only approach. Since some issues like maintenance is a mathematical calculation, many times individuals can reach a settlement. This approach recognizes some options to traditional litigation:
- elimination of traditional "grounds" or reasons for divorce such as mental cruelty or infidelity. Now the only grounds for divorce is "irreconcilable difference"
- revamping of terms, eliminating "custody" and "visitation" and now using the terms "parenting time" and "parenting decisions"
- adopting spousal maintenance (alimony) guidelines that operate like child support guidelines
In 2017, the child support laws were completely overhauled as well. Illinois law no longer only looks to the income of the paying parent. We now uses an "income share" approach where both parent's income are factored into the calculation.
In 2019, Illinois implemented modified maintenance (alimony) guidelines. These were meant to address the new tax laws passed by Congress in 2018 that eliminated the tax deduction for those paying alimony.
With all of the changes in Illinois divorce laws over the past 10 years, courts are still adjusting. It is even more important to hire an experienced attorney to guide you through the changes to ensure your interests are protected in litigation.
We have also developed our practice to be flexible to meet each client's needs and contested litigation is not the only approach. Since some issues like maintenance is a mathematical calculation, many times individuals can reach a settlement. This approach recognizes some options to traditional litigation:
- Settlement reached between the parties,
- Mediation with an independent mediator selected by the parties
- Collaborative Divorce process to settle the case with another attorney involved, and
- Pretrial Conferences with the judge