Parents who divorce or separate have to share parental rights and responsibilities. The courts allocate a certain amount of parenting time and legal authority to each adult. Frequently, there's also an obligation for one of the parents to provide financial assistance...
Alimony, also called spousal maintenance in Illinois, helps one spouse financially after a divorce. It involves regular payments designed to assist the receiving spouse so that they do not face financial hardship post-divorce. In Illinois, alimony is not always...
It is not uncommon for people to have children with one partner and then go on to marry another. Maybe they married and divorced the parent of their children. Or perhaps they never married them in the first place. Either way, if you are about to marry someone who is...
When you married “for better or worse,” you didn’t anticipate your spouse’s mental illness. Mental illness can manifest in anxiety and depression. It can also include things like bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia. While love can help...
As the new school year begins, families everywhere experience a shift in their daily rhythms. For divorced co-parents sharing custody of their children, this transition can be particularly challenging. Even when a detailed parenting plan is in place, the start of...
When couples get married, they often dream of a future filled with happiness and support for each other. Sometimes, they might overlook setting up financial protections like a prenuptial agreement. However, life can be unpredictable. That's where a postnuptial...
For some people, a welcome bonus of divorce is not having to deal with their in-laws any longer. If you have children, however, that likely won’t be an option. If your kids are close to their grandparents, aunts, uncles and/or cousins on your spouse’s side of the...
Grandparents and their grandchildren can have a very unique bond. In some cases, their close relationship may prompt grandparents to ask for custody of their grandchildren. There are several possible inspirations for this. Parents may not always be able to provide for...
When a marriage that involves a child comes to an end through divorce or separation, the court will often issue a child support order. Child support is intended to take care of the child’s day-to-day needs including food, clothing, shelter and education, among others....
One of the most contentious aspects of a divorce is child custody. In an ideal world, both parents would agree on a custody arrangement that the court felt was suitable. The reality is that it often doesn’t work out like that. You may have heard of the term...