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Few subjects generate more bad advice than child custody. It comes from coworkers, relatives, message boards, and the friend of a friend who went through something similar a decade ago. By the time parents sit down with an attorney, they often carry a set of assumptions that have nothing to do with how these cases […]

Does My Whole Business Count as Marital Property? Not necessarily. Illinois divorce law divides business value into what is called enterprise goodwill, which counts as marital property subject to division, and personal goodwill, which generally does not count. Understanding this distinction matters enormously for any Evanston business owner going through a divorce. What Is the […]

A Different Kind of Room Than a Courtroom Divorce mediation works because people are willing to speak candidly about what actually matters to them, something that rarely happens in an adversarial courtroom setting. Illinois law protects that candor with a specific confidentiality rule, and understanding how it works helps Chicago couples get more out of […]

The Center for Family Resolution recently announced a new tool called the What’s True for You Decision Filter, a framework designed to help parents stop second-guessing themselves during divorce and custody disputes. As family law attorneys, we found the announcement worth discussing, because the problem it addresses is one we see in our office every […]

Divorcing spouses often assume spousal support gets decided case by case with no real formula behind it. Illinois actually uses a specific calculation for most cases, and understanding it can set realistic expectations early. What Is Maintenance Under Illinois Law? Maintenance is Illinois’s current term for what many people still refer to as spousal support, […]

Signing a form at the hospital right after a birth feels routine, but one specific document creates lasting legal rights and obligations. Understanding what that form actually does matters well before anyone considers challenging it later. What This Document Actually Establishes Under the Illinois Parentage Act of 2015, a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity, signed and […]

Families going through divorce, custody disputes, or other family law matters in Park Ridge navigate the Cook County court system. Understanding how that process works from the initial filing through resolution helps clients make informed decisions and avoid unnecessary surprises at each stage. Starting a Family Law Case in Cook County Most Illinois family law […]

Legal Paternity and Biological Parentage Are Not the Same Thing Being a child’s biological father and being recognized as their legal father are two different things under Illinois law. Without legal paternity, a father has no enforceable rights to parenting time, allocation of parental responsibilities, or decision-making authority for his child. He also carries no […]

Downtown Evanston has seen a lot of turnover lately. Storefronts open, close, and change hands within the same year, sometimes within the same season. For business owners going through a divorce, that kind of instability raises a real question: what is my business actually worth right now? Why Retail Change Matters When a Business Is […]

Why the Rules Need to Be Set Early A divorce case in Deerfield can take months, and sometimes well over a year, to reach a final resolution. During that time, spouses often still share a home, have children in common, and carry joint financial obligations that do not stop simply because a petition has been […]