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A spouse who is ready to file for divorce in Illinois faces two early questions. One is whether the state is the right place to file, and the other is which county. Both answers depend on where the spouses live, and getting them right avoids delays before the case even starts. Illinois Sets a Residency […]

In a large marital estate, one spouse can move or spend a lot of money before the other notices. Illinois lets a court account for that spending when it divides property, but the claim comes with strict notice rules. A spouse who misses them can lose the argument before it starts. What Dissipation Means in […]

Illinois lawmakers passed a substantial revision to the state’s child support statute this year. The changes take effect January 1, 2027, and they affect nearly every stage of a support case, from initial calculations to later modifications. Parents who are divorcing, establishing parentage, or already under a support order should understand what is changing and […]

What Law Governs Prenuptial Agreements in Illinois? Illinois prenuptial agreements are governed by the Illinois Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, a comprehensive statute that sets out precisely what makes an agreement legally valid from the moment it is actually signed by both future spouses involved in the marriage. A Park Ridge prenup lawyer walks every client through […]

A Northbrook parent going through a separation often searches online for information about winning custody, only to discover Illinois abandoned that specific term years ago in favor of a substantially different framework entirely. Understanding this shift in terminology and overall approach changes how a parent should think about the entire process from the very beginning […]

A Lincoln Park family beginning the adoption process often assumes there is only one standard legal route to bringing a child into their home permanently. Illinois actually recognizes several distinct types of adoption, each with its own requirements and timeline, and choosing the right path from the outset shapes how smoothly the entire process unfolds […]

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 […]