If you and your spouse are heading toward divorce – or if you have already been served with divorce papers – addressing the matter sooner rather than later can be pivotal to your ability to protect your parental and financial rights throughout the process. In addition to being an emotional jolt, divorce is a challenging legal matter, and having the professional legal counsel of an experienced Chicago divorce attorney on your side from the start is critical.
You and your divorcing spouse face a unique journey forward, but along the way, you’ll need to resolve the same primary divorce terms that all other divorcing couples do, including:
If you can negotiate these terms between yourselves – with the skilled guidance of your respective divorce attorneys – which can include mediation, you can keep the matter between yourselves and will not need the court’s intervention. If any of your divorce terms remain unresolved, however, the court will make the necessary determinations on your behalf – in accordance with state law.
Parental responsibilities correlate with legal custody – or how you and your ex will handle primary parenting decisions moving forward – including decisions about the following:
You can address this divorce term in a variety of ways that include making each decision together, assigning one parent tie-breaking power, dividing the decisions according to categories, or assigning sole parental responsibilities to one of you.
Parenting time, on the other hand, sets the schedule by which you and your ex will divide your time with your shared children. Illinois courts are guided by children’s best interests, and whenever possible, they maximize the amount of time children spend with each parent.
The child support obligation in your case will be determined in accordance with a range of factors, but the two most important concerns include:
Even when parenting time is balanced between both parents, the higher earner is generally required to pay child support.
In Illinois, those assets that you and your spouse come to own while you are married are marital assets, and in the event of divorce, they must be distributed between you fairly – in relation to a range of factors. While this distribution may be equal, it won’t necessarily be so.
If divorce leaves you or your ex unable to support yourself financially and the other has the financial resources to help, alimony may be ordered.
The practiced Chicago divorce attorneys at Arami Law, Inc. recognize how important your divorce terms are to your future and are well-positioned to fiercely advocate for a favorable case resolution that supports your rights. To learn more about what we can do to help you, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.
We are here to help you succeed and protect what you value most.