Family Law Attorney Assisting Illinois Residents in Park Ridge
Many changes have taken place in the area of family law in Illinois in the last few years. When it comes to spousal maintenance, Illinois now has guidelines to streamline the amount and duration of maintenance awards, provided In terms of child custody matters, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) no longer refers to physical and legal custody. Instead, those terms have been replaced with “parenting time” and “parental responsibilities.” In addition, Illinois’s child support guidelines have changed to an “income shares” model, which means that both parents contribute to the financial support of the child.
With these recent changes to Illinois family law, it is particularly important to have an experienced Park Ridge family lawyer on your side who can guide you through the intricacies of your case. An advocate at Arami Law can talk with you today about how we can assist you.
Park Ridge Family Law Matters We Handle
The Park Ridge family lawyers at Arami Law regularly handle a wide variety of Illinois family law cases, such as:
- Dissolution of marriage: Under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA), a party in Park Ridge can file for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. This is essentially a “no fault” divorce, and there is an irrebuttable presumption that this requirement of irreconcilable differences has been met, according to the statute, when the parties live separate and apart for at least six months prior to the divorce judgment.
- Determining spousal maintenance: As we mentioned above, Illinois now has guidelines for a court to use in determining the amount and duration of spousal maintenance. First, in all cases, the court must decide whether spousal maintenance is appropriate. If the court finds a spousal maintenance award is appropriate in a particular case, it will use a formula to assess the incomes of both parties and the length of the marriage in order to award maintenance to one of the parties.
- Dividing marital assets: Distribution of marital property, which means both assets and debts of the marriage, is done according to a theory of “equitable distribution.” This means that the court will divide a couple’s property based on what is fair or equitable to both of the parties.
- Developing a parenting plan: If parents can agree to terms of parenting time and parental responsibilities—which means the amount of physical time spent with the child, as well as details about who will make particular decisions about the child’s upbringing—then the parents can developing a “parenting plan.” The court can agree to the parenting plan, which prevents the court from having to allocate parental responsibilities and parenting time. When the parents cannot come to an agreement, then the court will enter an allocation judgment that allocates both parenting time and parental responsibilities based on the best interests of the child.
- Child support: Under the new “income shares” model for child support, the court adds together the incomes of both parents and determines the support obligation (or, the amount of that income that would be spent on the child if the child were living in an intact household). The court then looks at a variety of factors to determine the percentage of the support obligation paid by each parent.
Seek Advice from a Park Ridge Family Law Attorney
When you are going through a divorce or a child custody case, you should have experienced counsel on your side. A family law attorney in Park Ridge can help. Contact Arami Law today to get started.