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Recent Blog Posts
Child Support Considerations: How Does Illinois Calculate My Net Income?
When you are expected to pay child support, it important to understand how such obligations will affect your own financial situation. Providing for your children is, of course, a very high priority, but you must also be sure you are familiar with the law and how your child support requirement will be determined. While much of the law is fairly straightforward, there are a number of complexities that may require the assistance of a qualified family law attorney.
Basic Child Support Calculations
As specified in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, either or both parents may be ordered by the court to pay child support. Most commonly, the court will require the parent without primary physical custody to provide financial support in accordance with the guidelines in the law. The paying parent is expected to pay a designated percentage of his or her net income, based on the number of children to be supported. Circumstantial considerations may be made by the court to allow for some deviation from the statutorily prescribed percentage.
State Senate Passes Juvenile Transfer Reform Bill
The spring legislative session was a fairly busy one in Springfield as lawmakers passed a number of measures that now await action by Governor Bruce Rauner. One such bill, which has been referred to as the "transfer reform bill," is designed to grant juvenile courts additional authority in deciding whether or not to try an alleged juvenile offender as an adult. The measure hopes to increase rehabilitative efficacy and prevent more young people from entering an unbreakable cycle of crime and punishment.
Automatic Transfer Laws
In 1899, Cook County was the first jurisdiction in the country to introduce a juvenile court system. Based on the premise that adults and children were inherently different, lawmakers agreed that appropriate consequences for criminal activity should generally differ based on age and maturity. As crime in the 20th century peaked, however, a wave of "war-on-crime" efforts swept the nation, leading to new laws allowing more juveniles to be tried in adult criminal courts.
Talking to Your Kids about Your Divorce, Part 2: The Conversation
You know how tough it can be to talk with your children about certain realities of life. At some point, you will likely be required to discuss with them challenging issues such as the death of a loved one, bullying or social concerns, and physical and emotional changes related to adolescence. For many parents, speaking with their children about divorce is incredibly difficult. It is, however, a conversation that must take place in order to maintain your children’s trust and to help ensure they understand the changes that will be occurring. A recent post on this blog discussed some ways to prepare for talking to your kids about divorce and today’s will look at important details of the actual conversation.
Schedule Your Talk
The discussion about your imminent divorce is not one to casually begin in the car on the way home from the movies. You and your children need to set aside the appropriate time to work through the details without feeling rushed or pressured. Also be sure that you and your spouse have reached the “point of no return” regarding divorce or separation. Telling your kids that you are “considering” a divorce or separation will only cause unnecessary uncertainty at an already confusing time. Let them know that changes are happening, not that they might.
The Average Illinois DUI Offender
Driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs is extremely dangerous. There is little question regarding that fact. Impaired drivers present serious hazards not only to themselves and the occupants of their vehicles, but to anyone else currently on or near the road, including pedestrians and bicycle riders. Anyone, certainly, is capable of drinking too much and getting behind the wheel, but, over time, certain trends have emerged regarding DUI arrests. Combining all available DUI arrest information, the Office of the Illinois Secretary of State has created a compilation of the average person arrested for DUI.
Keep in mind that, as an average, this composite is for illustrative purposes only. Based on the DUI records in recent years, the average DUI offender in Illinois is:
- Male: More than three quarters of those arrested for driving under the influence are men;
Talking to Your Kids about Your Divorce, Part 1: Preparations
In an ideal world, informing your children of your imminent divorce is one of the most difficult conversations you will ever have. The world, however, is rarely ideal and, in reality, talking to your kids about divorce is more likely to result in several, if not many, very difficult conversations. Your children deserve to know, obviously, that their lives are about to significantly change, and there may even be positive effects from being appropriately forthcoming with them about the situation.
As you prepare to tell your children, do not begin the conversation on a whim. This is not the time to start talking and “see where it goes.” Your children will need to know certain, specific pieces of information that they may not be comfortable asking about, and you and your spouse need to be ready.
Work Together
If possible, you and your spouse should make the effort to talk with the children together, despite the difficulties you may be facing. This can help demonstrate to you children that you will continue to be a family, albeit with a new dynamic. It also eliminates the need for two versions of the same story, which can lead to confusion or force a child to choose which parent he or she “believes.” Cooperation at this point in the process may even lay the groundwork for future amicability between you and your spouse regarding the children.
Understanding the Bail Process
You probably have heard the terms “bail” and “bond” used interchangeably related to the arrest of an individual. It may have been a friend, family member, or even a celebrity, but it is not uncommon to hear or read that a person has been “bailed out of jail” or has “posted bond.” Although the terms are related, they do not mean exactly the same thing and understanding the difference may be helpful if you are ever confronted with such situation.
What is Bail?
If you have been arrested on criminal charges, you are entitled by law and the Constitution to a trial. Due to scheduling and backlogs, however, there may be a significant amount of time between the arrest and your required appearance in court. To ensure that you appear when scheduled, the court has three basic options:
Five Illinois Divorce Laws You Should Know
While it may be easy for most people to believe that have a fairly good grasp on the laws of the state in which they reside, many are often surprised by the sheer volume of enacted legislation that governs their lives. In Illinois, there are countless pages of statutes which provide guidance regarding criminal matters, operation of a motor vehicle, and civil procedures, including divorce and related concerns.
The bulk of Illinois law dealing with divorce can be found in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, or IMDA, which constitutes its own section (750 ILCS 5) of the state’s statutory code. Many of the provisions in the IMDMA are rather straightforward, but others may seem a little curious.
For example, you may not know that, under Illinois law:
Can I Be Arrested Simply for Running from Police?
While the death of a young Baltimore man in police custody a few weeks ago caused extreme levels of civil unrest around the city, one of the frequently overlooked aspects of the case was that the man’s initial arrest was preceded by his running from an interaction with the police. Obviously, the police department’s handling of the man’s arrest and his subsequent death are more significant concerns, and the officers involved have been indicted. However, the circumstances leading up to his arrest pose the question: Is running from the police prior to being stopped against the law?
An individual cannot be arrested on the grounds of running from the police. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects citizens from unlawful search and seizure of property, and allows a person to go about his business or remain silent during an investigatory police stop. While running from police is not against the law, however, there are situations in which running may lead to additional problems for a person who makes that choice.
Understanding the Concept of Equitable Adoption
Under the auspices of criminal law, intent often plays a significant role in the commission and prosecution of a crime. The same may be said about certain areas of family law, as well, as intent and good faith efforts are typically recognized by the court in a variety of applications. There is one area of family law, however, where intent may not be enough, as the Illinois Supreme Court has closed the door on equitable adoption as it relates to child custody situations and the parent-child relationship.
Equitable Adoption and DeHart v. DeHart
While most people are familiar with the concept of adoption, which grants legal parental rights to a non-biological parent, equitable adoption refers to situations in which legal adoption was never completed but the substance of the adoptive parent-child relationship is recognized by the court. The issue of equitable adoption was the centerpiece of a 2013 Illinois Supreme Court decision in DeHart v. DeHart.
Social Media and Cell Phones Increasingly Yield Evidence in Divorce Cases
A generation or two ago, the phrase “digital footprint” would have sounded like made-up nonsense. Today, however, an individual’s digital footprint actually exists as an electronic trail left from the use of online and digital services. Many have likely recognized some of the ways in which marketers utilize such information; for example, dynamic advertisements on certain websites will be presented based on a user’s prior search and browsing history. Beyond advertisers, though, more and more data is being pulled from social media and cell phones to be used as evidence in divorce cases.
Cell Phone Society
It is estimated that more than 90 percent of American adults own and use cellular phones. Two-thirds or more own smart phones, allowing them to access the internet and run apps directly from the device. These numbers have continued to grow in the last several years, as mobile device use has become nearly ubiquitous in American culture. What many fail to consider, however, is the treasure trove of information such devices can be when another person may be looking for something to use against them.
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