Divorce Lawyer in Palatine

Divorce is a complicated legal procedure that amounts to the dissolution of a contract, but it also represents a significant emotional transition that complicates the matter further. The fact that the terms of your divorce will directly affect your parental and financial rights makes affording your divorce the careful attention it deserves paramount. If you are facing a divorce, it’s time to consult with an experienced divorce lawyer in Palatine. 

Protecting Your Parental Rights

The terms of your divorce that represent your parental rights include both physical and legal custody, which comprise your child custody arrangements. In Illinois, child custody is now referred to as parental responsibilities, but the basics still break down into legal custody (or decision-making power) and physical custody (or parenting time). 

Legal custody addresses how you will proceed with making primary parenting decisions that relate to matters such as the following:

• Your children’s schooling
• Your children’s religious upbringing
• Your children’s healthcare needs
• Your children’s extracurriculars

Physical custody addresses the matter of when your children will be with you and when they will be with their other parent. While the details can vary considerably, you will either split your parenting time evenly (or nearly evenly) between the two of you, or one of you will become the primary custodial parent and the other will have a visitation schedule. 

Child Support

Both parents are legally responsible for supporting their children financially, and child support payments help to balance this support between both parents. Typically, the higher earner has the child support obligation (even if parenting time is split equally between you). 

Protecting Your Financial Rights

The division of your marital property represents the cornerstone of your financial rights as they relate to divorce. Those assets that you and your spouse acquire while you are a married couple are considered marital property, and upon divorce, these assets must be divided equitably, which means they must be divided fairly given the relevant circumstances involved. This fair division of assets can become quite challenging, and factors such as the following tend to make the matter more so:

• High assets
• Ownership of multiple properties
• Business ownership
• Intermingling of marital assets and separate assets (those properties you bring into the marriage with you and keep separate throughout)

While alimony plays a role in far fewer divorces than it once did, it can still play an important financial role in some. Alimony is considered appropriate when one spouse experiences a divorce-based financial setback and the other spouse has the financial means to help him or her gain more solid financial footing (through further education or the pursuit of job skills, for example). 

Turn to an Experienced Divorce Lawyer in Palatine for the Legal Guidance You Need

The trusted Palatine divorce lawyers at the SAM LAW OFFICE, LLC, are committed to skillfully advocating for terms that uphold your parental and financial rights and that work for you and your children. To learn more, please don’t wait to contact us today.