Inverness Divorce Lawyers

Divorce represents a major change in the lives of you and your children, and because both your parental and financial rights will be directly affected, it’s important to give the matter the careful attention it requires. The best way to help ensure that your divorce terms uphold you and your kids’ best interests is by consulting with an experienced Inverness divorce lawyer early in the process. 

Your Marital Property

In the State of Illinois, any assets that you and your spouse accumulated while married are considered marital property, and these assets must be divided between you fairly (what the state calls equitably) if your marriage ends in divorce. It doesn’t matter who purchased the asset in question – or whose name is attached. If you obtained it while married, it’s marital property (other than gifts or inheritances that are in one spouse’s name alone). Any separate property that you bring into your marriage with you will remain separate only if you actively keep it separate throughout your marriage, which can be quite challenging to accomplish. 

Your Parental Responsibilities

Illinois refers to child custody arrangements as parental responsibilities, which break down into the matter of making primary parenting decisions on your children’s behalf and scheduling parenting time (how you and your ex will divide the time that each of you spends with your shared children). 

Those primary parenting concerns include all of the following:

• Your children’s schooling
• Your children’s healthcare needs
• Your children’s extracurricular activities, including travel
• Your children’s primary residence
• Your children’s religious instruction

This decision-making power can be shared or sole – or you can divide the responsibility between you and your children’s other parent according to the kind of decision that is being made.  

You and your children’s other parent can create any parenting time schedule that works for both of you and that you are able to agree upon. The two basic options, however, include dividing your parenting time equally or one of you becoming the primary custodial parent. 

The Child Support Obligation

In Illinois, child support is calculated according to careful guidelines, but the child support obligation is generally determined by how you divide your parenting time and who the higher earner is. Even if you divide your time with the kids evenly, however, the parent with the more considerable income is very likely to shoulder the child support obligation. 

Alimony

Many divorces do not address the issue of alimony, but if one of you has a divorce-based financial need, the court may order alimony. Alimony is usually a temporary proposition that allows the recipient to gain greater financial independence by seeking further education or job training. 

Experienced Inverness Divorce Lawyers Can Help

At the SAM LAW OFFICE, LLC, the focused Inverness divorce lawyers are well prepared to harness the strength of their experience and legal insight in pursuit of your claim’s most advantageous resolution. Your case is important, so please don’t delay reaching out and contacting us for more information today.