Steps to Financially Prepare for Divorce
The beginning months of every year have been historically the most popular months to file for divorce. Whether you are the person who has made the legal move to end your marriage–or your spouse has–there are several steps you should take to avoid making costly financial mistakes. Who Handles the Money in Your Marriage? It is quite common in many marriages for one spouse to be theContinue reading
Will Your Marriage Beat the Odds?
Many people who are going through a divorce have a lot of “if only” statements–if only I did this differently, if only my spouse did more of this. The search to find the reason why the marriage did not work out is a common one, however, the answer of why is often a hard one to find. However, there are several signs that may indicate that the marriage wasContinue reading
Divorce Predictor Behaviors: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
According to marriage researchers, there are four behaviorsthat can predict a marriage will, in all certainty, end in divorce. A collaboration between psychologists from the University of Washington and University of California-Berkeley came up with a system that predicted divorce in 93 percent of the marriages they examined. The researchers used data from 79 married couples who participated in a 14 year study. Twenty-one of those couples divorced duringContinue reading
How to Keep Nursing Home Costs from Wiping Out Assets
Statistics show that the average life expectancy for Americans keeps increasing. The average life expectancy of men right now is 84.3 years of age. For women, it is 86.6. Along with increased longevity comes the reality of living with illnesses and diseases that often afflict the elderly. Many of these conditions eventually require an individual to be placed in a long-term care facility, such as aContinue reading
Co-Parenting Issues after Divorce
One of the most difficult things to deal with after a contentious divorce is co-parenting. Unlike childless couples who divorce, you and your ex-spouse will still have to deal with each other on some level the rest of your lives. Contrary to what many divorced parents think, that contact does not end when your child turns 18 year of age. There are all kinds of lifeContinue reading
Child Custody Modification: What Happens When a Parent is Convicted of DUI?
In the state of Illinois, if you are arrested and convicted for drunk driving, the consequences can be severe. Even a first offense drunk driving conviction not only results in a minimum of a year’s loss of license and heavy fine, but the guilty party can also face up to one year in jail. When people consider the consequences of drunk driving, one thing they oftenContinue reading
Study Determines Divorce Rate Same for Straight and Gay Married Couples
A recent study reveals that the divorce or breakup rate for same-sex couples is the same as it is for heterosexual couples. This is true for same-sex couples who are involved in government-sanctioned marriages, civil unions, or long-term committed “marriage-like” relationships. The study was conducted by a research team from Stanford University, utilizing data that was collected for the How Couples Meet and Stay Together successive surveys. These surveys followedContinue reading
Child Support Obligations under Illinois Law
If you are going through a divorce in Illinois and have children, one of the most important issues you will have to negotiate with your spouse is who will get custody of the children. This factor can also determine which parent will be paying child support. In many child custody cases, the non-custodial parent (payor) is ordered to pay the custodial parent (payee) child support payments.Continue reading