The changes that come with divorce are significant, and because your divorce will directly affect your rights as a parent and your financial rights, having an experienced divorce attorney in Joliet on your side is the best course of action. While divorce represents a major change for your family, your dedicated divorce attorney will help to ensure that you’re ready to step into your post-divorce future with the confidence you need. 

The Court’s Role

You and your soon-to-be-ex will need to negotiate the terms of your divorce between yourselves in order to avoid the court’s intervention on matters that affect your lives directly. Any terms that you are unable to resolve – with the skilled legal guidance of your respective divorce attorneys – will need to be determined in court. Prior to turning to the court, however, you and your divorcing spouse should exhaust your negotiation options, which can include mediation.  

Dividing Your Marital Assets

As a married couple, you will likely accrue assets (as offset by debts), and this represents your marital property. In Illinois, these assets – or their value – must be distributed between you fairly (given the specific circumstances involved), which does not necessarily mean they will be divided between you equally. While each spouse is entitled to his or her own separate property, this only applies to those assets that you own prior to marriage and that you keep separate during your marriage. The division of marital property is often one of the most challenging terms of divorce. 

Your Parental Responsibilities and Parenting Time

As parents, you make important decisions on behalf of your children that guide and direct their lives, and the State of Illinois refers to this aspect of child custody as parental responsibilities. The kinds of decisions that qualify include:

• Decisions about your children’s schooling and daycare
• Decisions about your children’s religious education
• Decisions about your children’s participation in travel and extracurricular activities
• Decisions about the medical care and attention your children receive
• Decisions about where your children live

The other primary aspect of child custody is parenting time, which determines when your children will be with you and when they will be with their other parent. If you don’t divide your time relatively evenly, the parent who has the children the majority of the time takes on the role of primary custodial parent.

Child Support

As parents, you remain financially responsible for supporting your children, and Child support payments help to ensure that this responsibility is balanced between the two of you. Typically, the parent who earns more makes the child support payments – even when parenting time is split down the middle.

Alimony

If divorce leaves one of you without the financial resources to continue supporting yourself, the court may order alimony. Alimony is more the exception than the rule, and it is generally set for an amount and a duration that allows the recipient to gain the job training or education necessary to become self-supporting. 

Discuss Your Concerns with an Experienced Divorce Attorney in Joliet Today

The veteran divorce attorneys at Sabuco Beck, PC in Joliet understand the significance of divorce in your life and are well prepared to help protect your rights throughout the process. Learn more about what we can do for you by contacting us today.