In your divorce, you will need to resolve terms that relate directly to your finances as well as your ongoing relationship with your children. Protecting your rights in the process is paramount, which makes reaching out to an experienced Minooka divorce lawyer early in the process one of the most important steps you can take. 

Marital Assets

Anything that you and your spouse came to own while you were married is identified as marital property by the court, and the fact that one of you made the purchase on your own or that only one of your names is attached has no bearing on the asset’s classification as marital. These assets need to be divided between you fairly upon divorce. Anything that either of you owned separately prior to marriage will retain its designation as separate property only if the owner was able to keep it separate throughout the marriage. 

Child Custody

If you and your divorcing spouse have minor children, you will need to determine who will be making the important decisions that guide their lives moving forward (legal custody or parental responsibilities) and how you will divide your time with them (physical custody or parenting time). Legal custody involves the major decisions that are central to your children’s lives, including those related to the following:

• Their schooling
• Their religious upbringing
• Their health care
• Their participation in extracurriculars

You and your ex can make these decisions together, can divide them between you according to subject matter, or can assign them to one of you alone. 

The parenting time schedule you create – or are awarded by the court – determines when the children are with you and when they are with your ex. While there are many scheduling options available, you and your children’s other parent will either divide the number of overnights you have with your shared children somewhat evenly or one of you will become the primary custodial parent. 

Child Support

Child support is the payment system that helps balance your children’s financial support between you and their other parent. Illinois employs careful calculation guidelines that take an array of variables into consideration, but the primary concerns include how many overnights the children spend with each of you and you and your ex’s incomes relative to one another. Typically, the parent who earns more is the parent who pays child support to the other. 

Alimony

Alimony is only ordered in those Illinois divorces that leave one spouse facing a significant financial deficit while the other has the means to help offset it. The purpose of alimony payments is generally to help the recipient gain the education or job skills necessary to achieve greater financial independence.

An Experienced Minooka Divorce Lawyer Can Help

The focused Minooka divorce lawyers at Sabuco Beck PC are committed to skillfully guiding your case toward an advantageous outcome that supports your rights and best interests. For more information, please don’t delay reaching out and contacting us for more information today.