Posted on March 04, 2022 in Estate Planning

The terminology used in estate planning can be challenging to understand. If you feel a little confused when you read about estate planning topics because of all the "legalese," you are far from alone. Many of the legal terms used in the estate planning field have very specific meanings. Some terms are used when discussing trusts, but not wills, or vice versa. Other terms you may know are outdated and no longer in use. It can be difficult to keep track of all the legal terms you might hear or read when it comes to wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and guardianships. This is one of many reasons that it is very important to let an attorney help you build your estate plan.

What Are Some Legal Terms I Might Need to Know?

Some important terms you might want to be familiar with when you start working on your estate plan include:

• Testator - The person who is making their will.

• Grantor/Settlor - These terms are used interchangeably to refer to someone who is making their trust.

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 Posted on February 28, 2022 in Divorce

Also known as alimony or spousal maintenance, “spousal support” is technically the term used in Illinois for payments made from one former spouse to another after a divorce has been finalized. While not every divorce decree contains an order for spousal support, when it is ordered, it is legally enforceable and failing to make payments carries legal consequences.

The recipient of spousal support is often dependent on the funds for essentials like housing, food, and clothing. While spousal support is meant for the spouse, it often also contributes to the expenses associated with raising children. If spousal support payments do not come on time or at all, it can have a seriously detrimental effect on both a parent and child. If you should be receiving spousal support and your ex has decided not to pay for any reason, an experienced Illinois family law attorney may be able to help.

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 Posted on February 25, 2022 in Child Custody

Marijuana is now readily available to residents of Illinois. Coming in the form of vape pens, hard candies, chocolates, and traditional herb, marijuana products are easy to use with very little thought as to whether there may be negative consequences to this change in policy. While marijuana is often marketed as a sort of panacea for illness, pain, and other ailments, like all intoxicating substances, marijuana use can have negative side effects for its users. Additionally, just because marijuana is legal does not mean that parents in Illinois have free reign to use it in ways that could interfere with their parenting. If you are wondering whether your marijuana use could be used against you in a divorce or child custody dispute, read on.

Marijuana Use And Parenting Time

The Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act prohibits marijuana use, in and of itself, to be used against a parent in a dispute about parenting time or parental responsibilities. Like alcohol, responsible marijuana use is legal and does not present a threat to a parent’s ability to parent well or make responsible decisions on behalf of their child.

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 Posted on February 24, 2022 in Estate Planning

As much as we would all like to be part of a loving, old-sitcom-style family where everyone gets along and loves each other, this is simply not the reality for many people. Some people who are trying to create an estate plan have adult children who have not spoken to each other in decades. Others have seen their relatives extensively litigate over another family member’s estate. Some have witnessed utter chaos erupt when a now-deceased relative was nearing the end of their life, as no two family members could agree on how their medical care should be handled.

If this sounds like your family, there are a few steps you and your attorney can take to both protect yourself during your later years and avoid any further conflict over your own estate or end-of-life care.

Tips for Testamentary Planning When Your Family Does Not Get Along

Angry, disinherited, or jealous family members have been known to raise challenges simply to spite each other. You probably already know if this is a risk. Some tips for making sure your estate plan goes unchallenged include:

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 Posted on February 22, 2022 in Estate Planning

It often does not even occur to young adults that they should have an estate plan at all. You may see creating an estate plan that is likely to change before you need it as a pointless endeavor. However, there are a number of strong reasons that younger adults should consider creating at least a simple estate plan. It can be very difficult for young people to consider their own mortality in this way, but it is important that you do. No one is impervious to things like accidents or illnesses. Having a legally sound estate plan in place is a good idea for everyone. An estate planning attorney can help determine what type of estate plan makes sense for your personal situation.

Why Should Young People Make an Estate Plan?

Life and death can be incredibly unpredictable. For this reason alone, it is a smart move for all adults to establish an estate plan, whether or not they think it will become relevant anytime soon. Reasons young adults should consider creating an estate plan include:

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 Posted on February 21, 2022 in Asset Division

The issue of inheritance is often a cause of great contention in Illinois divorces. For spouses who have been married for decades, money given from a deceased family member to one spouse may feel like something of a betrayal to the other spouse, especially if the spouse who receives the inheritance decides not to spend it in ways that would benefit the marriage or children.

In other situations, couples may be very generous with each other’s inheritance, and even count on it as part of their long-term financial planning. No matter how an inheritance has been handled, the issue can get thorny when a couple starts discussing divorce. Deciding how to handle an inheritance in the asset division process can be challenging, especially when inheritance funds have been mixed with marital funds. If you are considering divorce and anticipate dealing with inheritance, consider getting the help of a DuPage County attorney with experience in both family law and estate planning.

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 Posted on February 18, 2022 in Divorce

Thanks to the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges supreme court case, same-sex families in Illinois can get married. Along with an increase in LGBT marriage has come an increase in couples who want to adopt or have children through methods such as egg donation and gestational surrogacy. While these methods are wonderful for building families, they do have legal complications and it is important to understand how Illinois law handles cases where one or both parents do not have a biological relationship with the child.

Illinois Egg Donors Do Not Have Parental Rights

When an egg donor helps an individual or couple conceive through assisted reproductive techniques, the donor completely gives up their legal parental rights to any children that result from their donation. Because an egg donor does not have parental rights, both members of a same-sex couple may have parental rights for a child conceived through egg donation.

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 Posted on February 14, 2022 in Divorce

Most couples do everything they can to reconcile their differences before resorting to divorce, especially when there are children involved. While couple’s therapy, family counseling, and renewed efforts to revive a relationship may work for some people, for other couples, divorce is inevitable.

Some couples agree that divorce is the best option, but it is common for one spouse to be confident about the decision to divorce while the other spouse still hopes or wishes to reconcile. A spouse who is determined to exhaust all possible options cannot ultimately prevent a divorce from happening, but he or she can slow things down and make it more difficult for a divorce to proceed. One way this might happen is through trying to convince a court that reconciliation may still be possible and asking for a conciliation conference.

What is a Conciliation Conference?

Couples in Illinois no longer have to prove fault in a divorce case. In the past, abandonment, infidelity, and abuse could be difficult to prove and were not necessarily present in marriages that spouses wished to end. Today, fortunately, couples in Illinois need only list “irreconcilable differences” as their cause for divorce.

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 Posted on February 07, 2022 in Divorce

While divorce is difficult for everyone involved, it often presents a different set of challenges to men and women. Women are more likely to become depressed than men and the divorce process is littered with complications that can rattle the confidence of even the most self-assured woman. Women also tend to earn less than men and are nearly always the primary child caregivers, meaning that their financial, physical, and mental burdens are often increased substantially during divorce. If you are a woman considering divorce in Illinois, here are five things that you should know.

It is Normal to Feel Emotional

Many women resist feeling the full extent of their emotions because they need to think clearly. But emotions are powerful and useful, and they can have a place in making wise decisions. It is perfectly normal to feel angry, hurt, frightened, confused, and even happy during the divorce process. Whether or not you allow these feelings to drive your decision-making process is ultimately up to you, but you should never feel shame for allowing your emotions to run strong during this period of major upheaval.

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 Posted on January 31, 2022 in Divorce

On January 1, 2019, a new federal law called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changed the way that divorced spouses could deduct taxes from spousal maintenance (also known as alimony or spousal support). Because tax deductions are under the purview of federal law, this law applied to all states, including Illinois. While each state could still set their own guidelines for how spousal maintenance payments would be calculated, the tax implications of these payments changed. Naturally, many people may have questions about what this means for their divorce or spousal maintenance renegotiation.

Which Spouse is Responsible for Taxes on Spousal Maintenance?

Before 2019, the spouse making spousal maintenance payments could deduct those payments from his or her taxable income. The spouse receiving payments would pay taxes on the spousal maintenance as if it were income. With the TCJA, the spouse making payments now cannot deduct them from his or her taxable income and the spouse receiving payments does not pay taxes on them. This means that the spouse who makes payments is also responsible for paying taxes on that amount.

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