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Recent Blog Posts
Estate Planning Wishes: Have You Had "The Talk" with Your Parents?
Families may find it uncomfortable discussing estate planning wishes with their loved ones. No one likes to consider the day when his or her parents will no longer be around. However, not discussing one's estate planning can have serious consequences. It is an all-too-common scenario when a person passes away—or becomes seriously incapacitated—without ever making important legal decisions.
If your elderly parents have not addressed these decisions, it is important to sit down with them and make plans to consult with an estate planning attorney to ensure their wishes are carried out. This is not always easy since parents often feel that these matters are private ones, even with their own children. They may also not want to make these plans because it reminds them of their own mortality. Yet keeping these factors in mind when approaching parents can help make the conversation easier.
Types of Illinois Child Custody
You or your spouse have decided to file for divorce and you are starting the divorce process and deciding which type of child custody to petition for. There are more options for child custody than before and parents are starting to consider alternative options to child custody beyond sole and joint custody. While sole and joint custody are still the most popular forms of custody agreements in a divorce, there are parents who are opting to use split custody or bird's nest custody instead.
Types of Custody
In Illinois, custody is decided by the court and will look at the best interest of the children. The types of child custody include:
Estate Planning and Prenuptial Agreements
When people hear the words prenuptial agreement, they usually think of beginnings—the beginning of a new life together. Estate planning usually brings to mind then end—the end of life. However, these two phrases should really go hand-in-hand, especially when there is a family business involved.
It can be devastating to parents who have worked hard all of their lives to build up the family business to leave to their adult child, only to see half—or more—of that business lost to a child's spouse in a messy divorce.
A prenuptial agreement can be one of the strongest legal documents in estate planning for protecting a family business if a marriage ends in divorce. A prenuptial agreement is essentially a binding contract between spouses which clearly spells out how a marital estate will be divided in the event of divorce. An agreement can also detail what will happen to an estate in the event of a spouse's death.
Divorce and Retirement Savings
Divorcing at any time in your life is hard, but if you are over 50, it can pose its own set of considerations. If you have saved any amount of money for retirement in a savings account, IRA, 401(k), or other savings plan, you will have to navigate how to split up your retirement savings. For some couples, this means they will have significantly less than they thought and may not be able to retire when they had planned. Property division in an Illinois divorce is not a straightforward half and half split down the middle. Property and assets, like your retirement savings plans are divided in the most equitable way for each spouse.
Things to Consider for Older Divorcing Couples
With the number of divorces growing among couples aged fifty or older, questions about retirement savings plans, also called illiquid assets, are becoming more commonplace in divorce proceedings. There are several factors older divorcing couples will need to consider and discuss in their divorce. Some questions to consider are:
Little Things Can Cause the Biggest Headaches in Estate Planning
Couples who have been married for a long time often fall into a routine regarding how the marital responsibilities are divided. This routine may also apply to financial responsibilities. One spouse may handle all of the investment responsibilities and the other may handle the household financial responsibilities such as monthly bill paying and checkbook balancing. Quite often, however, when one spouse dies unexpectedly and there is no written documentation and record-keeping, it can turn into a nightmare for the surviving spouse.
When a spouse passes, and he or she handled all investments, the surviving spouse may suddenly find him or herself unsure of what or where those investments, as well as other bank accounts, are located. He or she may also have issues gaining access to those accounts.
Property Division: Dividing Assets in an Illinois Divorce
All couples acquire marital assets, no matter how long they have been married. The longer you have been together, the more assets you will have together. Some couples choose to keep pre-marital assets separate after they marry. When one spouse files for divorce though, you will want to speak with an experienced property division attorney to help you understand what is considered marital assets and what is not. It may become confusing when marital assets, such as a joint bank account, were used to fix or maintain a property that was a pre-marital asset.
What are Marital Assets?
Just the same as dividing debt, when you divorce and divide your assets and property in Illinois it is an "equitable-division." This means the division of marital property and assets will be divided based on what is fair for each party and not necessarily what is equal or half and half.
Illinois Estate Planning: Reasons Not to Procrastinate
Many of us are familiar with the Benjamin Franklin quote, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Yet those two topics—death and taxes—are not ones people generally like to think about. This could be why more than half of us do not have even the most basic of estate planning documents in place. In fact, according to financial planners, there may be several reasons why people put off and delay planning for what truly is the inevitable.
Not Enough Time
Many people say they do not have the time for estate planning, claiming they are just too busy. However, legal advisors and financial planners stress that this is one area that should be a priority and everyone needs to make the time. It is important to figure out who should receive what items of your estate in order to avoid possible fighting among family members when you are gone.
Keeping Living Wills Current
A living will is a document decided before death that prescribes the medical attention you choose in the event that you are unable to do so yourself. According to the Illinois General Assembly, the Living Will Act was passed to ensure that every state resident had the fundamental right to control the decisions related to his or her own medical care. This means that these decisions are not left to chance or to family in the event that sickness or other incapacitating factor makes the person unable to decide for himself.
Proponents of living wills say that these are matters of patient rights—physicians are not able to withhold or withdraw death-delaying procedures if a patient has signed a living will. For a living will to be valid, it needs to be signed by the patient (before he or she experienced the debilitating conditions) in the presence of a witness. The death-delaying procedures can include, but are not limited to:
Divorce Basics in Illinois
Before you can file for divorce in Illinois, there are some basic things you need to check or think about. How long have you lived in Illinois? What are your reasons for getting a divorce? How will you divide your assets and debt? If you have children, what is the best interest for them? Do you want to go to court or would mediation be better for you? There are many questions you need to ask yourself before and during the divorce process. It does not have to be confusing though. Here are some divorce basics you will need to know.
What is Dissolution of Marriage?
In Illinois, a dissolution of marriage is a divorce. Divorce proceedings are outlined in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act and lawyers and courts are required to follow this act during divorce proceedings.
Mediation Option in Illinois Divorce
If you are considering filling for divorce in Illinois, did you know you do not have to go through, or can limit your court hearings for your divorce proceedings? Mediation is an alternative to divorce proceedings in front of a judge. Speaking with an experienced mediation attorney can help you understand the process of divorce mediation and how you and your spouse can avoid a lengthy divorce process.
Choosing Mediation
Whether you have children or not, a mediated divorce can be beneficial to couples who are divorcing. You will have more say in how assets, property, and debt are divided and if there will be spousal maintenance payments. If you have children, there will still be some court proceedings in front of a judge because the best interest of the children will be taken into account. In mediation, you can outline terms for child custody and visitation, but they have to be approved by a judge to ensure the children will be taken care of and it is the best situation for them.
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