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Recent Blog Posts
Settling your Online Estate; Where will your Email go?
When we think of planning our estates, many times we picture giving our family boxes of scrapbooks and other memories. But what about the memories that sit in our email inboxes? Do you have a plan for what to do with your Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL or Gmail account after your death?
Yahoo has repeatedly refused to give anyone other than the account holder access to an e-mail account. On their terms of service, Yahoo states that your rights to your e-mail account terminate upon your death. As a result, the company has been taken to court because of their refusal to allow others access to a deceased person's e-mail.
Gmail's process is less cut and dried. Google states that in some cases, they may allow a legal representative of the deceased access to the Gmail account. The process involves sending Google a copy of the deceased's death certificate along with information about yourself. If Google allow you to proceed, then the company says that you will have to obtain an order from a U. S. court to continue with the process.
The Other Victims in Divorce
When a couple decides to dissolve their marriage, the children are often referred to as ‘victims' of the divorce, especially if there is a lot of acrimony between the parents. Custody fights, child support and other co-parenting issues can leave a child feeling as if he or she is caught in the middle of a war zone.
Frequently, especially in the circumstances of the non-custodial parent getting behind or refusing to pay child support, the custodial parent withholds visitation. This not only adversely affects the child, but may also affect the grandparents as well. They are no longer able to see or spend time with their grandchild.
There may also be siblings involved. If the non-custodial parent has other children, they too are no longer able to spend time with their brother or sister. The withholding of visitation can truly have a ripple effect on the whole family.
Including your Digital Life in your Estate Planning
Chances are, your online persona will outlive your physical one. But have you considered what will happen to your blog, or Twitter and Facebook accounts after you're gone? Have you included them in your estate planning?
As personal estate planning lags behind the technology paced times, private companies have appeared to fill in the gap. Some promise to "preserve your memory" in a cloud based storage system, provided that your heirs keep paying the annual fee for the service.
Sites like the Digital Beyond give tips on how you can prepare to preserve your digital footprint, such as how to pass your passwords on to your surviving family members. And the sticky legal question of who owns your digital "stuff" when you pass on—the site that owns the servers that it is stored on, or you as the user? This is currently a gray area, but as the courts catch up to technology, we will most likely see some rulings made on this issue.
Aging Out of Divorce?
A recent article in the Huffington Post asked the question "Are you too old to get a divorce?" According to a study by sociologists Susan Brown and I-Fen Lin of Bowling Green State University, the divorce rate among people ages 50 and older has doubled over the past two decades.
Divorce among the new generation of ‘empty nesters' is referred to as ‘gray divorce' and Brown and Lin's research found that although the overall divorce rate has declined, gray divorce has risen to its highest level on record. Moreover, fifty-three percent of the people over 50 now getting divorced have done so at least once before. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Brown says that this past marital history appears to be a driving force. Having been married previously doubles the risk of divorce for those ages 50 to 64. For those ages 65 and up, the risk factor quadruples.
The Importance of Advance Directives in Illinois Estate Plans
Every Illinois resident that's of legal age should have an estate plan completed. Even those with relatively few assets can benefit from the utilization of some important estate planning documents - among them, advance directives such as a Power of Attorney for Health Care and a Power of Attorney for Property.
In general, a Power of Attorney (POA) is a document that gives someone (the agent) the legal right to make decisions on behalf of another person (the principal) in certain situations. There are various situations in which POAs are used, but any comprehensive estate plan should include these critical documents.
A Health Care Power of Attorney is used to designate a person to make medical and other personal decisions on your behalf should you become incapacitated. A Financial Power of Attorney serves the same purpose in regards to financial issues. As these are two separate documents, you can appoint two different people as your "agent" in each area. However, it's important that POAs are drafted correctly and in a way that is legally enforceable. Thus, it's best to work with an experienced Chicago estate planning lawyer to draft the appropriate POAs.
Divorces Can Cause Severe Economic Hardship
A recent article on the website dailycamera.com tells the story of a divorce gone wrong that resulted in a middle-class woman ending up homeless. While most difficult divorces don't end in this drastic of circumstances, there's no denying that the assistance of an experienced divorce lawyer is crucial in ensuring that you end up with what you deserve in your Illinois divorce.
Although she has a college degree and previous work experience, Nazzise had not worked for the last several years of her marriage, at her husband' urging. In 2007, her now ex-husband abruptly moved out, removed her name from the couple's joint bank account, and terminated the lease on the townhome they lived in. Nazzise found herself with no money and no place to live. Nazzise chose to represent herself in her divorce proceedings and was awarded alimony payments of $1,200 per month. Still, she struggled to make ends meet and find reliable, affordable housing. Because she was a single, able-bodied adult, Nazzise wasn't eligible for many public assistance programs, and she believes that her employment gap hurt her in the job hunt.
Dividing Debt in Illinois Divorces
The equitable division of property and assets is a primary consideration in most Illinois divorces. However, an equally important aspect of many divorces is the division of marital debts. Generally, if debts were accrued prior to the marriage, they will be considered non-marital debts and will not be relevant to the divorce. However, marital debts include everything from home mortgages, credit cards, car loans, and any other debt established during the marriage - and can be very complex to divide in a fair and equitable manner.
There are numerous things to consider when allocating debt to each party during divorce proceedings. For instance:
- Are the debts marital or non-marital?
- Which names are on the account?
- When the debt was incurred
- The value of the debt
- The value of the property associated with the debt (home, car, etc.), and who will retain possession of this asset.
Illinois Process for Divorce
A. Requirements for filing for Divorce in Illinois:
Grounds - In order to file suit for divorce in Illinois, you must prove that you have met the necessary "grounds" for divorce. Those grounds include:
- Residence for six months in state
- Irreconcilable differences; and
- No chance for reconciliation.
B. Temporary Orders Hearing:
If you and your spouse cannot agree as to how your property will be divided, your debts paid, how your property will be temporarily divided, your debts temporarily paid, and if you have children, how your children will be temporarily cared for, then you will need to have a hearing on temporary orders. Temporary Orders allow the court the opportunity to make orders that will exist during the time between the filing of your divorce suit and ending with the entry of the Final Decree of Divorce in your case.
C. Discovery Process:
It is normal during a divorce for each spouse to ask the other spouse to answer certain questions, produce documents, and possibly offer testimony regarding the issues in the case. Discovery is used to prepare a case for trial. It can include:
Facebook's Role in Illinois Divorces
A recent MSNBC article alleges that the widespread use of Facebook plays a part in the rising number of divorces in Illinois and across the world. One study done in the U.K. concluded that a third of divorce filings included a reference to Facebook, while in the U.S., the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers survey indicated that more than three-fourths of divorce lawyers reported an increased number of divorces that involved social media.
According to the article, Facebook affects the divorce rate for several reasons. Some experts cite the fact that it's relatively easy to "friend" and interact with anyone, from someone you've met in passing to an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend.
Once a divorce is in progress, Facebook can also have a role in the divorce proceedings. Things like pictures, status updates, and check-in information may be introduced as evidence on behalf of either party, and could even be used in determining alimony or child support issues. Last year, one judge even required that the divorcing parties provide their Facebook log-in information to the court.
Organ donation in Illinois
In Illinois, individuals may donate organs either through a will or by consent at the time of the person's death. The easiest way to make such a donation is to include it in will planning, but if the person has not made provisions in his or her will, there are others who can give consent after a person's death.
In order to authorize donation of any anatomical gift, Illinois state law allows for a descending order of other persons who may make the gift.
- Any person who has power of attorney.
- A surrogate decision maker identified by the attending physician in accordance with the Health Care Surrogate Act.
- The appointed guardians of the deceased at the time of their death.
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