“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein.
“The rules of court we have promulgated are not aspirational. They are not suggestions. They have the force of law, and the presumption must be that they will be obeyed and enforced as written.” Bright v. Dicke, 652 N.E.2d 275 (1995)
“[E]veryone is presumed to know the law and ignorance of the law excuses no one” Jones v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, 2013 IL App (1st) 122437
“[A]ll citizens are charged with knowledge of the law.” People v. Lander, 215 Ill. 2d 577, 588, 831 N.E.2d 596, 603 (2005)
“Mere contentions, without argument or citation of authority, do not merit consideration…and are waived” First National Bank of LaGrange v. Lowrey, 375 Ill. App. 3d 181, 207, 872 N.E.2d 447, 473 (2007)
“If a party does not offer any argument or meaningful authority in support of an argument, the argument is forfeited. ” Abbinanti v. Presence Cent. & Suburban Hosps. Network, No. 2-21-0763, 8 (Ill. App. Ct. 2021)
“Without legal authority, respondent’s argument is unconvincing.” Thomas v. Thomas, 2024 IL App (4th) 240289-U
“It is a common maxim that ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Clark v. Lay, 2022 IL App (4th) 220101, ¶ 45 2
Search our extensive library of family law articles written for lawyers and non-lawyers alike:
When you are a divorce attorney, you are always the bad guy in someone else’s movie. An Illinois divorce attorney owes numerous duties to their own client. “A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client.” Ill. Sup. Ct. R. 1.1 “A lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client.” Ill.
Divorce judges make dozens to hundreds of decisions every day. Sometimes, those decisions are in error. A judge’s wrong decision can be appealed to a higher court. Typically, this appeals process happens at the end of a trial because, generally only final orders can be appealed. “Appeals from final judgments of a Circuit Court are
If you’re in the middle of a divorce in Chicago, Illinois, then you know that nothing lasts forever. This may even include the relationship you have with your divorce lawyer. When you or your divorce attorney in Chicago decides to terminate your professional attorney/client relationship, your divorce lawyer must file a motion to withdraw as
Everyone knows that the parent who has the child the majority of the time is awarded child support. But what happens when neither parent has the child most of the time? What if the parents are splitting custody 50/50? What happens to Illinois child support when the children stay with each parent 50% of the
When a divorce in Illinois is finalized, the parties are issued final orders that both parties must abide by. But, life goes on and things change eventually no matter what the Marital Settlement Agreement or Allocation of Parental Responsibilities and Parenting Time say. Sooner or later, those documents will need to be modified. But how
Looking into divorce in Chicago means learning the specific Illinois laws that govern the process, often with the help of a divorce attorney in Chicago. Divorce in Chicago is governed by a series of rules: The Illinois Compiled Statutes, the Illinois Supreme Court Rules, the Cook County Court Rules, case law, and the standing order
In America, you have the right to own a gun… under certain conditions based on local, state, and federal law. Once you get divorced, or start the divorce process, the conditions of your gun ownership gain an additional layer: the clauses of your divorce decree. A divorce lawyer in Chicago can help you understand how
A trial is “a formal judicial examination of evidence and determination of legal claims in an adversary proceeding,” Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019) Witnesses are needed to provide the court with evidence. Evidence is mostly testimony in an Illinois divorce trial. Additionally, no physical evidence can be examined without testimony authenticating that evidence. Authentication
Verifying both parties incomes in an Illinois divorce is crucial to determining both maintenance (formerly known as alimony) and child support. Often, it is necessary to request tax returns from the IRS in order to verify a party’s true income. Why Income Must Be Verified In An Illinois Divorce Both parties’ net incomes must be
36% of people nationwide rent their homes instead of owning them. In Chicago, the percentage of renters is even higher at 51.5% of people being renters. So, while we know houses get divided in a divorce, what happens to renters when getting a divorce in Illinois? Who Keeps The Rented House In An Illinois Divorce?
When faced with divorce, there are lots of big financial questions like “who gets the house” and “how much alimony will I get?” In addition to the big issues, there is the entire lifetime of items that a couple will have accumulated over the years. What happens to all these household and personal items during
Orders of protection are to prevent “abuse[] by a family or household member” 750 ILCS 60/201(a)(i) Family and household members are usually seen every day. So, when the abuse needs to stop…the abuse needs to stop immediately. Virtually every petition for an order of protection starts as an emergency order of protection. The peculiar thing
A family’s dynamics are simply too complicated for a judge to completely digest. Judges appoint Guardian Ad Litems (commonly referred to as a “GAL”) to investigate, report, and offer recommendations on what the family should do now and in the future. If you do not agree on any or all custody matters in your Illinois
An opposing party’s litigation posture in an Illinois divorce hearing or trial can tell you a lot about what they are actually concerned with. It is common for a party to continue to harp on one issue throughout the hearing. This is annoying not just to you, but to the judge. The judge is trying
A marriage is a series of agreements. Divorces happen when those agreements start to fall apart. Some of those agreements between the couple (and others) will be upheld and some will be denied. One tool to deny agreements in an Illinois divorce is by invoking the Statute of Frauds. A Statute of Frauds is “A
People don’t get divorced because they (or their spouse) were an angel. People usually get divorced after being subjected to some very reprehensible behavior. Does that behavior allow for punitive damages in the subsequent Illinois divorce? Punitive damages are “damages awarded in addition to actual damages when the defendant acted with recklessness, malice, or deceit;
Divorce is expensive. Attorney’s fees during and after an Illinois divorce are usually in the thousands of dollars and must be paid. Illinois divorce law recognizes that the parties to a divorce or parentage action can ask their spouse, ex-spouse, or other parent to contribute to attorney’s fees on a temporary or final basis. “The
People do horrible things to each other before, during and after a divorce. The Illinois divorce process, however, rarely addresses horrible behavior. Illinois divorce courts “divide…marital property without regard to marital misconduct in just proportions” 750 ILCS 5/503(d) Child support and maintenance are awarded based on the party’s income, not their behavior. Even parenting time
After months of status dates in court, exchanging documents, and wondering when something will actually happen in your divorce, the divorce judge’s voice will boom, “Pretrial is scheduled for next month. Have your memos delivered to my clerk 7 days in advance!” What does this mean? What is a pretrial in an Illinois divorce, and