Finding an attorney who is a “real person” can be difficult. Many attorneys surround themselves almost exclusively with other attorneys and are accustomed to speaking in ivory tower legalese. You should be able to connect with your attorney on a personal level, and he or she should speak to you in plain language that you can understand. You will be working very closely with this person on issues that are very important to you. It is important that he or she be down-to-earth and someone that you connect with.
The most common complaint that clients have of their attorneys is that the attorney is unreachable, does not communicate with them regularly, or does not promptly return your calls. Your attorney should reach out to you about your case regularly and respond within 24 hours to calls and e-mails. An open line of communication between you and your attorney is essential to building trust.
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Your attorney’s goal should not be to win at all costs. Rather, it should be to achieve a favorable outcome for you as efficiently as possible. It is important that your attorney set realistic expectations at the outset as to the costs you should expect, the concerns that the attorney has about the outcome of your case, and the length of time that you should expect your case to take.
Regardless of the nature of your case, we have an experienced attorney who will focus on your individual needs. Our team of attorneys works closely together, bringing each of their different fields of experience to bear in order to optimize our client care.
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I am personally committed to ensuring that each one of our clients receives the highest level of client service from our team. Our mission is to provide excellent legal work in a cost-effective manner while maintaining open lines of communication between our clients and their attorneys. Many of our clients are going through difficult times in their lives when they reach out to us. They should feel comfortable leaning on the experience and knowledge of our attorneys as their counselors and advocates. We are here to help!
In this article, our Chicago divorce attorneys discuss factors courts could consider when determining the awarding of maintenance during a divorce case, the amount of the award, and how it will be paid. Maintenance can be paid in lump sum or continuing payments on a temporary or permanent basis. Courts attempt to place the parties in a relatively equal position close to the standard of living they enjoyed during the marriage. Some of the most important factors are the length of the marriage, earning capacity of each spouse, and any sacrifices one spouse made during the marriage for the other spouse's career.
When going through a divorce, couples tend to focus on big things, like who gets the house, spousal or child support, parenting time, and visitation rights, and many don’t have much bandwidth left to deal with the little things. But, what may seem like trivial items, such as passwords, cell phone plans, and tax implications can cause serious headaches when issues inevitably crop up in the future. Furthermore, couples in a rush to divorce, or hoping to game the system, face much more serious consequences for actions and decisions that could have easily been avoided.
In this video, our Chicago family law attorneys explain how in 2016 the Illinois Marriage and Defense of Marriage Act (the "IMDMA") saw several changes. The intent of these changes was to reduce the likelihood of disputes and to bring the language of the Act in line within the modern realities and understanding of marriage, divorce and parenting.
Irreconcilable differences will now be the only grounds for divorce in Illinois. Previously, parties could list irreconcilable differences or one of several specific statutory grounds when filing for a divorce. However, irreconcilable differences used to require a time of living separate and apart than specific grounds (2 years). Now, the time of living separate and apart is 6 months, and can be waived if both parties agree.
The terms "custodial parent" and "visitation" have now been replaced by "allocation of parenting time and responsibility." Also, four categories of parenting responsibility will be divided among the parents, those being religious, educational, extra-curricular, and medical responsibility.Parents were previously permitted to move anywhere in-state without leave of court, but required court permission to move out of state. Now the determination is based on distance instead of state lines. Parents may now move within 25 miles without a court order, regardless of in-state or out. Moves of more than 25 miles will require permission of court. Outside of the Chicago metro area, parties can move within 50 miles without leave of court as long as it is in-state.