Obtain your free credit report from all three credit bureaus

Many divorces are driven by financial problems, losses of jobs or even another spouse mis-using and abusing credit. In most every divorce I advise clients that I can only do as good a job as the information that was provided to me. This means going to the source of documents. One such source for your financial standing is getting a copy of your credit report - which you can get for free.

Free Annual Credit Report

Here is the web address to get a credit report from  all three credit bureaus: www.annualcreditreport.com.  Beware of scams or websites that require you to pay for your credit report because you can get it free at this website. This is the same website the Federal Trade Commission recommends http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/freereports/index.shtml.  Note the free annual credit report can only be obtained once per year and does not include your FICO credit score. To obtain your credit score, you may wish to go directly to the company that produces them: www.fico.com  rather than rely on some second source that may be selling you their own credit score.

Before you start the process of filling out the information necessary to get your credit report  you will need all your information such as name, date of birth, Social Security number, current address and previous addresses if you've moved in the last two years. At some point in the process this website brings you through, you will visit each of the major credit reporting agencies websites to access your credit report. If you do not have a working printer hooked up, you may have a problem saving the credit report. Some of these reports are many pages in length. If you cannot save the credit report as a HTML document, there are options to save it as a PDF/Adobe Acrobat file. I use free software called “Cute PDF” to create PDF documents for anything I could otherwise print. Instead of printing a document from a printer, you send the document to a PDF right from your print dialog box. http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp.

Doctor Database Back Online

Doctor Data Back Online (follow this link)

The Illinois Supreme Court has lifted the hold on a database that gives information on lawsuits against doctors and chiropractors. This database also gives a lot of other information on your doctor such as where he or she was educated, where they have privileges (what hospitals they are allowed in) and a host of other information such as what insurance plans they take. The database was taken offline last year after the Illinois Supreme Court said a medical malpractice reform law was unconstitutional.



Www.andreanoandlyons.com

Past College Contribution Not Allowed

The Illinois Supreme Court has spoken. In a decision released in September 2011, the Supreme Court stopped a county judge from ordering a divorced father to pay the portion of college tuition that was paid by the former wife prior to her filing a motion seeking contribution for such expenses.

In the case the father had three sons with his former wife and divorced in 1996. The divorce settlement reserved the issue of college expenses for future consideration which is very common in divorces. The mother in this case asked a Cook County circuit judge to award her past and future college expenses for all three sons. The judge ordered the father to pay 75 percent of the PAST and future college expenses for all three sons, which totaled more than $273,000.

The father appealed and the appellate court said the order improperly changed the divorce decree before the date the mother asked for it to be changed so that the father should not be liable for college expenses that predated the mother filing a motion with the court. The Supreme Court agreed and sent the case back to the county judge with orders to recalculate the father's contributions and  exclude expenses incurred before the mother's motion was filed.

The court said: "Under the plain language of the [divorce] statute, a retroactive modification is limited only to those installments that date back to the filing date of the petition for modification. In light of the statutory language, the appellate court therefore correctly held that support could not be ordered for expenses which predate the filing of Janet's petition."

So what does it mean? More than ever, a parent seeking a contribution to college or vocational expenses must at the earliest opportunity file a motion with the court asking for contribution - especially if the parent's respective obligations are not spelled out in their divorce papers.

News: Man tries to ram big rig into courthouse; tells police he was upset over child support

Man tries to ram big rig into courthouse; tells police he was upset over child support - Edwardsville/Glen Carbon news - bnd.com

Here is a recent story of an Illinois man who obviously didn't do a very good job of coping with a court's decision. It appears that he intentionally tried to ram his semitrailer into the courthouse after a judge refused to lower his child support.

Reductions in child support may appear to be very simple matters. However complicating factors can arise in:
- properly calculating current child support,
- properly calculating taxes,
- issues with a new spouse's income
- agreement on what the actual income is (i.e. is over time included?)
- past due arrearages,
- unpaid medical reimbursement, extracurricular activities and/or school fees
- and a host of other matters they can come up.

In this recent case it also appears the court refused to reduce child support because the judge believed the man intentionally lost a job and/or reduced his income. In such instances, a judge may often refuse to lower or suspend child support. Many times I ask clients if, after the loss of a job, they received unemployment compensation. If they received unemployment, then the separation from the employer was not likely intentional (layoff off, reduction in force, plant closing, etc). If however the client did not receive unemployment, the court may assume that the separation from employment was intentional. Of course every situation is different and only an experienced family law attorney can address your specific situation properly.

Also, the biggest worry in child support reduction cases may be the actual timing of a motion to reduce child support. In this there should be no delay in filing the motion and sending notice to your former spouse. The court will generally never reduce support "retroactively" to a time before the motion was filed and notice given. This means that if you waited 6 months to file a motion to reduce support AFTER you actually lost a job then you will likely be stuck paying the support amount as ordered for those 6 months.

Prove-up Dates in Will County for your divorce

Prove up dates in Will County are generally set before Judge Nash in Room 400 for the year 2011. Here are the scheduled dates for the rest of the year. To confirm or set up a date, you should call the Circuit Clerk's Office. Note also, if you are doing your divorce on your own, you will need all necessary documents done and be able to show the judge all procedures were followed to get your divorce approved.

Remaining Proveup dates in Will County:

• September 15
• September 29
• September 30
• October 20
• October 31
• November 30
• December 9
• December 15 and
• December 30

Final Prove-Up Dates in 2010

The Will County Clerk's Office helps schedule final court dates ("prove-up") in agreed or default divorce cases. You have a choice to schedule one with the judge that has your case or with the prove-up judge whose court dates are listed below through the end of 2010. The benefit of the prove-up judge is that is all he does on these dates. Your regular judge handles much more in a morning and so you can get delayed in court. In either case, you must have all your paperwork together and in proper order before any judge will approve your divorce.

2010 Prove-up dates:

• June 11, 17, 29, 30
• July 15, 29, 30
• Aug 13, 30
• Sept 16, 29, 30
• October 21, 29
• November 29
• December 10, 16, 30

To schedule you must call the motion desk at (815) 740-8015

Text Message Evidence - Will it hurt you in a divorce?

Evidence that your spouse is cheating is not always very relevant in divorce cases. Illinois is a "no fault" state meaning that even if your wife has slept with every sailer in the Navy, it doesn't necessarily mean much to the judge. However, in certain cases it does have an impact such as where there is a premarital agreement that makes it relevant or there is a custody dispute and your moral character comes into light. However, it may be relevant to the judge if the kids are exposed to the cheating. It can also show up in the dissipation (wasting) of marital assets. Court's will take notice of marital money spent on the cheating spouse's significant other. Dissipation occurs when one spouse spends marital money on a non-marital expense at the time the marriage has broken down. There's a lot more to it than that so you should consult with an attorney if this is going on.

What can you do to avoid the problem? Not cheat is one suggestion. Also, there are now more tools to cover your tracks such as http://www.tigertext.com/ which is an iPhone application that deletes your texts after a set time. You may also use web-browsing cleaning software such as www.ccleaner.com  to clear certain info on your computer. (I use it because it makes my computer run faster). Of course, a good forensic computer technician can probably get on the trail of just about anything so I think my first suggestion is best.

If you suspect cheating and want to know if it will impact a divorce, speak with an attorney first and find out.

Anthony Andreano
Attorney at Law
(815) 954-8175
www.andreanoandlyons.com