Will County Divorce Lawyers Andreano and Lyons - Attorneys at Law

Obtain your free credit report from all three credit bureaus

2011-10-25T12:51:00.001-05:00

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

2011-10-20T10:17:00.001-05:00

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

2011-09-23T16:43:00.000-05:00

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

2011-08-31T11:20:00.001-05:00

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

2011-08-16T17:13:00.004-05:00

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

2010-05-19T11:31:00.000-05:00

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?

2010-03-01T12:05:00.002-06:00

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

What if you disagree with a court order? What to do (and not do).

2010-02-17T10:11:00.000-06:00

The Sun-Times reported today on a case where a law student in a Cook County custody dispute landed himself in trouble. The trouble surrounds allegations that he defied a court order regarding the upbringing of the divorced couple's child in the Jewish faith. It was reported that the custody arrangement provided for the child to be raised Jewish but that the father had the child baptized Catholic without mom’s consent and on another occasion brought a TV news crew with him when he took the child to a Catholic Church for mass. This allegedly violated the court’s orders.

If you knowingly violate a court order you disagree with and have no valid excuse to do so, there is generally punishment – sometimes a jail sentence. Disagreeing with the court's order is NOT a valid excuse. Obviously even attorneys are not immune from the rancor and emotional blinding a custody dispute can cause. But to openly disobey a court order AND have it televised, is pretty extreme. Which brings me to the point of this post. I have many individuals come to me after a court order is entered with complaints that the order is unfair. Indeed, sometime they are right on - the order is unfair. However, it is the method to attack the order that is the most important step from there.

There is a method to this:

1) If you act quickly (like within 30 days of the court order) you can ask the court to reconsider its order. Or if you act with that 30 days (or 30 days from being denied a motion to reconsider) you could file an appeal to the appellate court. If that fails and your appeal is denied, you can even try to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court (the Supreme Court must accept the appeal though).

2) In the case mentioned above, it seems the father did at least some of what I outlined but his appeal was denied. So what then? Rather than violate the court order, there are a number of strategies. Mediation can sometime be pursued in the family law area. In that instance, instead of the judge deciding, the parties mutually come up with something both can agree. Another approach is simply waiting. Waiting some amount of time until the nastiness settles down can be effective however not immediate. Within that time the judge may be reassigned or retire. Sometimes judges want there to be a good amount of time to pass before they change existing orders - if anything other than they are tired of the constant court appearances. This works in instances where the judge has a poor view of one party. In that situation, rather than continue the fight, start a strategy of proving to the judge that what they though about you is not still the case. Often counseling can be effective or other treatment depending on the situation.

The fact is certain issues are always modifiable out of a divorce and others are not. Only an experienced attorney can help you effectively deal with your situation. No matter what, I have yet to advise a client to make their dispute with a judge the subject of a television special. If you think you made a judge mad, keep in mind that there is always room to make that judge ever more upset. That is just going in the wrong direction. Also keep in mind that lawyers make money when people fight – we generally make money even if the fight is pointless and not in your best interest. Again, a good attorney will help you tell the difference. By: Anthony Andreano - www.andreanoandlyons.com - (815) 954-8175

See the entire Sun-Times article at: "Ugly divorce, custody fight turns into religious battle" By Lisa Donovan

Sick days NOT marital property that your spouse can take a share

2010-02-05T08:58:00.002-06:00

In a split decision, the Illinois Supreme court ruled this month that accrued sick days are NOT marital property that your spouse can get a share of in a divorce. Since it was a split decision, there is still some debate about it but the law will be clear nevertheless.

In the case the husband had banked over 100 sick days at his government job (good gig if you can get it) The supreme court said no deal to the trial court's split because the value assigned to the sick days would be too speculative and that it was unknown whether the husband would ever use his sick days before he terminated his employment or retired. Therefore, wife did not get a piece of it.

Of course, reading through the case, it seems like the value of what the party's were fighting over was about $15,000. Taking a case up the Illinois Supreme Court case is VERY expensive. This is likely one of those cases where the parties spent upwards of $30,000 on attorney fees to fight over $15,000. Who made out in the end? Take a guess.....

Read the entire case at In re Marriage of Abrell

Obligations to contribute to college expenses - Summary of Illinois Law

2010-02-04T08:53:00.001-06:00

The court can award college contributions at any time until the child receives a 4 year degree (not graduate degree contributions) and courts generally will not order a parent to pay toward a child that takes more than 4 years to complete a 4 year degree. The educational expenses may include room, board, dues, tuition, transportation, books, fees, registration and application costs, medical expenses including medical insurance, dental expenses, and living expenses during the school year and periods of recess.

There is much more to it than that and courts weighs a number of factors including:
(1) The financial resources of both parents.
(2) The standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not been dissolved.
(3) The financial resources of the child.
(4) The child's academic performance.

A question I often also get is "What about the income of my new spouse?” While the new spouse's income is not directly considered in the equation, many judge's view the "financial resources of both parties" to include household income. In other words, if you remarried someone with high income, then the argument goes that the additional household income would free up some of your own income to contribute to the costs of your child's college. It's not uniformly applied and each case is different. Often time even the judge's views differ. Some believe parents should only be obligated to contribute to what a state school costs, even if your child is going to private school. Others are more lenient and do not consider the public-private differences in tuition. Another issue is the judge's view on the student's expected contribution. Are they expected to take out loans? If so then how much?

These and other issues come up in nearly every college contribution situation and each is assessed on a case-by-case basis. One thing is for sure: if you have a child going to college, start the discussions of how to pay for it and gather what information is needed to assess need as early as possible. I often give the advice that information is ammunition to your attorney. If they do not have enough of it, they have nothing to fire back at the other side.

Past Due Child Support: Bone-headed legislation proposed - so nothing new in Springfield

2010-01-27T15:19:00.001-06:00

House bill 5078 would require a parent owing back child support in an amount exceeding $10,000 to file a bond (as security) in the amount owed before that parent can seek to change visitation or custody.

If this passes it will be confirmation that the Illinois General Assembly has collectively lost its mind. An issue which requires precision handling (parents using custody to prevent collection of child support) is met with a hack-saw (throwing a child's best interest out the window to prevent a change of custody when otherwise needed). Why not just make the payment of support (or non-payment) a factor in custody determinations? Where a change of custody is brought with a backdrop of unpaid child support obligations, many times it is because the parent without custody wants to avoid future support, not do what's best for the children. Simply put, courts are best placed to make that call on a case-by-case determination, not the legislature on an all-or-nothing basis.

Shoplifting mom loses custody through an Order of Protection

2010-01-27T14:24:00.002-06:00

Orders of protection are very powerful tools in custody disputes but they must be used wisely - if at all. In a recently reported case, a mother lost custody of her children because of repeated arrests for shoplifting. In re Marriage of Holtrof (Kane County, 2010 - see link below) At least one of the arrests happened when one the children was with her at time of arrest and once when she left some of the children in the car with the engine running while she was in the store. The appellate court stated that such activities equaled "abuse" because the arrests occurred with the children present (it was not "neglect" because neglect only applies to adults with disabilities.)

This case is a good illustration of the general principle that custody cases can get into much of the detail of one’s life even if not directly related to the children. Essentially, if it is done in front of the children, it might be relevant to the court in a custody dispute. I have seen this where the custodial parent allows activities to be done in the presence of the children (sexual conduct, drugs, crimes) and it affects custody even when the parent may not have been taking part in the activity or even approving of it.

Link to Case:
http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2010/2ndDistrict/January/2090872.pdf

Call for consultation on your case (815) 954-8175 or visit us on the web at wwww.andreanoandlyons.com

Facebook - The new frontier for divorce

2009-12-23T13:09:00.001-06:00

I found an article out of England (see below) that seems to confirm some of my thoughts on what recently may be a trend driving divorces. Facebook pages. I've got one, you might have one, your spouse might have one and we all need to be aware that it exists.

If you live in a hermetically sealed bubble though you might not have seen it but Facebook is an all-pervasive online social network that allows you to connect with friends, family, co-workers and business associates. On it, you post information about yourself, your activities, photos, videos and just about anything else you care to share with your network of contacts. It also has strong search capabilities so you can track down an old classmate, friends, and yes, an old girlfriend or boyfriend. And that is where it has come up in some recent divorce cases. Reconnecting with people your spouse would rather have you not reconnect.

However, it is not just Facebook. It's MySpace if you're under 30 or instant messaging if you text. It's your email, cell phone records and even GPS has entered into the mainstream of ways and means of keeping tabs on someone. And your spouse may be watching your every move. Facebook is just the newest biggest thing and there will someday be a replacement. They are the increasingly present tools that technology has given us to not only succeed but also fail.

What to do? Well there isn’t much unless sticking your head in the sand is an option for you. But being careful is really the only option to keeping your private life private. Also Facebook recently underwent big changes to make privacy settings more comprehensive and useful. Of course there is also one other method…don’t cheat!

As a divorce issue, it is not always that important that an affair is talking place. Illinois is a no-fault state in which your spouse’s infidelity is really not that important in most instances. But there is often a related problem. Affairs drive emotion. And where one spouse is emotionally driven to revenge because the other spouse cheated on them, then the costs are not so much the court awarding more to the non-cheating spouse – it’s the fact of an affair can drive one of the spouses to drag out the divorce and be unreasonable on issues that the parties should agree but cant because of the emotional baggage of infidelity.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6857918/Facebook-fuelling-divorce-research-claims.html

Third Party Rights to Custody - Even a babysitter?

2009-12-09T06:35:00.007-06:00

An Illinois case going through the court right now is testing the limits of how far can a court go in awarding custody to non-parents. Usually it is a grandparent, aunt or step parent that tries to challenge a natural parent's rights to custody. In a case I am following, a babysitter was recently awarded temporary custody of a minor she cared for. As more comes available, I'll update. Source: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202435853910&rss=newswire

Will County Divorce Lawyers - Joliet divorce attorney starts blog

2009-11-30T12:14:00.003-06:00

Thank you for visiting my blog regarding the current state of divorce law - especially in Will County, Illinois.
If you have any questions about getting a divorce or another mattter, leave me a comment and I'll try my best to answer it or call me for a confidential consultation at (815) 954-8175. We are also online at www.andreanoandlyons.com.