Will County Divorce Lawyers - Andreano and Lyons - Attorneys

Many divorce parties are sent to Mediation by the judge when their case is filed because an issue of custody or visitation is in dispute. Below are some of the local county rules on mediation in family law cases. There is also a list of approved mediators that you may want to review. NOTE: local rules and the list of court approved mediators are subject to change at any time . Consult an attorney before relying on any of the information in this post. Will County Local Rule 8.17 Mediation Program – Family Division Cases   Mediation under these rules involves a court ordered confidential process whereby a qualified and neutral mediator, selected by the parties or appointed by the Court, assists the litigants in reaching mutually acceptable agreements. It is an informal and non-adversarial process. The role of the mediator includes, but is not limited to, assisting the parties in identifying issues, fostering joint problem- solving exploring settlement alternatives and ...

There are certain people it is just hard to collect child support against. One such "class" of classless persons can be the self-employed. No doubt there are very conscientious and straight-forward self employed individuals that never play games with their incomes and pay proper support. However, in my practice I have found another group of self-employed that do play such games. Generally, I follow the rule of thumb that if someone is inclined to cheat the IRS, they are also inclined to cheat on paying support. These are the individuals that, on an tax return, show minimal personal and business income but for some reason, always have a new car and big home, take extravagant vacations and buy expensive gifts for their new significant other. While it is generally settled that what you show on your income taxes is not the end of in inquiry into what someone's income is for support purposes, it is still a difficult battle - one waged in courtrooms across the state. Recent...

After much speculation about the weather and whether the courthouse would close because of it, IT IS OPEN TODAY!

Court is closed for today due to the bitter cold but it looks like it should be reopened tomorrow. Check radio station WJOL website or a local Patch website for any updated info.  You can also try to the clerk's website for any update for January 7th. http://www.willcountycircuitcourt.com/

The First District Appellate Court (Chicago) recently held that a husband's bonus to be paid for work performed during the marriage was not marital if that bonus was paid after the divorce. Generally, all property obtained from the date of the marriage to the date of the divorce is marital property subject to equitable division by the divorce court. In this case the Husband expected to receive a bonus for work performed during the marriage but because bonuses were paid in the year following the work, it would not come in until after the divorce was finalized. Two things were argued: The Wife said since the work was performed during the marriage, it was within that general rule. However the Husband successfully argued that the bonus was speculative and may never have been paid. The court held that a the husband's bonus from his employer was not marital property but was speculative until actually awarded by the employer. It further found that the bonus was not a...

A new administrative order was issued regarding the new judge handling family law matters in the Will County Court system. Attorney David Garcia was appointed as an associate circuit court judge. The Honorable David Garcia is assigned to court room 307: DIVISION 5: FAMILY: Associate Judge Robert P. Brumund, Presiding (A): DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE, DECLARATION OF INVALIDIT Y OF MARRIAGE, CHILD CUSTODY PROCEEDINGS AND ALL POST DECREE MATTERS ARISING FROM THE ABOVE CASES : Associate Judge Robert P. Brumund (Courtroom 312), Dinah L. Archambeault (Courtroom 300), Brian E. Barrett (Courtroom 306), Matthew G. Bertani (Courtroom 308) and David Garcia (Courtroom 307).

Illinois Supreme Court puts burden on unmarried fathers to prove visitation is in their child’s best interest Non-custodial parents (mostly fathers) seeking visitation in paternity cases do not have the same rights as parents in divorce cases. The Illinois Supreme Court clarified this issue that has been disputed between the various appellate districts for quite some time. In divorce cases the preference is on the side of awarding visitation to non-custodial parents (mostly dads) and it is up to the custodial parent to show that giving him visitation presents a serous endangerment to the child. In paternity cases the preferences is now on the side of the custodial parent and it is up to the non-custodial parent (dad) to show that having visitation is in the child’s best interest. At first blush, it may not seem a huge issue but it is. To go into a case with the deck stacked  against you can really make things hard for non-custodial parents to get visitation ...