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Family Law

  • October 9, 2013 | Practice News
    Child support income withholding notices - are you getting it right?

    For many lawyers, sending an income withholding notice after winning a child support order is routine stuff. "Secretaries or legal assistants often prepare the documents from forms that have been in use for many years," Jennifer A. Shaw and Barry T. Underwood write in the latest ISBA Family Law newsletter.

    Big mistake. Things have changed in the last 18 months or so, and "[f]ailure to recognize the latest protocols could result in complaints to the ARDC or charges of malpractice as the penalties attributable to employers who fail to withhold are substantial," Shaw and Underwood continue. Ouch.

    Fortunately, their excellent article recites key federal and state statutory provisions and cases and points lawyers in the right direction. Read it.

    1 comment (Most recent October 9, 2013)
  • August 8, 2013 | Practice News
    ISBA Statehouse Review for the week of Aug. 8: Rewrite of Illinois' Marriage Act

    ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington reviews legislation in Springfield of interest to ISBA members. In this episode he provides an in-depth overview of House Bill 1452, the complete rewrite of Illinois' Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Much more information is available below the video.

    Rewrite of Illinois’ Marriage Act

    House Bill 1452 (Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park) is a complete rewrite of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act that may be acted on in the fall veto session. This article is a summary of that bill.

    You may want to download a copy of this 186-page bill to review it. It may be found at the General Assembly’s website at www.ilga.gov/ . I find that the PDF version is easier to read and usually select that option for that reason.

    Terminology. Courts will no longer award custody or visitation under this bill. Rather, courts will allocate parental responsibilities to include parenting time. A parent may ask the court for permission to relocate with a minor child instead of removing the child. Interestingly, it continues to use the lawyerism dissolution of marriage. Have any of you ever heard this process referred to as anything other than a divorce?

    6 comments (Most recent August 27, 2015)
  • July 25, 2013 | Member Services
    Get 20% off Family Law Combo Pack

    Now get the ISBA's must-have Family Law Handbook and our Illinois Domestic Relations Statutes together at 20% off the list price! The Family Law Handbook, comprehensively updated in 2011, covers nearly everything general practitioners and others who handle family law matters need to know. And the Domestic Relations Statutes book (2013 edition, current through December 2012) is an easy-to-carry compendium of key family law statutes that no domestic relations lawyer should be without.

    This is a limited-time offer, so order today at http://www.isba.org/store/books/familylawcombo

  • July 1, 2013 | Practice News
    Supreme Court amends rules to expand mediation in child custody cases and to improve language access for litigants in mediation

    The Illinois Supreme Court announced Monday that it has amended rules that would expand mediation for child custody cases to include requests by a custodial parent to move a minor child to another state.

    Mediation programs for child custody and visitation cases have been a requirement for each judicial circuit in Illinois through Supreme Court Rule 905.

    1 comment (Most recent July 2, 2013)
  • October 22, 2012 | CLE
    CLE: Attorney Education in Child Custody and Visitation Matters in 2012 and Beyond

    This two-day program – which takes place in Champaign on November 1-2, 2012 – is designed as an update to the programs that were presented in 2006, 2008 and 2010 to help attorneys who represent children in Illinois courts fulfill the training requirements. Under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 906(c), attorneys should receive ten hours of education every two years in child development; roles of guardian ad litem and child representatives; ethics in child custody cases; relevant substantive state, federal, and case law in custody and visitation matters; and family dynamics, including substance abuse, domestic abuse, and mental health issues.

  • July 6, 2011 | Practice News
    The wedding is off -- who's on the hook for expenses?
    It's a question that will come up more and more often. "In 2009, the average cost of a wedding was in excess of $30,000," writes Kelley Manzano in the latest ISBA Family Law newsletter. The average. When it comes to planning expenses alone, we're not talking chump change. Kelley reminds us that plaintiffs in two pending Cook County Circuit Court cases are seeking damages in the tens of thousands for costs associated with broken engagements. She looks at the case law, the Breach of Promise Act, and some interesting theories of recovery in her fascinating article.
  • October 26, 2010 | Practice News
    How to be a good divorce client
    One of our most popular recent Illinois Bar Journal articles is Phil Hamilton's June cover story about his stint as a juror.  There's a lot to like about Phil's piece, but a big part of the fun -- and the value -- is getting inside the head of a lawyer as he plays what is usually a nonlawyer's role in the justice system. He learned some things about lawyering by being on the other side of the rail. That's why I like Aime Simpson's piece in the latest issue of ISBA's The Catalyst. Her experience as a divorce client, painful though it was, helped make her a better divorce lawyer.  Read her article and find out what she learned.
  • April 28, 2010 | Practice News
    Understanding the supreme court's important new rule on custody appeals
    Do any divorce work? If so, take note: you can now appeal a custody judgment before the rest of the case is final. You no longer have to wait for all the other issues (e.g., property allocation) to be resolved before doing so. Once you appeal -- or if you don't appeal and the deadline for filing one passes -- the custody judgment is no longer subject to modification. It's locked in. That brings stability, which is good for kids. But it also means you'd better be on your toes.  As first district Justice Mary Jane Theis told Helen Gunnarsson in the April Illinois Bar Journal, when you get a custody judgment from the trial court "you must appeal within 30 days or you will lose your right to appeal forever." The stakes are higher than ever, in other words. That's why family-law practitioners would do well to read the tandem articles in the most recent ISBA Family Law newsletter by Justice Theis and Cook County trial Judge Edward R. Jordan, which discuss the implications of this and related aspects of the supreme court's rule change (it took effect last February 26).  Read their articles.