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Family Law

The Illinois Family Lawyer

Commentary on the practice of family law (and other riveting subjects) from a Chicago lawyer.
By Peter Olson, Esq.

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Last Entry: June 14, 2008 at 13:42:00

Here's a recent case interpreting

Posted on June 14, 2008
Here's a recent case interpreting the Illinois Parentage Act touching on what happens when a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity has been signed by two parents and later on one of them thinks it's a mistake...i.e. one of them claims usually the alleged father is not the father...

Here's a piece reporting on Illinois'

Posted on June 14, 2008
Here's a piece reporting on Illinois' efforts to collect child support related to taking away non-custodial parent drivers licenses.Under the new program, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services sends warning notices to parents who owe at least $2,500 in child support and have an Illinois driver's license...

What is a "family or household

Posted on March 19, 2008
What is a "family or household member" under the IL Domestic Violence Act? Well, the statute says..."Family or household members" include spouses, former spouses, parents, children, stepchildren and , persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling, persons who have or allegedly have a child in common, persons who share or allegedly share a blood relationship through a child, persons who have or have had a dating or engagement relationship, persons with disabilities and their personal assistants, and caregivers as defined in paragraph (3) of subsection (b) of Section 12?21 of the Criminal Code of 1961...

A NY Judge has ruled that a "friend

Posted on February 21, 2008
A NY Judge has ruled that a "friend request" on MySpace constituted a violation of a Temporary Order of Protection. I would think that under the IL Domestic Violence Act a judge could find that such a request is "harassment" and thus a violation of an OP.

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The Times had a thoughtful piece

Posted on February 21, 2008
The Times had a thoughtful piece entitled, Religion Joins Custody Cases. The piece discussed the alleged increasing role of a parent's religious choice as a factor in how judges decide custody cases. Of course religion along with education and healthcare have always been the so-called big 3 factors of custody...

Thanks Dad, but I'm still going

Posted on February 06, 2008
Thanks Dad, but I'm still going after my ex-husband...that's what happened here: In re Marriage of Hopwood, No. 5-06-0660). As part of dissolution of marriage judgment, the former husband was required to pay-off a $28k loan of the parties. That loan had been guaranteed by the former wife's father...

Ah...I love a good settlement in

Posted on January 26, 2008
Ah...I love a good settlement in the domestic relations field. It looks like Brian Urlacher and the mother of one of his kids have gotten things resolved w/o further court intervention. Pick-up/Drop-off disputes, unpaid medical expenses and child support...

I wonder if I could be the general

Posted on January 23, 2008
I wonder if I could be the general counsel for the Chicago Bears regarding all domestic relations matters? I'd be doing great between Urlacher, Briggs and now, the Sackman, good old #95 Richard Dent...Here's the article.And look at that the case is in courtroom 1403 over at 32 W...

10 Tips about reverse mortgage

Posted on January 14, 2008
10 Tips about reverse mortgages.

Saw this piece about two daughters

Posted on January 10, 2008
Saw this piece about two daughters who've been criminally charged for neglecting their ailing mother who subsequently died. Here's a nugget from the article:Mary Virginia Barry, 84, weighed only 70 pounds when paramedics found her in April in a cluttered bedroom, lying on soiled sheets with ants crawling on her, in the Geneva house she shared with two daughters...

Is it alimony/maintenance?? Important

Posted on January 09, 2008
Is it alimony/maintenance?? Important question...if it's alimony then that money is tax deductible by the payor and it's treated as income for the recipient. I.e...big tax consequences. If alimony is part of a divorce judgment it has to be clearly defined as such:--Must be paid pursuant to a divorce or separation agreement;--Parties must live in separate households;--Payments must be designated to end when the recipient dies;A recent case dealt with the big question above (Proctor v...

Former rock star Britney Spears'

Posted on January 05, 2008
Former rock star Britney Spears' child custody problems continued. Her former husband was granted sole custody and her visitation rights were suspended.

Another Chicago Bear with child

Posted on December 18, 2007
Another Chicago Bear with child custody/support issues. Briggs and Urlacher have something to talk about.

Here's a brief clip about a recent

Posted on December 18, 2007
Here's a brief clip about a recent Cook County family law case involving a visitation restriction:1st Dist. In re Marriage of Manhoff, No. 1-06-2762 (December 5, 2007) 3rd div. (QUINN) Affirmed Mother's petition to restrict the visitation of the father, alleging disrupting conduct on the part of the father in the presence of the children, was sufficient, despite failure to attach affidavit in compliance with local Circuit Rules, since it contained 1-109 certification...

Some good elder care resources

Posted on December 10, 2007
Some good elder care resources are listed in this article.

Here's a frightening read about

Posted on December 10, 2007
Here's a frightening read about the pace that it's taking for the Social Security Administration to resolve Social Security Disability questions. The piece suggest SSDI appeals are taking some 3 years to process.Of the roughly 2.5 million disability applicants each year now, about two-thirds are turned down initially by state agencies, which make decisions with federal oversight based on paper records but no face-to-face interview...

A couple of interesting family

Posted on December 05, 2007
A couple of interesting family law cases that have been recently reported:First was Schroeder v. Winyard regarding an Alienation of Affections suit. This sort of suit is where a former spouse sues a person for tempting her/his former spouse to have an affair and if successful is awarded monetary damages...

Here's an interesting overview

Posted on December 03, 2007
Here's an interesting overview of long-term care insurance.

Here's a link to new attempts to

Posted on December 03, 2007
Here's a link to new attempts to get back child support when people apply for hunting licenses. The authority to do this is not new...it seems merely to be an attempt at improving the system.

The IL Supreme Court recently upheld

Posted on December 03, 2007
The IL Supreme Court recently upheld a fine of over $1 million assessed against a child support obligor's employer for failing to withhold support properly. It's always important to consider a cause of action against an employer. Often the employer has the $$...

A little tip for the holiday season:Send

Posted on December 01, 2007
A little tip for the holiday season:Send your clients to an experienced mediator in November if you anticipate problems with holiday schedules. Give your clients sample holiday schedules to get them thinking about where they fail so they can succeed independent of a legal proceeding.

Here's one of the many articles

Posted on December 01, 2007
Here's one of the many articles regarding Hulk Hogan's divorce case.

This article describes an often

Posted on December 01, 2007
This article describes an often under reported issue in the child support universe. It's the scenario where custodial parents on public aid use the IV-D program, the Cook County State's Attorney in Cook County, Illinois, to collect child support and part of any funds collected first are used to pay back the state before coming to the custodial parent...

Another open enrollment period

Posted on November 20, 2007
Another open enrollment period for Medicare Part D has begun:If you are a Medicare beneficiary, it is time to review your Medicare prescription drug plan options. The Medicare Part D open enrollment period began Thursday, November 15, 2007 and ends December 31, 2007...

Here's an article regarding the

Posted on November 20, 2007
Here's an article regarding the huge and growing out-of-pocket costs that exist for people caring for aging relatives. The out-of-pocket cost of caring for an aging parent or spouse averages about $5,500 a year, according to the nation?s first in-depth study of such expenses, a sum that is more than double previous estimates and more than the average American household spends annually on health care and entertainment combined...

The question: Is the church marital

Posted on November 20, 2007
The question: Is the church marital property?There was a sad but interesting piece here about a pastor and wife going through a divorce and the wife's claiming that the church itself is marital property just like any other small business. The ideas of a small business being "marital property" is nothing new...

Hey, the violence in Iraq is interrupting

Posted on November 20, 2007
Hey, the violence in Iraq is interrupting my scheduled visitation:In re Marriage of Saheb, No. 1-06-3304 (November 13, 2007) 1st div. (R. GORDON) Affirmed Trial court did not abuse its discretion when it, as part of joint parenting order awarding residential custody to the father, allowed the mother to exercise her visitation in the UAE despite it not being a signatory to the Hague Convention; because a) the father was able to obtain relief in the UAW when he petitioned to bar the mother from traveling with the parties' daughter to Iraq, b) the mother was required to post a bond, and c) the father was allowed to hold the child's visa, and the court found that visitation in the mother's home country was in the child's best interests...

Here's an interesting article about

Posted on November 20, 2007
Here's an interesting article about the scary impact of unmarried couples. Some of the impact of divorce and unmarried parents:However, there are many other studies that, taken together, reinforce the concerns. Among the findings:_Children living in households with unrelated adults are nearly 50 times as likely to die of inflicted injuries as children living with two biological parents, according to a study of Missouri abuse reports published in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2005...

My letter to the editor concerning

Posted on November 09, 2007
My letter to the editor concerning the Trib. November 5, 2007 lead editorial:What a disappointing position from the Tribune...essentially, because adultery is not uncommon our public policy should therefore not discourage it.An important purpose of our civil litigation system, and specifically tort cases (such as alienation of affections), is to discourage certain types of behavior...

Another useful holding recently

Posted on November 06, 2007
Another useful holding recently was in Crank v. Crank. The case essentially deals with the issue of whether there are limits on how much a court can order to be paid toward past due child support or maintenance arrearages. The court said that a court must look to the Income Withholding for Support Act (750 ILCS 28/1) which caps payments at 50/60 percent of a person's disposable income depending on whether the support is current or past due.

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