In Illinois, maintenance can be terminated if the party receiving maintenance “cohabits with another person on a resident, continuing conjugal basis.” What does that mean? The answer is not as straightforward as it might seem. To illustrate the analysis, an example is helpful. Let’s assume Danny married Sandy in 2008.…
Brad is a financial manager with Big Business USA. He earns an annual salary, and doesn’t have an employment contract. However, his employer does give him the opportunity to receive an annual bonus, based on the company’s performance in general, and Brad’s performance in particular. Whether or not Big Business…
Senate Bill 3231 was approved this month and will take effect January 1, 2015. It amends the current divorce law in Illinois on spousal support, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, 750 ILCS 5/504. This means changes are coming regarding maintenance, which is also known as spousal support…
Surprising as it may be, divorced people are entitled to receive benefits based upon their ex-spouse’s earning history as well as their own. Moreover, the benefit is based on the ex-spouse’s entire earnings history, not just earnings accrued during the time the couple was married. Spousal benefits were introduced in…
In my last post, I set forth the legal framework in which Illinois courts examine whether property is marital or non-marital. In this post, I apply that analysis to a hypothetical fact pattern. Let’s assume Greg and Sandy are married. During the marriage, they purchase a house and title it…
A common misconception many people have at the start of the divorce process is that only jointly-titled assets are considered marital property, and that everything else is not. For a number of reasons, often times the asset in question is the marital residence. Perhaps the husband has bad credit, and…
Editor’s Note: In December, 2014, Illinois Governor Quinn signed into law a revised version of the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute. The constitutionality of the new law has not yet been challenged. On March 20, 2014, the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute, 720 ILCS 5/14-1, et seq.…