Posted on February 28,2018 in Illinois Family Law

If you are thinking about filing for divorce in DuPage County, it is important to have an experienced advocate on your side throughout the process. At Farooqi & Husain Law Office, we regularly assist members of the Muslim community with family law matters, including the dissolution of marriage. Your Oakbrook Terrace divorce attorney can help to ensure that you are prepared for divorce and that you have taken all of the necessary steps, but in the meantime, we have some tips for making sure that you are on the proper track.

1. Get Your Finances in Order

Whether you handle the family finances or not, it is important to get your finances in order and to have a clear sense of marital property. As such, you should carefully consider your income and your budget, and you should also make a list of all marital property that you know about. When you make a list of property, be sure to include both assets and debts, and provide the following information:

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 Posted on February 15,2018 in Illinois Family Law

When you are considering divorce or already have filed for divorce in DuPage County, you should be thinking about hiring a divorce attorney who can assist with your case. Divorce law in Illinois is complicated, and legal issues arising in a divorce can be particularly contentious. Nearly all matters pertaining to divorce are governed by the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA). Divorce attorneys should have experience handling cases similar to yours, such as those involving complex property division, high asset divorce, contentious custody issues, or concerns about maintenance and support. But how do you pick the best attorney for you? A publication from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) provides some tips for choosing a divorce lawyer who is best for your case.

Seeking Out Particular Criteria in a Divorce Attorney in Oakbrook Terrace

To pick the best divorce attorney for your case, you should have a sense of some of the particular criteria you are looking for in an advocate. For example:

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 Posted on January 29,2018 in Illinois Family Law

When physicians and other healthcare professionals who own medical practices decide to file for divorce, it is important to work with a DuPage County divorce lawyer who has experience handling similar cases. In some ways, divorces involving physicians are no different than divorces involving individuals within other professions. At the same time, however, divorces involving physicians also frequently involve complicated property distribution processes and property settlements — especially when the physician owns his or her practice — as well as potentially complicated plans involving the allocation of parental responsibilities.

Property Division for Physicians

One complicating feature of divorces involving physicians is determining how to distribute a medical practice in which one or both of the parties is an owner. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) governs property distribution. In Illinois, property is divided under a theory of equitable distribution, meaning that the property is distributed in a manner that is fair to both parties.

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 Posted on January 15,2018 in Spousal Support

If you are currently paying alimony in Oakbrook Terrace  (or “spousal maintenance,” as it is known under Illinois law), or if you are planning to file for divorce in 2018, it is important to think carefully about how the new tax plan could affect alimony payments. In short, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will change the way your spousal maintenance payments — whether you pay them or receive them — affect your total taxable income and thus the amount of tax you pay. To be sure, Trump’s tax bill will make 2018 an interesting year for those looking to divorce. What does this mean for Illinois residents, and is there anything you need to do before the tax plan takes effect?

Alimony, Tax Deductions, and Taxable Income

The new tax bill comes with big tax cuts for certain individuals and entities. In order to raise revenue that will be lost through the tax cuts, the Republicans who drafted the bill turned to alimony as a possible source of revenue. Under the new bill, spousal support paid by one spouse to the other will not be tax deductible, and the recipient spouse no longer has to pay taxes on it. How is this different from the current system?

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 Posted on December 29,2017 in Business Law

What is alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and how can it help in DuPage County business law matters and family law cases? According to the Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII), alternative dispute resolution is defined as “any method of resolving disputes without litigation.” In other words, alternative dispute resolution allows for grievances, complaints, and disputes to be handled outside of the courtroom. There are numerous types of ADR, but the two most common forms are arbitration and mediation. How do these ADR processes work, and why should businesses use them?

Understanding Alternative Dispute Resolution Under Illinois Law

Chapter 70 of the Illinois Statutes governs alternative dispute resolution in the state. Examples that are often relevant to small business in DuPage County include but are not limited to:

• Uniform Arbitration Act (710 ILCS 5/1 et seq.): This statute clarifies, for example, when an arbitration agreement is valid, how proceedings to compel or stay arbitration must be conducted, how arbitrators will be appointed, how hearings are conducted, rights of the parties to be represented by counsel, how witnesses can be called before an arbitration hearing, and how arbitration awards are finalized.

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 Posted on December 15,2017 in Illinois Family Law

The holiday season in DuPage County is upon us, and with it comes the looming threat of divorce. Whether you celebrate Christmas or are a member of the Muslim community of Oakbrook Terrace, the general holiday season in the country — from Thanksgiving through the New Year — is often a time in which married couples reevaluate their positions and consider the possibility of making a change as part of a New Year’s resolution. And it is not simply the winter holiday season that results in a spike in divorce rates. A recent divorce study concluded that a majority of divorce filings occur soon after the winter holiday season, and then soon after summer vacations come to an end.

What else should you know about filing for divorce after the holidays?

Divorce Day or the Beginning of the Work Week after the Holiday Season

Many family law advocates have begun to describe the first Monday after winter break comes to an end as “Divorce Day,” or “when the flood of divorce emails clog attorney inboxes.” While many DuPage County residents look forward to the holiday season and taking time off from work, the season is not always the happiest time of the year for couples. To be sure, one survey concluded that divorce filings jump by nearly one-third following the holidays.

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 Posted on November 29,2017 in Illinois Family Law

How often do residents of DuPage County file for divorce, and how frequent are those divorce rates in comparison to the national average? We often hear that a high number of marriages end in divorce, but how often is that actually true? And for marriages that do end in divorce, are there certain predictors that might help us to determine a couple’s risk for divorce? We often hear similar questions from our clients, and we know that residents of Oakbrook Terrace who are thinking about filing for divorce have questions about divorce rates in the area.

We have some statistics to help you understand the facts and figures surrounding divorce in DuPage County, as well as across the country.

Getting the Facts About American Divorce

If you live in Oakbrook Terrace or elsewhere in DuPage County, what should you know about American divorce statistics? The following are some facts and figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

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 Posted on November 15,2017 in Business Law

Are you thinking about forming a not for profit corporation in Oakbrook Terrace or elsewhere in DuPage County? There are many benefits to establishing an organization that is incorporated under the Illinois General Not for Profit Corporation Act of 1986 (805 ILCS 105/). One of the first steps to forming a not for profit (or nonprofit) organization is to draft bylaws. According to the statute, bylaws are “the code or codes of rules adopted for the regulation or management of the affairs of the corporation irrespective of the name or names by which such rules are designated.” In other words, the bylaws provide important rules and procedures concerning how the not for profit will operate.

Drafting bylaws can be a complicated process, and there are numerous issues that the not for profit organization or corporation will need to consider as it writes its bylaws. Given the complicated nature of forming a not for profit organization, it is extremely important to work with an experienced DuPage County business law attorney as you are forming your organization or are revisiting your bylaws.

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 Posted on October 29,2017 in Illinois Family Law

If you live in DuPage County and have been thinking about filing for divorce, you may know that Illinois law recently changed when it comes to child support. In brief, as of July 1, 2017, Illinois now follows the “income shares” model when calculating child support obligations. Under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (750 ILCS 5/505), the court calculates both parents’ combined net income, and then determines the total amount of the child support obligation from the schedule. The court then calculates each of the parent’s percentage share of that child support obligation.

How does parenting time affect each parent’s percentage share of the child support obligation? When parents share parenting time equally, the court is unlikely to adjust a parent’s percentage share of the child support obligation based on parenting time. But what about when parenting time is not shared equally between the parents?

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 Posted on October 14,2017 in Illinois Family Law

Why do most people in DuPage County file for divorce? We often hear about couples deciding to get divorced after years of marriage, and sometimes the reasons are unclear. While every family’s situation is unique, there are sometimes similarities among the causes for divorce. We have gathered some facts about frequent reasons for divorce from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), MSN, and Divorce Magazine. Many of the top causes for divorce trend across these resources, and we have collected them for you here.

1. Lack of Commitment and/or Support for the Spouse and to the Marriage

Many couples who get divorced cite a lack of commitment from the other spouse—either to the marriage in general, or to the educational, professional, and/or personal goals of the other spouse. According to the MSN article, about 73 percent of couples who get divorced cite a lack of commitment from the other spouse as one of the reasons they filed for divorce. About 62 percent of those spouses indicate that they wished their spouse would have tried harder to make the marriage work, and anywhere from 21 percent to 37 percent of those spouses also blame themselves, wishing they had made their commitment to the marriage clearer.

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