Divorce Attorneys Mount Prospect

Divorce Attorneys Mount Prospect

Divorce represents a challenging path forward, but it is a challenge that you will be far better prepared to take on with an experienced divorce attorney in Mount Prospect in your corner. While negotiating the terms of your divorce is difficult, protecting your parental and financial rights is paramount, and staying focused on the basics can help. 

Negotiating the Terms of Your Divorce

Ultimately, you and your divorcing spouse will need to negotiate the terms of your divorce, and while your divorce will be unique to you, the issues you need to address do not vary greatly from divorce to divorce. Whether your relationship is simply strained or outright hostile, you have options when it comes to negotiating the terms of your divorce, including:

• Negotiating those terms that you are able to between yourselves
• Turning to your respective divorce attorneys to negotiate on your behalf
• Engaging in medication, where a trained professional will help you find areas of agreement
• Engaging in a collaborative divorce, a process where your respective lawyers and other professionals will collaborate to reach a resolution

If you cannot find common ground – after exhausting your negotiation options – you’ll need to turn to the court to resolve the remaining terms on your behalf. 

Parental Responsibilities

Parental responsibilities determine who will be making decisions about the big-picture matters in your children’s lives, such as their schooling, extracurriculars, religious upbringing, and health care. These responsibilities can be assigned to one of you alone, can be shared, or can be divided.  Day to day decisions are made by the parent assigned parenting time.  Day to day (or routine) decisions may include whether your child can have a sweet treat, whether your child can stay at a friend’s house, whether your child needs to complete homework before playing video games, or whether you child losses a privilege for misbehaving.  Parents are not required to address day to day decision making authority in a parenting plan, but it can be advantageous to delineate areas of agreement when then exist.

Parenting Time

Parenting time determines how you will divide your time with your children. If you and your spouse are able to negotiate this divorce term between yourselves, there is considerable scheduling flexibility available. If the court intervenes, however, you will likely receive a standard parenting schedule. Ultimately, the options include splitting your parenting time equally or making one of you the primary custodial parent (while the other has the children according to a schedule). 

Child Support

Child support is calculated according to the state’s guidelines which focus primarily on the amount of time each parent has the children and each parent’s income. Generally, the parent with the higher income will have a child support obligation (even if you divide your parenting time equally).

Alimony 

Alimony (called spousal maintenance or support in Illinois) refers to a payment system that is implemented in those situations in which one spouse experiences a financial need upon divorce and the other has the financial means to help offset it (while the recipient seeks greater financial independence). 

Division of Marital Property

The assets that you acquire as a married couple amount to your marital property, which must be divided equitably upon divorce. Equitably does not necessarily mean equally but, instead, means fairly given the circumstances. 

Seek the Legal Guidance of an Experienced Divorce Attorney in Mount Prospect for the Help You Need

Cameron H. Goodman at Goodman Law Firm – proudly serving Mount Prospect, Illinois – is a trusted divorce attorney whose practice focuses squarely on effectively and efficiently resolving his clients’ divorce concerns. To learn more, please don’t wait to contact us today.