CHICAGO, April 21 /PRNewswire/ — An overwhelming 79% of the nation’s top divorce attorneys reported an increase in the frequency of Internet browser histories being used as evidence in divorce cases during the past five years, according to a recent survey of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) members. In addition, 44% of the respondents [...]

Have you ever wondered why a divorce case takes so long?  How often have you heard the term “continuance”?  The reality is that too many divorce cases take way too long to complete.  The reasons are many.  The most common reasons are as follows: 1) Attorneys who are paid by the hour have no incentive to [...]

Although the general rule is there is no statutory or case authority to temporarily abate a portion of a support order that the supporting parent is without present means to pay, there are limits to that general rule; if a payor of child support sacrifices $10,000 of income this year in exchange for receiving $20,000 [...]

 750 ILCS 5/413(a) and 750 ILCS 5/504(c) do not create a substantive right to post-death maintenance pending appeal; they apply when a right to maintenance already exists and therefore, must be read in conjunction with the prohibition of subsection (c) of this section.  Stacke v. Bates ___Reduction  Where respondent presented evidence that his income had decreased by [...]

 The petitioner sought modification of a divorce decree to compel her ex-spouse to support the parties’ mentally disabled child after that child had attained the age of majority; her petition adequately asserted a “change in circumstances” based on the child’s continuing handicap after attaining majority; Interestingly, it was not necessary to plead a “change in circumstances” [...]

 Property rights created by a judgment of dissolution become vested when the judgment is final, and a trial court lacks general jurisdiction to modify an order affecting these rights.  In re Hubbard  Where modification of decree of dissolution is an agreed order, not contrary to public policy and not shown to have resulted from fraud or [...]

 The same factors considered under 750 ILCS 5/504(b)(2) in making an initial award of maintenance are used in determining whether and to what degree a maintenance award shall be modified under subsection (a) of this section.  Rice v. Rice  If a source of income, no matter how certain the probability it will continue, should cease, this [...]

 Section 510(a) of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, 750 ILCS 5/510(a), imposes conditions for modifying an order of support and, on its face, makes no exception for extending the period during which the parent must pay support; there was no  change in circumstances within the meaning of 750 ILCS 5/510(a)(1) in a [...]

Leveling the playing field is an effort to allocate the cost of attorney’s fees among the parties.  For example, in the case of a husband who is the breadwinner, and the wife as a homemaker who has no income, there is a great disparity in the income of the parties.  The Legislature thought that the [...]

One can file a separate action for an order of protection and then file an action for divorce.  The order of protection case can be heard in one courthouse and the dissolution action can be heard in another courthouse.  For example, an individual can file an order of protection in Rolling Meadows and follow that [...]