Chicago Family Law Blog

Child support agreements do not always work out the way they are intended to. In some cases, an agreement must be modified months or years after the child support agreement is settled. A parent's income is rarely static and what was a feasible amount in monthly payments at one point in a parent's career may not be so months down the line. Because of this, many parents choose to seek child support modifications in order to reduce the amount owed in monthly payments to a more reasonable number.

Chicago residents may remember Beyonce firing her father as her manager in 2011. The story made the tabloid headlines. What they may not know, however, is that the firing had a great effect on the income of her father, Mathew Knowles. Knowles may have once been able to have paid for his $12,000 a month child support payments, but after being fired as Beyonce's manager, he no longer found the amount to be viable.

Same-sex couples in Illinois reached another milestone earlier this month, after the state's Attorney General wrote a letter urging that all county clerks in Illinois allow same-sex couples to marry immediately, instead of waiting until June, when the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act is scheduled to take effect. Although federal law defines marriage as the union between a woman and a man, one of the objectives of family law is to protect the rights of same-sex couples.

On February 21, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled that marriage licenses could be distributed immediately in Cook County. The rule applied only to Cook County because a class-action suit was filed against that county. However, in a recent letter from the Illinois Attorney General to the Macon County Clerk, she said that the Constitution's guaranteed protections should exist regardless of county lines. Given recent federal rulings and the non-binding ruling in Cook County, if another county were to deny a marriage license to a same-sex couple, they could face legal action. In addition, the Governor has gone record as stating that he believes that when it comes to love, no one should have to wait for equal rights.

Without adequate preparation, the end of a marriage can be harmful to anyone. This is especially true for small business owners, as a privately owned business can make up a large portion of a business owner's marital property. Losing property that is not only financially valuable, but also may hold sentimental value and may be part of a divorcee's identity -- like a small business -- is not how most want their divorces to proceed. Thankfully, there are ways for Chicago residents to safeguard a small business, or any other property, and start post-divorce life on strong footing.

One such way to safeguard a small business is to take measures before marrying, namely, by signing a prenuptial agreement. Prenuptial agreements allow couples to protect assets before getting married. Couples can agree to whatever terms are appropriate for their marriage. For a small business owner, this may mean agreeing that the owner retains ownership following the divorce. It is a simple, prudent action that small business owners can take that can potentially avert a very problematic situation during the divorce.

Wedding bells are ringing early in Illinois -- or at least, wedding licenses are being issued early -- after courts ruled that same-sex couples don't have to wait until June to get married in Cook County. This is a time of celebration for Chicago's same-sex couples and everyone who supports marriage equality. However, it's important to remember that some of the most important legal components of marriage equality pertain not to weddings, but to divorces.

Now that their unions are legally recognized, individuals in same-sex couples in Illinois have the same divorce rights as heterosexual married couples. One of the most important of these is the right to equitable property division.