“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein.
After divorcing thousands of people and seeing their finances during the process, I can tell you that the average American has two main assets: 1) Their house and 2) Their 401(k). Houses and 401(k)s are the two main assets that get divided in the average Illinois divorce. A house’s value is never truly known until
A marriage is a partnership…but all partnerships are not equal. Many marriages (especially the ones that end in divorce) have unequal contributions from the two spouses. One spouse will often have a high earning job and also manage the household’s finances while the other spouse devotes themselves to more frivolous, less lucrative activities. After years
People get paid all sorts of ways. Employees get paystubs, benefits, and per diem accounts. Employees even get paid for NOT working when they are paid for their accumulated vacation and sick days. For an older employee in a job that allows vacation and sick day credits to be carried over year-over-year, those accumulated vacation
The cartoon character Scrooge McDuck would keep all his wealth in one place: a giant vault. Scrooge would then swim in the money he had amassed in order to count it. In real life, wealth is never kept in one place. Often, wealth is not even money. Wealth is usually interests in assets balanced by
Dividing marital assets in an Illinois divorce is not done with a pure 50/50 split analysis. Illinois courts divide marital assets in “just proportions.” “Just proportions does not mean strict equality but only an equitable division.” In re Marriage of Albrecht, 266 Ill. App. 3d 399, 402 (Ill. App. Ct. 1994) Illinois courts consider multiple
A divorce with children often provokes selfless feelings by the parents. “So long as the kids are okay,” can quickly turn into, “So long as the kids get everything.” Parents can find themselves transferring marital assets to children to either secure their children’s inheritance or to effectively keep those marital assets from being split in
Most people know quite a bit about divorce law before they ever even have to consider divorce: kids get a schedule with each parent, one spouse may pay the other spouse support and assets get divided. Below each of those principles are thousands of rules which help Illinois divorce courts come to equitable conclusions and
Divorces finalize the terms of a relationship…except divorces never seem to be truly final. People are always going back to court to resolve a remaining disagreement. While parenting time, child support, college expenses for children, and maintenance (formerly known as alimony) can all be changed after the final Judgment for Dissolution of Marriage is entered,
Trust funds are way to set aside money for a specific purpose. Trusts are especially useful for applying money for the benefit of someone who cannot manage the money themselves such as a child. A trust is “an equitable or beneficial right or title to land or other property, held for the beneficiary by another
Cash money has a strange effect on people. Cash seems more real because you can touch and see the money. Cash is not just digital numbers on a spreadsheet somewhere. Cash can be instantly transferred or received. If no one keeps a record (and no one ever does), the parties to a cash transaction are