“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein.
If you are a business owner or you are married to a business owner, you are going to have to become familiar with the concept of depreciation. For tax purposes, business expenses are deductible to the business owner’s regular income. Big expensive items like a building or a semi truck wear out slowly and the
People conveniently lose their jobs when they have to pay maintenance pursuant to an Illinois divorce order. While unlucky in their profession, they presume they will be lucky in court when they file a motion to modify their maintenance obligation to reflect their newly unemployed status. What happens to maintenance in the short term and
Illinois courts award maintenance (formerly known as alimony) from the spouse earning the larger income to the spouse earning the smaller income (or with no income at all). Maintenance is awarded as a specific amount of money to be paid for a specific duration of time. The maintenance payor must pay that amount of maintenance
My rich uncle always said, “No one ever got rich unless they walked into a bank and asked for a loan.” Smart businesspeople borrow money. Smart businesspeople sometimes spend that money on a non-business-related purpose. Does that mean the loan will be considered income in an Illinois divorce? Business owners almost always have a variety
Except for parenting time, almost everything in an Illinois divorce is about who owes what to whom. The transfer of assets, debts and other financial transactions are done pursuant to the orders that were entered by the Illinois divorce court. When a transaction that was ordered does not occur on time, the party owed the
In an Illinois divorce, the amount of maintenance (formerly known as alimony), the duration of maintenance, the modifiability of maintenance are all important considerations. The first step in considering maintenance in an Illinois divorce is to determine which spouse will be paying maintenance. Obviously, the spouse who makes more money pays maintenance (formerly known as
The more money you make, the more you realize that there is the price you pay for things…and the price you pay for things after taxes. The taxability (or lack thereof) of maintenance (formerly known as alimony) should impact the settlement negotiations of your divorce as you may have to write one check to your
The first question I ask a potential client is “how long have you been married?” The length of the marriage impacts everything about an Illinois divorce. A short marriage will cause a judge to shrug and think, “They barely even know each other,” while a long marriage will result in pronouncements of permanent support and
Married people each have their own roles within the marriage. One spouse does the dishes. One spouse takes out the garbage. Often, one spouse is in charge of paying the bills. What happens when an Illinois spouse stops paying bills during an Illinois divorce? When an Illinois divorce is filed, the spouse that pays the
A divorce is a big change. It is not uncommon for a divorced party to treat that change as an opportunity for self-improvement. If a soon-to-be-divorced person is foreseeing a lifestyle that goes from two incomes to one income, they are going to want to increase their income. Most people try to increase their incomes