Western Springs Divorce Attorney

Knowledgeable Family Law Firm Serving Clients in Western Springs, IL

Divorce, like many other types of legal proceedings, can be very emotionally driven. Many people go into their divorces afraid they will be treated unfairly and wind up with far less than their fair share of property or parenting time. You may have heard horror stories about divorce that are not necessarily entirely true. If you are represented by an experienced attorney, your divorce is more likely to go smoothly. An attorney is there to enforce your legal rights and advocate for your interests during the entire process.

Attorney Sucharski takes his role as your advocate very seriously. Whether you choose mediation or find yourself in litigation, we can provide you with top-quality, committed representation. We are experienced with a wide variety of divorce issues, from helping members of the military get divorced to pursuing alimony for those who need it. Our lawyers are there to support and fight for you, no matter what.

Collaborative Divorce Lawyers

Mediation and attorney-driven negotiation are both powerful collaborative divorce strategies for helping spouses settle their divorces out of court. If you and your spouse are both willing to participate and compromise where needed, your divorce can be finalized almost as soon as your marital settlement agreement and, if you have children, your allocation judgment and parenting plan agreement are complete.

This path to divorce can be less stressful for children, as they will not need to become involved in the case or the conflict. It can also be less stressful and more cost effective than going to court and having a judge examine issues and decide the case.

Western Springs Child Support and Custody Attorney

If you and your spouse have children together, working out a parenting plan is likely to be one of the more difficult parts of your divorce. While some parents may want 100% of the parenting time—or nearly 100%, with minimal parenting time or visitation for the other parent—Illinois courts rarely order these arrangements.

Parental decision-making responsibilities, such as making decisions for which extracurricular activities children can be a participant, educational decisions, healthcare-related decisions, and decisions regarding religious upbringing are also allocated between the parents during divorce. Child support orders and provisions for other financial support for children will also be put in place to ensure that both parents will contribute to meeting their children's ongoing needs. In Illinois, the income of both parents are taken into consideration when determining statutory child support and other financial support for children.

We encourage parents who are in a place to do so to attempt to create a parenting plan out of court, as doing so can help shield the children from conflict. However, going to court is sometimes necessary if your spouse will not agree to a plan that is in the best interest for your child or children.

Military Divorce Lawyers

People who serve in the armed forces have a special set of concerns when they get divorced. They may not have the option of attending court in person and planning a parenting time schedule might prove to be challenging if one parent may deploy or relocate at any point. Not all law firms are equipped to properly serve members of the armed forces in military divorce cases, but attorney Sucharski is uniquely experienced in doing so.

Help With Maintenance/Spousal Support in Cook County

Maintenance, also known as spousal support or alimony, is financial assistance provided by one spouse to the other after a divorce or legal separation. It also may be provided on a temporary basis during the divorce proceeding. The purpose of maintenance is to address financial disparities between the spouses that may arise due to factors such as differences in income, earning potential or financial contributions during the marriage.

The primary objectives of maintenance include:

• Financial Equalization: Maintenance aims to help the lower-earning spouse maintain a similar standard of living to what they experienced during the marriage. It seeks to prevent unfair economic consequences resulting from the end of the marriage.
• Income Disparity: In marriages where one spouse has a significantly higher income or earning potential than the other, maintenance may be ordered to bridge the financial gap and ensure both spouses can meet their reasonable and necessary needs.
• Supporting Non-Working Spouse: If one spouse gave up career opportunities or employment to support raising children, maintenance can provide financial assistance to help them to transition back into the workforce or maintain their lifestyle.
• Temporary Assistance: Maintenance can be awarded on a temporary basis to provide financial assistance until the supported spouse becomes financially self-supporting, completes education or training or reaches a specific financial milestone.

The determination of a temporary or indefinite maintenance award is often influenced by factors such as the length of the marriage each spouse's financial condition upon entry of a divorce judgment, contributions to the marriage, and the ability of the paying spouse to provide maintenance.

Post-Decree Modifications and Enforcement

After your divorce marital settlement agreement, allocation judgment and parenting plan agreement or trial judgment is entered, you may be looking forward to never going back to court again. Unfortunately, some issues may arise after the divorce that could require a need for court intervention. If certain terms or provisions of your marital settlement agreement, allocation judgment and parenting plan agreement or trial judgment need to be modified because of a substantial change in circumstances, you may be able to make changes to things such as maintenance, parenting time or allocation of significant decision-making rights for your minor children.

If the issue is that your former spouse will not abide by the court's judgment or orders, you can generally ask the court to enforce them. There are several ways the court can act to force your former spouse into compliance, and in some cases, a person could be held in contempt of court for repeated or willful violations.

Contact a Western Springs, IL Divorce Lawyer

Sucharski Law Firm LLC can help you through the entire process of your divorce. Attorney Sucharski will fight to protect your legal interests. Contact us at 224-276-6600 for a complimentary consultation.