Getting divorced can significantly change your financial situation. This is especially true for disabled spouses, homemakers, and stay-at-home parents. Alimony, also known as “spousal maintenance” in Illinois law, is financial support that a spouse provides the other spouse during or after divorce. If you are getting divorced in Illinois, it is essential to know how and when spousal maintenance is awarded.

Why Spousal Maintenance is Awarded in Illinois

The purpose of spousal maintenance is to minimize the negative financial impact a divorce has on a spouse who is unable to support themselves without assistance. A divorcing spouse may also be entitled to spousal maintenance through an existing prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. Spouses may also request spousal maintenance from the court. When deciding whether to award spousal support, Illinois judges consider the spouses’ financial and employment circumstances as well as factors such as:

• The spouses’ future earning capabilities
• Each party’s financial needs
• How long it will take for the spouse requesting alimony to become financially self-supporting
• The length of the marriage and the standard of living in the marriage
• Whether a spouse contributed to the advancement of the other spouse’s education and career

The Amount That a Spouse Receives in Alimony  

If the court determines that a spouse is entitled to alimony based on the factors listed above, the next step is to determine the amount and duration of spousal maintenance payments. Sometimes, spouses can agree on a spousal maintenance arrangement. Collaborative law and mediation are methods of dispute resolution that may help a divorcing couple avoid litigation and reach an agreement. In other cases, the court determines maintenance payments using a statutory formula. The court may deviate from this formula if the spouses’ combined yearly net income is greater than $500,000 or if the circumstances necessitate deviation.

Most couples have complex and intertwined assets that can be difficult to separate in divorce, but those who co-own a business can have an especially trying process ahead. If either or both parties also wish to protect the business and keep it running, there is yet another layer of complexity added to this issue. If you are filing for divorce, have a joint business, and wish to protect it in divorce, the following information can help.

Separating and Saving a Joint Business is Complex but Not Impossible

Starting and running a business has always required an investment, but today's business market has made things even more time and resource intensive. This is why so many newer companies are jointly owned—or have investing partners. Sometimes, these joint owners or partners also happen to be married. This can be a positive thing for couples who enjoy spending time together, but if the marriage eventually ends, the stress and worry over the company and its future can create a great deal of conflict during the divorce process.

Rest assured that while dividing business assets in a divorce is a complex and potentially emotional process, it can be done. In fact, as long as you choose an attorney that has experience in handling business division in divorce, the process can be completed with a fair amount of compromise. Depending on the circumstances, the business should be able to survive the divorce and continue to operate with limited impact.

When divorce proceedings begin, it can throw everything else in your life into a state of uncertainty. Life continues while the legal issues are getting worked out, with bills to pay and obligations to meet. Because of this, sometimes an Illinois court will order temporary relief to one spouse in order to get through the period of the proceedings, including temporary parental responsibilities, child support, or spousal support. 

Parental Responsibilities and Child Support 

Most temporary relief orders asked for in Illinois courts have to do with the arrangements for any children of a divorcing couple. It is common for one parent to seek a temporary order of parenting time simply to ensure the children are permitted to remain in their current situation. Forcing children to move abruptly, only to possibly return them to the previous situation, is generally held to not be in their best interests. Alternatively, parental responsibilities can be contested for more malicious reasons. For example, in some divorce cases, particularly those that are contentious, it is not unheard of for one parent to attempt to get possession of the children solely to cause a disruption in the lives of the children and the former spouse.

Child support is another major factor. The costs of raising a child cannot be paused while the divorce is ongoing, so a temporary order is often necessary. The court will generally assess the request by considering each parent’s income, the current situation, and the needs of the child. 

High net-worth couples who are going through a divorce often face special issues that require extra planning and attention. Because of the complicated nature of the assets involved, care must be taken to divide the property in a way that does not compromise their value. Often, such couples also hope to keep the details of the divorce as private as possible for personal, safety, and business reasons.

Protecting Assets

Illinois law presumes that any asset acquired after the date of the marriage is a marital asset, subject to a few exceptions. In the absence of an agreement between the spouses, the law requires a judge to decide what is a marital asset and then divide those assets equitably. While there are certain legal factors a judge must consider when dividing assets, without proper preparation and representation, you risk having your assets undervalued or split in such a way as to diminish their value.

Divorce planning, asset valuation, and vigorous representation can help protect your assets and preserve them for the future. This means that with the help of your attorney, you may wish to assemble a team of financial professionals, including financial planners, appraisers, and others, whose knowledge and resources will be crucial in safeguarding your wealth and property.

In television shows and movies, divorce is often portrayed as a highly-combative legal process involving more accusation and confrontation than actual problem solving. In reality, a successful divorce settlement that both parties can agree to can often be reached without the need for dramatic courtroom litigation – even when the couple disagrees about the terms of their divorce. If you are planning to divorce and you and your spouse do not agree about property distribution, parental responsibilities, or other divorce-related matters, one option that may help you reach an agreement is collaborative divorce.

Finding Creative Solutions to Divorce Disputes

Litigation can be expensive and stressful. Many individuals getting a divorce wish to resolve conflicts without adversarial court proceedings but still want a legal advocate on their side who will look out for their best interests. One way to accomplish this is through collaborative family law. In a collaborative divorce, each spouse and his or her lawyer work together to reach resolutions about family law issues in a professional and cooperative way. The parties and their lawyers will sign a “collaborative agreement” or “participation agreement” that states that all signatories will commit to finding a fair, workable divorce settlement and will abstain from bringing the case to litigation. This agreement may require the spouses and their attorneys to agree to provisions such as:

• The parties agree to settle disputes in a non-adversarial manner through negotiation and constructive dialogue
• The parties agree to fully disclose relevant financial information
• The parties will act in their child’s best interests

In a collaborative divorce, your attorney will protect your rights while simultaneously facilitating productive discussion and negotiation about divorce issues with the other participants. The process may also include collaborating with other professionals such as accountants or child specialists. If an agreement about the disputed divorce issues is reached, the agreement is transcribed into legally enforceable documents which are then filed with the court.