Troubling research suggests that at least 1 in 3 women experience sexual harassment in the workplace. It is a frightening statistic that lifts the lid on the darker side of employment. Despite the relative frequency of these incidents, many companies are still ill-equipped to deal with harassment reports. This has left many women and men unsure of how to react to unwanted advances.

There is no question that sexual harassment in any way, shape, or form is a serious matter. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Commission, even behavior such as teasing or offhand comments can be considered harassment if it happens frequently enough that it creates an offensive or hostile work environment. It could also be considered sexual harassment if it leads to an adverse employment decision in which the victim is demoted or terminated.

A discussion with your fiancé about the settlement of financial matters in the event of a divorce or death, through a premarital agreement, may not be romantic, but it can be a great idea. Some people choose to enter into premarital agreements in order to protect a wide range of property and assets. In other cases, if there are children from a previous relationship involved, the natural parent can request a premarital agreement to protect these children in case of the parent's death.

What is a Premarital Agreement?

Illinois law defines a premarital agreement as an agreement that is entered into by two people who expect to get married and is effective only if the couple marries. Many people refer to premarital agreements as prenuptial agreements, or prenups.

In a prenup, the couple can agree on how to deal with the following matters in case of divorce, or death:

In the state of Illinois, child support is an element present in the vast majority of divorce cases involving children. Child support is meant to provide for the basic needs of minor children and is generally no longer enforceable when the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever comes last. These days, children are often dependent on their parents for a few years after they graduate from high school, especially if they attend college. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act addresses this issue and provides guidelines for parents who will help pay for their child’s college education.

Covered College Expenses

The court can require one or both parents to be responsible for paying a share of their child’s educational expenses until the child turns 23, or 25 in some circumstances. The potential expenses include:

• Up to five college application
• Two college entrance exams
• One college entrance exam prep course
• Tuition and fees
• Housing expenses, whether on-campus or off-campus
• Medical expenses, including health insurance and dental expenses
• Reasonable living expenses, including food, utilities, and transportation for a non-resident student
• The cost of textbooks or other supplies necessary for the child to attend school.

The court can order that the funds to cover these expenses be paid directly to the child, to the educational institution, to either of the parents, or through the use of a special account or trust created and designated solely for the use of educational expenses.

Sharing parental responsibilities and parenting time of a child with another parent can be full of challenges and disagreements. One issue that many parents struggle with is parental relocation. When one parent wants to move a significant distance away, the other parent may be concerned about how this will affect the allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time. If you or your child’s other parent are planning to move, make sure to familiarize yourself with the laws regulating parental relocations in shared parenting situations. Depending on the distance between the parent’s current residence and the new residence, the relocating parent will likely be required to petition the court for a modification to their divorce decree.

What Counts as a Parental Relocation?

If a parent is moving only a short distance away, the move may not need to be approved by the court. According to Illinois law, a parental relocation is one in which a parent with a greater or equal share of parenting time moves to a new residence and one of the following is true:

• The child’s current residence is in Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, Will County, Kane County, or McHenry County and the new residence is further than 25 miles away.
• The child’s current residence is in any other Illinois County and the new residence is further than 50 miles away.
• The child’s current residence is in any Illinois County and the new residence is further than 25 miles away and is outside of the State of Illinois.

Requirements When a Parent Moves a Significant Distance Away

If the move meets the criteria for a parental relocation, the parent who is intending to move must give the other parent written notice of the move at least 60 days in advance. He or she must inform the other parent of the address of the new residence, the intended moving date, and how long the he or she plans to live at the new residence. If the other parent agrees to the move and the court finds that the move is in the child’s best interests, the court will allow the parents to make the necessary modifications to the divorce decree.

When a married couple divorces in Illinois, the court may require the higher-earning spouse to pay spousal support to the other spouse. Spousal support is also called spousal maintenance or alimony. The support is typically intended to be temporary and rehabilitative in nature, but there are exceptions. The higher-earning spouse provides payments to the recipient spouse until he or she can get back on his or her feet financially. The issue of the payment of spousal support may also be agreed upon ahead of time through a prenuptial agreement. Whether you are the payor or recipient of spousal support, you may want to know how long these payments will last. The answer depends on a variety of factors.

Temporary Spousal Support vs. Permanent Spousal Support

If you and your spouse agreed to a spousal support arrangement in a Marital Settlement Agreement, the payments will end according to that agreement. When the court assigns spousal support, it is typically intended to last long enough for the recipient to gain the education, training, skills, and employment needed to become financially independent. Illinois law provides a formula for calculating the duration of a spousal support order that depends upon the length of the marriage. Longer marriages generally lead to proportionately longer orders for spousal support.

In some cases, the court will award permanent spousal support to a spouse. This typically happens when the spouses were married for longer than 20 years and the lesser earning spouse sacrificed education and employment to be a homemaker or care for children.