Divorce is not only a personal decision but also a financial one as well. When a couple has mingled their assets and property through marriage, undoing this entanglement can be quite challenging. There are many things to keep in mind when deciding who will get what during your divorce. Should one of you keep the house or should you sell it? Who will keep which car? Will one of you be required to pay spousal maintenance or child support? Divorce can be costly, both emotionally and financially. During your divorce, make sure to avoid these common financial mistakes.

Letting Pettiness Distract You from Your Goals

Understandably, many divorcing couples struggle to cooperate or even to speak civilly. Marriages that end due to an affair or another breach of trust can be especially hard to end amicably. However, allowing negative emotions to drive your behavior during a divorce can be costly. Some couples end up spending thousands of dollars during divorce litigation arguing over issues that are, in reality, not that important. In order to end your marriage quickly and at minimal cost, you may have to swallow your pride and compromise on some issues.

If you are getting divorced or are an unmarried parent, you probably have several questions about child support. It can be hard to know exactly what you will have to pay when you are the parent with less parenting time and equally hard to predict what you will be given in child support payments as the primary custodian. Child support in Illinois is calculated based on the Income Shares Model which takes both parents’ financial circumstances into consideration.

In Illinois, the final support award is "income driven,” meaning the amount a person must pay in child support is based mostly on the income of the parties. For that reason, it is critical that unmarried or divorcing parents understand what can be considered "income" under Illinois child support law and what resources are excluded from the definition of income.

The Income Shares model for calculating child support is much different from the calculation method used prior to July of 2017. The Income Shares model uses a table to determine support obligation which is based on the amount of money it is estimated would be spent on the child if the parents were living together. That financial obligation to the child or children is then divided between the parents based on their financial and life circumstances. The parent with more parenting time (formerly called visitation) and parental responsibilities (formerly called custody) will receive the other parent’s financial obligation to the child in the form of child support.

When you decide to pursue a divorce, there are many things to consider. You will need to decide on arrangements for your children, whether to ask for spousal support, and which of you will get to keep certain items that you bought together. But, what about assets that are only titled in your name? Do you automatically get to keep those? The answer is more complicated than a simple “yes” or “no” and requires a more complete understanding of Illinois’ laws regarding marital and non-marital property.

Equitable Distribution

According to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA), the marital property of a couple going through a divorce must be divided in a manner that is fair and just, not necessarily equally. This standard is known as “equitable distribution,” and it is used in 41 states plus the District of Columbia. Before marital property can be divided, however, the couple—or the court—must determine which assets are considered to be marital property.

Prenuptial agreements, or “prenups” for short, are tremendously valuable legal tools that help couples planning to marry protect their assets and plan for their future. Although they have gotten a bad reputation due to outrageous celebrity marriages, prenuptial agreements can be useful to anyone getting married. Unfortunately, some people think that they have signed a legally-binding prenuptial agreement only to find out it is unenforceable during a divorce. There are several ways a prenup can be considered invalid.

A Prenup Must Meet Certain Requirements to Be Legally-Enforceable

Sometimes in movies or television, a character will scribble a contract such a prenuptial agreement on something like a napkin and it is assumed to be legally binding. Although it can be a good plot point for a fictional story, in reality, the courts only recognize prenuptial agreements which are properly constructed and executed. A prenup must be written, signed, and agreed upon by both parties.

For the last 40 years, divorced parents in Illinois could be required to contribute toward the college expenses of their children, even after the children have turned 18 years old. Over the years, the law has been amended and clarified to specify that the matter is one related to the finances of the marriage and divorce rather than the direct support of the child in question. In other words, a child cannot file a legal action to get help paying for college from his or her parents, but one parent can ask the court to make the other parent help.

Illinois law does not, however, have the power to force married parents to pay for their child’s college expenses. According to a ruling by a DuPage County judge earlier this month, such a disparity is a violation of the equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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