In Illinois, laws once existed which allow legal action to be brought against someone who had an affair with a married person. Under the last iteration of such laws, Illinois recognized two torts known as “alienation of affection” and “criminal conversation,” informally called “heart balm torts.” These torts allowed spouses to bring civil claims for adultery against a third party.

The term “alienation of affection” was used to describe an instance when a third person disrupts a married couple’s relationship by having an inappropriate relationship with one of the spouses. The term “criminal conversation” was used to refer to adultery and sexual relations. Many people consider such laws to now be obsolete and even offensive. Illinois was one of the last states to abolish the antiquated statutes in 2016, but pending cases were not affected by this. One high-profile alienation of affection lawsuit which was litigated for years has just recently settled.

Lawyer Sues Husband’s Former Lover

When we think of divorce, many of us initially only consider the personal and romantic relationship which is coming to an end. However, divorce is not only the end of a romantic partnership, but also a financial relationship. Finances are usually merged when two people get married and move in together. Divorcing couples who cannot agree on how to split their accumulated assets will have that decision made for them by the court system.

Hiding Assets or Lying About Finances Will Only Drag Out Your Divorce

In order to make decisions about things like child support, spousal maintenance and property division, courts use each divorcing party’s self-reported financial information. For example, when a judge needs to decide how much spousal maintenance a person must pay to their ex, he or she will consider things such as each person’s income and future employability. Sometimes, in order to game the system, a spouse will lie about how much money they make or what their debts are. Doing this can significantly delay and complicate the divorce process. In order for a divorce to go smoothly, both spouses must be willing to be honest regarding their finances.

Addiction issues have affected most people in some way or another. Whether they are the friend or family member of someone who fights addiction or they themselves have struggled with addiction or substance abuse, addiction can be devastating to the people whose lives are impacted by it. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that 21.5 million adults and adolescents experienced drug or alcohol addiction in the U.S in 2014 alone. If you or someone close to you struggles with addiction, you know that addiction can become all-consuming. If you are married to an addict, you may have considered ending the marriage through divorce. Only those in marriage can know what is the right course of action for them, but if you are unhappily married to an addict, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Are You Being Abused?

One of the most horrible things about substance abuse and addiction is that it can change a person into a completely different version of themselves. Substance abuse has been found to co-occur in 40-60 percent of domestic violence or intimate partner violence incidents. If you are married to an addict and are considering if you should stay or leave, one of the biggest red flags that the marriage is unhealthy is abuse. While many only think of abuse as serious physical harm, such as a husband who repeatedly hits his wife, abuse can be much subtler. Psychological abuse can include threats made against the other spouse or the children, attempts to control and manipulate the family members, or forcing the family members to be isolated from other loved ones. Sometimes romantic partners of addicts put up with abuse much longer than they should because they believe the person cannot help their behavior. Unfortunately, abusive behavior often escalates.

In generations past—or so television and movies tend to depict—the average American family relied on a single income provided, in most cases, by a breadwinning father. The mother was primarily responsible for staying home, maintaining the house, and raising the children. Such is no longer the case for the “average” family, as more and more households need two working parents to maintain an acceptable standard of living. Some families, however, have the means and desire to allow one parent to stay home, and many decide to just that. For these families, a divorce can have a dramatic impact on the parent who stayed at home, often leaving him or her struggling to become self-sufficient.

Asking for Maintenance

Maintenance, also known as alimony or spousal support, is one the tools that a court has at its disposal to help a stay-at-home parent during and after a divorce. According to Illinois law, the court may award spousal support if it finds that such an award is appropriate and necessary to alleviate the financial effects of the divorce on an economically-disadvantaged spouse. When deciding on the appropriateness of maintenance, the court will take many factors into account. A spouse’s role as a stay-at-home parent is part of the equation, but it is not enough, on its own, to make support necessary.

Have you recently filled out an application that asked about your marital status? Do you remember what the some of the checkbox options were? Most such questions include answers like “single,” “married,” and “divorced,” but some have additional options such as “single, never married” and “widowed.” Perhaps the least common is an option for “separated.” Depending on the purpose of the application or question, the precise definition of “separated” may not be all that important, but if you are in the process of getting divorced, it is important to know what the law in Illinois says about separations.

Two Different Meanings

The word “separation” is generally used in two very different ways in the context of divorce. The first is rather casual and is often used by the spouses themselves to describe their situation while their marriage is coming to an end. For example, if your spouse recently moved out, you might tell your friends that you and your spouse are separated. This type of separation, however, is not considered a “legal separation.” Instead, it is considered a period of living separate and apart.