Most of the time, when a spouse brings property into a marriage, it will remain non-marital property, especially if the title is in his or her name only. However, there are occasions when such assets will become marital property—usually because the chain of ownership becomes muddled either accidentally or deliberately. It is always a good idea to be aware of these considerations in divorce law, lest you lose an asset that you wish to retain.

How Is Property Classified?

Dividing property can be very easy, or it can be so complex that expert opinions may be required. If you bring very little property into your marriage, there will be very little individual, or non-marital, property that is exempt from asset division. Conversely, if you have been married previously, or have significant assets otherwise, you may have substantial non-marital assets that you wish to keep separate from the estate of your current marriage.

When you are ordered by the court to pay child support, you have a reasonable expectation of what the money will be used for--namely, meeting your children’s most basic needs. However, at least in Illinois, the law permits that additional expenses may be added on to the amount due if f they are shown to be in the child’s best interests.

Health Insurance

Health insurance is by far the most common “additional expense” that supporting parents are asked to help pay, and it is often tacked on after a divorce decree because the general cost of insurance is too difficult to accurately estimate in advance. The costs of health insurance premiums can change, as well as the method for obtaining insurance. In many cases, the supporting parent will be ordered to carry his or her children on an employer-sponsored health plan. However, if the employer in question does not offer insurance, the law states that the recipient parent may cover the children, and the paying parent should reimburse him or her for a percentage of the cost.

Sometimes, divorces get ugly, as we all know. The most common way that spouses try to hurt each other during divorce, aside from arguing over their children, is to attempt to gain the upper hand in terms of property distribution by any means necessary—including the hiding of assets. If you suspect your spouse of hiding assets, there are multiple methods that can be used to help uncover the wrongdoing, either on your own or with professional help.

Methods for Your Lawyer

In a divorce, your attorney is your primary resource if you suspect your spouse has committed a financial misdeed. There are multiple legal documents used during the civil process of divorce, especially during discovery, in which a party is bound by law to tell the truth, and they must do so in very specific ways, providing very specific information. Both parties are bound to comply with any discovery request that the court deems reasonable, which will usually be most of them.

Military members marry, divorce, and deal with family just like everyone else. However, the nature of military service means that the law must be adapted to serve their unique needs at times. The Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA) is a good example of this adaptivity that can help keep military service members and their former spouses in good shape even after a divorce.

History of the Law

The USFSPA sets out regulations which must be followed by civilian courts in awarding military retirement pay as an asset in the division of a marital estate. It does not give a former spouse an automatic share in retirement pay; it merely grants the court the right to see such pay as an asset. The Act also allows civilian courts to enforce orders for child or spousal support against active or retired military service members.

In this day and age, bankruptcy has become more common than it used to be, unfortunately, and as such, more and more people are encountering issues with other obligations that are directly related to bankruptcy. While many believe that a bankruptcy will essentially wipe out all their debt, what they do not know is that certain obligations are specifically exempted from this, and must still be paid regardless of any financial issues.

Spousal Maintenance

While it is not mandatory, a large number of divorce cases in Illinois assign maintenance rights to one spouse or the other. In Illinois, this obligation is specified to last a certain period of time, but if the obligor—the spouse who is paying support—must file for bankruptcy, it is reasonable to look into the possibility of modification. However, the key word is modification. Under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, maintenance or alimony obligations are not considered dischargeable. In other words, any debts that are of this nature will not be simply erased, as other debts might be in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.