Pensions are big money in the state of Illinois. Virtually every public sector employee contributes to one of the state’s 17 pension funds, and almost all police and fire departments have locally administered pension funds. Illinois courts have long held that, in most cases, a pension is marital property that can be distributed to a former spouse in a divorce. However, merely stating that a former spouse is entitled to half of a pension is legally insufficient. The parties must enter a Qualified Illinois Domestic Relations Order (QILDRO) with the court.

What is a QILDRO?

A QILDRO can be incorporated into a marital settlement agreement, or may exist as a separate document. The QILDRO must contain the caption of the divorce case and the name of the pension systems to which the public sector employee belongs. QILDROs can contain either exact dollar amounts or percentages. If the parties opt to include percentages, a separate QILDRO calculation order must be submitted to the court that determines what share of the pension the former spouse will receive.

...

On January 1, 2016, the most sweeping changes to Illinois family law in decades went into effect as the legislature amended major portions of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Attorneys are still grappling with how the law will affect divorce and child custody cases filed in the new year in DuPage County, but it has already become apparent that a few procedural issues still need to be addressed.

Old Approach Left Much Uncertain 

Illinois courts have always tried to put children first in divorce cases by encouraging judges to award primary custody in the best interests of the child. However, this has never been an easy task in the early stages of divorce proceedings while the parties are hammering out the details of custody.

...

Divorcing couples typically have a lot of contention over money. In many cases, this is the one issue that prevents couples from reaching an amicable divorce settlement and keeps divorce cases in court for years. Usually, there is a great deal of money, property, businesses, or other assets at stake. All too often, the thought of having to cash in these assets to split in a divorce is enough to make one spouse commit financial infidelity.

Financial infidelity is defined as one partner’s secretive act of spending money, having separate credit cards or accounts, or incurring debt without the other partner knowing. In divorce proceedings, it is common to employ an accountant to uncover financial infidelity. On the surface, it may be hard to uncover such behavior, but taking a closer look at certain transactions can shed light on what has been happening behind the scenes. Here are several way in which a spouse can hide assets:

• Overpaying the IRS – a spouse could overpay income taxes and instruct the IRS to use the overpayment against future tax payments;
• Accruing commissions – a spouse could instruct his employer to withhold paying out commissions until a later date;
• Forgoing promotions and raises – a spouse could ask for a promotion or raise to go into effect after a divorce is finalized;
• Making large purchases – a spouse could shield assets in a large purchase, like a piece of artwork or an antique. The spouse could also have this piece undervalued to shield more money;
• Transferring funds – a spouse could transfer funds to a friend to pay a fictitious debt or into a pension or 401(k) plan to cloak assets as valid outlays of money;
• Setting up secret accounts – a spouse could open up a separate account of which the other spouse is unaware. The spouse could even go as far as opening an account in another person’s name to shield assets; and
• Protecting assets through owning a business – for spouses that own a business, a number of assets can be protected behind the corporate entity. There are also a number of things a spouse can do to reduce the value of the business so it would affect the distribution of assets during the divorce.

Finding a Paper Trail

...

For children placed in foster care, there can be an intense desire to be placed in a stable home with a loving family. Over the past decade, programs sponsored by the State of Illinois have helped place over 15,000 children into permanent homes. The decision to bring a child into the home is a life-changing decision for a family and the adopted child. Illinois allows for two processes to take place in order to place a child permanently in a home – adoption and guardianship.

Adoption is a legal process through which an adoptive parent assumes all rights and responsibilities of a child in foster care, including the care, supervision, and custody of the child, as if the adoptive parent actually gave birth to the child. Adoption terminates the rights of the birth parent. Adoption can occur through one of four avenues:

1. Agency assisted adoption – an adoptive parent works with a licensed adoption agency to adopt a child within the United States;
2. International adoption – an adoptive parent works with a licensed adoption agency to adopt a child outside of the United States;
3. Private adoption – an adoptive parent works with an adoption attorney to adopt a child within the United States; or
4. Foster care – an adoptive parent becomes a licensed foster parent and provides long term care for a foster child. If the child is not able to return to the birth parent, a foster parent can convert to an adoption.

What Is Guardianship?

...

One of the major changes to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act that went into effect on January 1, 2016, addresses not only how the law refers to child custody and visitation, but also to how parental responsibilities are to be shared between the parents.

A Shift in Thinking

Under the previous law, parents may have had joint custody or one parent may have had sole custody with the other parent granted visitation rights. The parent with sole custody was responsible for making most or all of the major decisions regarding the child’s life unless the parents had agreed otherwise on some issues. With the new changes taking effect, a parent may be allocated decision-making power over one or more of four primary areas of responsibility. However, the court does not have to allocate both parents such authority. The judge’s allocation of decision-making responsibilities to a parent is still based on the familiar standard of the child’s best interest. A judge’s allocation of these responsibilities, however, only happens if the parents do not have an agreement in place as to how these decisions will be made.

The four main decision-making areas that may be allocated by a judge as per the new changes include:

...