Divorce 

You may walk into a divorce attorney's office thinking that you and your spouse have worked out all the issues which are important to the dissolution of your family relationship. However, you may be mistaken. A "comprehensive" divorce should resolve at least the following issues:

• Child custody and visitation
• Child support
• Health insurance responsibility for children and former spouses
• Responsibility for medical, dental and optical expenses not covered by insurance
• Life insurance to secure the payment of support and college
• College responsibility
• Mediation for disputes regarding children if joint custody
• Division of real estate and refinancing of existing mortgages
• Personal property division of furniture and furnishings
• Vehicles
• Retirement plans
• Stock options
• Stock and investment portfolios
• Bank accounts
• Business interests
• Non-marital assets acquired (generally those assets acquired prior to the marriage or during the marriage if by way of gift or inheritance)
• Maintenance (formerly known as alimony)
• Debt allocation
• Responsibility for attorney's fees
• Tax consequences resulting from the transfer of assets

There is no such thing as a "simple" divorce. Parties may agree on how their divorce judgments are to be structured, but there is nothing simple about it. Our divorce attorneys have a combined experience of over sixty years. We settle the majority of our cases because we are prepared when we walk into the courtroom. There are times, however, when settlement is not an option. Our courtroom experience and preparation have resulted in positive resolution for our clients after trial. Our firm has argued cases before the Illinois Supreme Court which resulted in a modification of the law regarding joint custody. We tried the first case in Illinois which resulted in a Frye finding regarding parental alienation.

Our goal is always to make the best of what is obviously a difficult situation . . . the break up of a family . . ., but that requires full knowledge of all assets, liabilities, wishes and hopes of our clients. The dissolution of your marriage will have an impact on your family for years to come. We counsel our clients to be realistic but always informed so they can make an informed decision.