Most people have some sort of understanding as to what a prenuptial agreement is. Countless movies and television shows have depicted prenuptial agreements as documents that a wealthy person insists on being signed before the wedding to protect him or herself from a potential “gold-digging” spouse. While that is one reason to get a prenup, there has been a rise in prenuptial agreements in recent years for other reasons, especially among millennials. Prenuptial agreements can be extremely helpful in many ways, including creating protections for your business in the event you get a divorce.

Is Your Business Considered Marital Property?

In Illinois, only marital property is subject to division in the event of a divorce. Marital property includes anything that was acquired after you were married but before a divorce is settled or legal separation is declared. That being said, if you had a business before you were married, the ownership of the business will typically stay with you. This does not mean all is safe, however. If your spouse played any role in the business while you were married, he or she could be entitled to a portion of the growth in the value of the business.

How Can a Prenuptial Agreement Benefit You?

If you own any sort of company at the time you get married, have a business in the works, or plan to start a business in the future, you should seriously consider getting a prenuptial agreement. If you currently have your own company, a prenuptial agreement can specify how you will value the business in the future if you get a divorce, preventing a third-party valuation process down the road. It can also allow you to specify a certain percentage that your spouse will receive if you do get a divorce. This can prevent your spouse from getting too much of the value of your business if you decide to split up.

In today’s world, most people would agree that a father plays just as an important role in raising a child as a mother. Many people also believe that a child deserves to have both parents present in his or her life. For some people, this can be difficult, especially if the child’s parents were not married when the child was born. In cases such as these, it is up to either the mother or father to petition to establish the paternity of the child, which can be done a few different ways. Establishing the paternity of the child creates a legal relationship between the child and his or her father. Until paternity is established, there is no legal relationship between the two, even if they are biologically related.

Presumed Paternity

In the state of Illinois, a man is presumed to be the father of a child if he was married or in a civil union with the child’s mother at the time the child was born. A man is also presumed to be a child’s father if he was married to the mother at any point within 300 days before the child was born. If the parents were not married or in a civil union during either of these times, the man has no legal presumption to the paternity of the child, and either parent must go about establishing paternity through signing a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity or through genetic testing and a court or administrative order.

Benefits of Establishing Paternity

There are quite a few reasons why a mother or father would want to establish paternity for his or her child. In most cases, establishing the paternity of the child gives both the child and the father rights they would not otherwise have. Benefits of establishing paternity include:

Making the decision to get divorced is not one that comes easily to most people. A marriage does not break down overnight -- it takes months or even years to reach the point of no return for most divorcing couples. Once you have made the decision to get a divorce, the first step in what is often a long process is figuring out how you will go about the divorce and which divorce lawyer is right for you. Shopping for a divorce lawyer is a lot like shopping for a car -- they are not cheap, so it is important that you make your decision with care and thorough knowledge. If you are beginning the process of finding a divorce lawyer that would be a good fit for your family, here are a few tips that can help guide you:

Determine What You Need

Before you even contact any lawyers, you should figure out what exactly you are looking for in a divorce attorney. Which specific needs do you have? Is your divorce contested or is it straightforward? Do you need an attorney who especially experienced in certain parts of family law, such as child custody? Are you looking for an attorney with experience dealing with collaborative divorces, mediation or traditional divorces? Determining your needs can help determine what kind of lawyer you need.

Blended families come in many shapes, sizes, colors, and backgrounds. Some adopt to grow or start their families. Others have divorced and now have one single parent, or two partial or complete sets of parents and stepparents. Then there are those with a stepparent who is filling a gap that was created by an absentee or deceased parent. Though not the child’s biological parent, these stepparents provide a love, acceptance, and support that completes the family. In these instances, a stepparent adoption might be appropriate. Learn how to determine if it might be right for your family, and how you can move forward with the process.

Benefits of Stepparent Adoption

When you are already an active and influential part of a child’s life, it might seem redundant to file for adoption. However, there are some key benefits to stepparent adoption – namely the ability to assert legal rights to the child you already love. This right would allow you to seek parenting time, should your current marriage in divorce. It also gives you the ability to act as legal guardian if your spouse is unable to do so. Some examples of situations in which this might be helpful could include a medical emergency or an accident that leaves your spouse incapacitated.

In millions of homes around the country, dogs and cats are simply part of the family. It never even occurs to many couples that a divorce could impact the relationship they have with their furry friends. There are, of course, pages and pages of laws that deal with how the best interests of children are protected when their parents get divorced, but what about companion animals? It may come as a surprise to many, but, as of now, statutory law is relatively silent regarding household pets and how they should be handled in divorce.

No Mention of Pets

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) contains virtually all of the legislative provisions applicable to an Illinois divorce. Despite the prevalence of household pets around the state, the law does not make a single reference to animals, pets, dogs or cats. This has essentially forced divorce courts to treat companion animals as property. Historically, the responsibility for the care of household pets has been allocated based on when the animal was acquired and which spouse provided for its care during the marriage. While such decisions are not always ideal for pet lovers, there is no basis for a court to determine otherwise.