Divorced parents often try to stay in the same area in order to maximize both parents’ involvement in the lives of their children, but that is not always possible. One parent may have a career opportunity that requires relocation, or maybe they just want to move closer to their family. If the relocation distance is substantial, the other parent may object because it will affect parenting time with their children and add the burden of travel costs. These cases often must be argued in court.

What Distance Does Illinois Consider a Relocation?

Illinois law 750 ILCS 5/600(g) defines relocation in terms of the distance between the child’s current primary residence and the new address, as measured by an internet mapping service which provides a distance in miles driven.

When one spouse has a significantly higher income than the other, the transition from married to single life can be particularly hard on the lower-earning spouse after divorce. This is especially true when the latter spouse has taken on most of the home and family duties in order to support the other’s career advancement. 

To ease the transition, the higher-earning spouse often makes monthly maintenance payments to the other for a year or more after the divorce. However, there are many misconceptions about Illinois laws on spousal maintenance, also known as alimony. Both spouses should go into a divorce understanding what they can realistically expect when negotiating a maintenance agreement.

Q: What if I Do Not Think I Need Maintenance at the Time of the Divorce, But Change My Mind Afterward?

A: If you waive your right to maintenance in your final divorce settlement, you cannot go back to court later and try to obtain maintenance (750 ILCS 5/457e). Therefore, one important step in the divorce process is to work out a budget and determine how much money you will need to support yourself after the divorce.

A divorce settlement may require a higher-earning spouse to pay monthly spousal maintenance, also known as alimony or spousal support, to a lower-earning or stay-at-home spouse. The divorce decree will specify the amount of the monthly payment and the duration of payments. If the decree specifies “indefinite” payments, you might assume the payments are guaranteed to continue until the recipient dies or remarries. 

However, the use of the term “indefinite” does not guarantee the recipient payment of maintenance for life. It is important for both spouses to understand when and how an award of maintenance could be modified in the future. If a spouse expects to depend on a fixed amount of income for the rest of their life, extra care must be taken in drafting the marital settlement agreement. 

After a divorce, a child’s connection to their grandparents and other close relatives can provide a much-needed sense of stability. But what if one parent does not care for their in-laws and does not support the children having visitation time with those grandparents? What rights does a now-divorced step-parent or half-sibling have to spend time with a child that they lived with for years? Illinois law (750 ILCS 5/602.9) provides a mechanism for grandparents, great-grandparents, step-parents, and siblings--including half-siblings and step-siblings--to assert their right to visit and electronically communicate with a minor child who is at least one year old. 

Conditions Necessary to Petition for Grandparent Visitation

Four conditions must exist in order for the aforementioned relatives to petition the court for visitation and electronic communication with the child:

• A parent unreasonably denies visitation to a minor child’s grandparents, great-grandparents, step-parents, or siblings.
• The minor child experiences undue mental, physical, or emotional harm as a result.
• The child’s parents are divorced or in the process of divorce.
• One parent has no objection to the visitation. (If both parents object, the petition will not succeed.)

Factors the Court Considers in Granting Grandparent Visitation

In deciding whether to grant visitation time to one of these relatives, the court may consider factors such as:

Conflicts over the division of assets in a divorce are sometimes based more on emotional or sentimental value than on financial value, particularly when family heirlooms or gifts are involved. There can also be a dispute over whether an item qualifies as marital property that must be divided or not.

Under Illinois divorce law, most income earned and assets acquired during the marriage are considered marital property. However, per 750 ILCS 5/503(a), “property acquired by gift, legacy or descent” is non-marital property. Anything acquired in exchange for such property is also a non-marital asset.

To help clarify these rules, let us consider the following items and how they would be treated in a divorce: