Family law is very complex. For this reason, there are many family law misconceptions that our firm frequently encounters. To help you avoid serious mistakes that could negatively impact the outcome of your family law case, we have compiled this list of five of the most common family law misconceptions:

1. Domestic violence claims must involve physical abuse.

Contrary to popular belief, domestic violence does not always involve physical abuse. Although physical abuse is the most serious form of domestic violence, there is also emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, spiritual abuse, and technological abuse. Domestic violence may involve controlling access to a spouse’s money, diminishing their self-esteem, and preventing them from practicing their religious beliefs.

Interfaith marriages are more common today than they were in the past. Unfortunately, interfaith divorces have also become more frequent. While most aspects of divorce are the same regardless of the religions of both spouses, a unique issue in an interfaith divorce is the religion of the children.

Even if one spouse converts to the other spouse’s religion before or during the marriage, they may return to their original religion once they get divorced. When this occurs, the children of the divorce are left with serious religious complications.

An Example of How Interfaith Divorce Impacts Children

After a divorce, you may feel like the joys of your life have been put on hold. One of the most effective ways to add some joy into your life following a divorce is to put time and effort into rebuilding your social life. This way, you will have people to turn to during this difficult time and make happy memories that can help you move past this difficult stage in your life. Here are five tips on how to rebuild your social life after a divorce:

1. Volunteer

Find a cause or organization you believe it and volunteer. Volunteering can keep your mind off your divorce and introduce you to people with similar interests and values. Consider volunteering at an animal shelter, soup kitchen, cancer organization, or any other non-profit that you care about.

A divorce does not have to lead to a courtroom battle filled with emotions. With collaborative divorce, divorcing couples can avoid this and work together to come to an agreement. In recent years, this type of divorce has become more common. In fact, it’s been recognized by the Illinois Collaborative Process Act which will go into effect on January 1st, 2018 and was passed to promote the use of the collaborative process to settle more cases in Illinois. Let’s take a closer look at the meaning of the Collaborative Process Act.

The Collaborative Process Act Defined

A collaborative divorce involves spouses working together with their lawyers to come to a resolution on outstanding issues that need to be settled. The Collaborative Process Act states the following:

Student loans are common for anyone with a higher education. Since many people have high amounts of student loan debt that takes them decades to pay off, the issue of student loan debt often arises in the divorce process. If you are going through a divorce, you may be wondering how student loan debt will be divided and whether it will remain with the spouse who incurred it.

The truth is student loan debt is treated just like any other debt in a divorce. Therefore, if the debt was incurred before you got married, it is “separate” and becomes the responsibility of the spouse who borrowed the money. 

However, if the student loan debt was incurred during your marriage, it is known as marital debt like a mortgage, car loan, credit card debt, and personal loan. In the event your student loan debt is marital debt, you and your spouse will likely both have repay it.