Throughout Illinois, thousands of municipal employees have pension benefits through the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (abbreviated as “IMRF”). To the extent those pension benefits are earned while the employee is married, those pension benefits can be divided in a divorce case by way of a special court order known as…
When going through a divorce, a marital asset is defined as any asset that a party accrued during the marriage. For example, a husband’s retirement account that accrued during the marriage would be considered marital, while any portion of his retirement account that he accrued prior to the marriage would…
Generally speaking, retirement benefits that are earned during the marriage are considered marital property under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. However, determining the amount of spousal retirement benefits that are marital property is often times a central issue to the division of the marital estate upon divorce.…
Congratulations! Your dream of retiring is about to become a reality. You’ve worked hard your whole life. Sure, the divorce set you back financially, but it was years ago. You have prudently saved and invested your money. It wasn’t easy to do, especially having to write that maintenance (alimony) check…
In Illinois, during a divorce, either party can ask the court to order the other party to pay some or all of his or her attorney fees while the case is pending. Section 501(c-1) of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act provides in pre-judgment (pre-decree) divorce cases, the…
It is common for a child support payor to be required to pay a percentage of any additional income above and beyond a base percentage of his or her income. This additional income may include, for example, bonuses, commissions, or work from side jobs. Illinois courts define income as…
Divorce matters can be complicated, regardless of the employment status of the parties. But when one or both of the spouses is a member of the military, several issues come into play. This article will address health benefits, retirement pay available to spouses of military service members, and child support.…
Surprising as it may be, divorced people are entitled to receive benefits based upon their ex-spouse’s earning history as well as their own. Moreover, the benefit is based on the ex-spouse’s entire earnings history, not just earnings accrued during the time the couple was married. Spousal benefits were introduced in…