The past decade has seen tremendous progress in the battle for marriage equality. State bans on same sex marriage are falling one after another, granting these families the legal recognition they were denied for too long. On June 1, 2011, the Civil Union Act became effective and Illinois not only began granting civil unions, but […]
Perhaps the most traumatic repercussion of a divorce is the inability to see one’s children every day. I have met many a client who has refused to pursue a divorce merely because he could not contemplate separation from his children. Even (and perhaps especially) in a failing marriage, parents are comforted by routines that involve […]
American citizens often spend time overseas for job assignments, military deployments or sabbaticals. On occasion, these extended stays will result in the birth of a child out of wedlock. Where a child is born abroad and out of wedlock to a father who is a United States citizen, that child is a citizen of the […]
A divorce can be one of the most difficult ordeals individuals experience in their lives. A family is being torn in two. Parents are separated from their children. Financial stability is undermined. Unfettered access to money and family is replaced by state involvement and court orders mandating when individuals can see their children and what […]
As working parents’ roles in the lives of their children evolve with the demands of the modern economy, so too do their parental rights as divorced parents. Traditionally, a child’s custodial parent would be the primary residential parent and child support recipient and the non-custodial parent would pay child support and be granted “visitation.” Those […]
Litigants in a contested divorce often find that there are precious few matters on which they both can agree. Yet even the most contentious spouses can usually agree that the children’s college funds – usually kept in an IRS 529 Qualified Tuition Program – should be preserved for the children’s benefit. Protecting a child’s financial […]
Traveling with children is a rewarding, although often stressful, endeavor. In today’s highly mobile society, families are scattered across the country, and interstate and international airline travel continues to increase in frequency for the ordinary family. Over the past decade, increased security and airline industry constrictions have made the logistics of travel increasingly difficult for […]