If you are a small business owner getting married in Illinois, you may be so excited and overwhelmed at the prospect of the upcoming wedding and your new life with your partner that you may be neglecting to remember another major part of your life: Your business ownership.

While it may be difficult to imagine your relationship ever going sour, the statistics on divorce speak for themselves. Many business owners have lost all or part of their business in a divorce, effectively flushing years of hard work and personal investment down the drain. While your relationship may always be happy and successful, a prenuptial agreement that protects your business from marital property division is always a good idea. In the best-case scenario, it will sit at the back of a drawer and never be seen again. In the worst-case scenario, it can make the difference between allowing your business to continue thriving and losing everything you have. Here are three ways a prenuptial agreement can help you protect your small business.

Prenuptial Agreements and Small Businesses

While prenuptial agreements cannot regulate interpersonal matters like intimacy or child custody schedules, they are excellent instruments for managing financial matters. A great prenup can help you protect your business in the event of a divorce in many ways, including:

The vast majority of couples who get divorced in Illinois want to move on with their lives and not have anything to do with each other once the divorce is finalized. However, certain situations - including spousal maintenance, or alimony, payments - can keep former spouses tied together long after the bonds of love have been severed.

Unfortunately, unscrupulous individuals sometimes try to take advantage of the system and their former spouse by hiding important details that would potentially end spousal maintenance payments. If you are paying spousal maintenance and are wondering whether you may be eligible to stop, read on.

When Can I Stop Paying Spousal Maintenance in Illinois?

There are four types of spousal maintenance in Illinois:

One of the hardest things for victims of domestic violence and emotional abuse to do is try to leave an abusive partner. In fact, many people are afraid that trying to leave may escalate an already dangerous situation, and research suggests this concern is well-founded. Fortunately, there are systems in place to help protect partners in abusive relationships and help them leave when they are ready. One such system is an order of protection, which is a legal order from a judge that can require an abusive partner to stay away from their victim. If you want to get an Illinois divorce and think an order of protection might help you, read on.

What is an Order of Protection and What Can it Do?

There are three kinds of orders of protection in Illinois: Emergency orders of protection, which last up to 21 days, plenary orders of protection, which last up to two years, and interim orders of protection, which are only issued when a hearing has been delayed for some reason.

Orders of protection are flexible and can be made to suit the particular needs of your situation. Depending on your concerns and the evidence you have to document your allegations, orders of protection can offer many safety measures, including but not limited to:

While litigated Illinois divorce used to be common, couples are now encouraged by divorce courts to use resources like mediation and collaborative divorce to resolve issues peaceably. Unfortunately, this is not always possible, and some couples still find themselves litigating their divorces in court even when they do not want to. In this blog, we will discuss some potential signs that you may end up litigating your divorce in a trial, as well as what the divorce trial experience looks like. Be sure to consult with an experienced divorce attorney to get customized advice for your situation.

When Does a Divorce Go to Trial?

Certain circumstances make it difficult or impossible to achieve a resolution through mediation or other cooperative methods. These situations include, but are not limited to:

• A spouse who contests the divorce and will not negotiate or settle
• Spouses whose communication is so contentious that compromise is impossible
• Hostile disputes over child custody, especially when abuse is alleged
• Domestic violence towards either the spouse or the children
• One or both spouses hiding assets, engaging in dissipation of marital assets or refusing to be forthcoming about finances

Sometimes a divorce that seems to be headed for a long, protracted trial can be headed off by presenting information to a judge in a pre-trial conference and asking the judge to estimate what their decision is likely to be. This may convince a spouse not to continue litigating indefinitely when they are not likely to accomplish their goals.

High net worth divorces in Illinois have a unique set of challenges that require a unique set of skills to resolve. Not all attorneys are equipped with the experience and characteristics to manage these complex, often contentious divorces. Because ending a high net worth marriage involves significant high-asset division issues, to say nothing of disputes about child custody or spousal support, it is essential to have a great attorney who has what it takes to manage these problems well. If you are a high-net-worth individual and are considering divorce in Illinois, here are four strengths your attorney should have.

Efficiency

Working quickly and efficiently is essential for moving a divorce along as seamlessly as possible. Managing paperwork, communications, and every other element of divorce with keen organizational skills and without wasting time distinguishes average divorce attorneys from excellent ones. Your attorney should communicate clearly and in a timely fashion, without leaving you with unanswered questions about what they are doing and why.

Strategic Thinking

Managing high-worth assets in a divorce requires creativity and problem-solving skills. These assets can be difficult to value, often fluctuating in value throughout the course of a divorce, and spouses may want to protect certain assets while giving up others. The abilities to negotiate strategically and anticipate the other party’s agenda and tactics are essential for ensuring a fair asset division.