Alimony Disputes in Cook, McHenry, and DuPage Counties
If you anticipate that your divorce case will likely raise issues about your right to receive or obligation to pay alimony, contact a knowledgeable divorce lawyer at the Barrington office of Thomas W. Hunter, Attorney at Law. With a practice focused exclusively on family law since 1974, our attorneys have a thorough understanding of the applicable law of spousal maintenance in Illinois. Additionally, we are experienced with practical considerations that can affect a family court judge's alimony decisions can help you avoid mistakes while protecting your interests.
The common term alimony and the Illinois statutory phrase spousal maintenance refer to the same thing—the right of a financially weaker spouse to collect regular payments from the financially stronger spouse during the divorce proceedings and after the divorce is final.
Years ago, when women and mothers typically did not work outside the home, the grant of alimony from a husband to a wife was fairly routine. Currently, the court will balance the need of either spouse for maintenance payments against the ability of the other spouse to provide them, and consider as well how much time it will take the receiving spouse to become financially independent. When divorce occurs between spouses who have been married 20 years or longer, where one of them worked only sporadically if at all, the court might well grant permanent spousal maintenance to age 65. In marriages of short durations, say less than six years, it is very unlikely that alimony will be granted at all.
The most complex alimony issues arise in cases where the marriage lasted for ten or fifteen years and the financially weaker spouse has prospects for a good career with a year or two of additional education or training. The court has considerable discretion in granting, denying, or limiting alimony in cases like these, and our experience with such situations can present your position in highly persuasive terms, if the matter comes to a contested hearing. Most prenuptial agreements will also address spousal maintenance, and we can advise you as to the legal effect of an alimony term in a premarital or postmarital agreement that you have signed.
In most situations, however, it may be best to consider spousal maintenance and property division issues together. They are generally negotiated in a package, and when agreement is not possible, they are usually resolved by the court at the same hearing. Too much insistence on a particular position with respect to alimony could result in a favorable ruling on that issue, only to wind up with an unfortunate result on the property division dispute, which in the suburbs of Chicago can be very substantial.
Our law firm's experience with the careful balancing of complex property division, spousal maintenance, and divorce taxation issues can give you a significant advantage toward achieving your objectives with respect to all three. For a free consultation about your rights and obligations concerning alimony, both as a legal matter and as a question of practical negotiation, contact a knowledgeable divorce lawyer at the office of Thomas W. Hunter, Attorney at Law.
