RSSJanuary, 2012 - Chicago Illinois Family Law Blog Archive
Illinois’ Turn for Child Support System Overhaul: The Proposed System
In Monday’s blog post, we discussed the shortcomings of the current Illinois child support system, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. This child support payment system may make the family court’s job easier, but it can make things tougher and more frustrating for families.
The new income shares system aims to be more centered on the particular situation of the family. The income shares system still assumes that the child of a divorced couple is entitled to financial support equal to that he/she would have received if his/her parents stayed together. But, unlike the current system, this would be determined by how much each parent earns. Higher income means higher child support contribution. The amount of time a non-custodial parent spends with the child will also be taken into account. With the added level of fairness in this new system, long and contentious disputes would likely take less of the court’s time and alleviate any bitterness between the parents.
New University of Arizona Study Finds Correlation between Divorce and Early Death
Even a divorce that is necessary can have negative effects on a couple. Most often, the effects people think of are depression, uncertainty, loneliness, and/or financial insecurity, but, according to USA Today, there is another serious effect of divorce, as demonstrated in the findings of a University of Arizona (UA) divorce study: higher risk of an early death.
The UA study, or rather review, was published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. After examining 32 case studies involving 6.5 million adults in 11 countries over 27 years, researchers found that divorced adults suffer a higher risk of early death than married adults. More specifically, divorced adults have a 23 percent greater chance of dying early, and for divorced men, it is more than that.
Illinois’ Turn for Child Support System Overhaul: The Current System
Child custody and support are two of the most contentious aspects of a divorce and can lead to ongoing bitter disputes that are definitely not in the best interests of the child. Illinois aims to remedy these common situations by implementing a new child support payment system, which will be better for all parties. In this two-part blog series, we will be discussing the shortcomings of the current system and the remedies of the new system.
According to the Chicago Tribune, an advisory committee to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services is supporting a complete reconstruction of the state’s child support payment system, which really does not allow for the best arrangement, for parents or children, in its current state. A bill is being drafted to change the current system to an income shares system, a trend that is already in place in 38 states.
Will Smith and Wife Jada Pinkett Smith Calling it Quits?
Celebrity marriages have to overcome many obstacles to succeed, the most obvious of which is the constant gauntlet of media attention and rumors. For many couples, the stress of it all takes its toll on the marriage. When celebrity marriages add celebrity children to the mix, it can create even more stress, as has reportedly occurred in Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s relationship, according to an article in TMZ.
Separation rumors began circling around the celebrity couple in the summer of 2011 due to tension in the marriage. This tension was allegedly the result of conflicting opinions about how to handle their children’s careers/fame. Their two children, Jaden and Willow Smith, are already household names as the result of successful acting and music careers. Reportedly, Will Smith was all for pushing their kids into all-out stardom while his wife wanted things to move more gradually. The couple, who denied separation/divorce rumors supposedly moved past this rough patch and was back to normal by the end of 2011.
Springfield Committee Reverses December Decision, Grants Benefits to Civil Union Spouses
In December, Springfield denied city employees civil union spousal benefits to the objections of LGBT rights groups. Soon after the decision, Springfield Mayor Mike Houston publicly announced his support of giving spousal benefits to the civil union partners of city employees and urged the Joint Labor/Management Health Care Committee to reverse its decision in the next session.
According to The Chicago Tribune, the committee has indeed reversed that decision, by a unanimous vote, and city employees who are in civil unions will be eligible for spousal health benefits in March of this year.
Springfield Mayor Supports Civil Union Spousal Benefits for City Employees
The Illinois civil union law was implemented in June 2011 and, since then, there have been a lot of changes and controversies. One of these controversies is the right for civil union spouses to claim spousal benefits. According to the Windy City Times, the Springfield Mayor is backing spousal benefits for city employees who are in a civil union, despite the fact that the Joint Labor/Management Health Care Committee voted against awarding those benefits in December.
The Springfield committee, which includes retirees and city staffers, voted to maintain the already established eligibility standards for insurance; the current standards do not include civil union spouses. The vote, or the result of the vote rather, is claimed by the committee members as being legal because Springfield is self-insured and not subject to the same regulations as commercially-insured employers. Supposedly, a bill for extending the spousal insurance benefits of married couples would increase the cost of insurance by $725,000. Although the Mayor said that the vote was indeed legal, he has altered his position and is now urging the committee to reassess theirs when the next quarter comes around.
First Recorded Divorce in U.S. History Tells a Common Tale
According to History.com, the first recorded divorce in the American colonies was that of Anne Clarke and her husband Denis Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on January 5, 1643. The divorce was granted by the Quarter Court of Boston, MA on the grounds that Denis Clarke abandoned his wife to be with another woman. In a signed affidavit, Denis Clark admitted to having done just that. He and Anna Clarke had two children; he also had two children with the other woman. In the affidavit, he also stated his refusal to return to his original wife. As a result, the Puritan court had no choice but to grant a divorce to Anne Clarke, and punish her absent and adulterous husband.
Although divorce was treated with more severity in the past than it is now, this first recorded divorce highlights an important commonality in the reasons for divorce. The system by which the divorce was carried out in 1643 may be different than the system in 2012, but the reasons for the divorce, adultery and abandonment, are not uncommon today. There are many reasons why a couple may file for divorce in modern times, but the most frequent include:
Mel Gibson Now Officially Divorced from Robyn Moore
In 2009, Robyn Gibson filed for divorce from her actor husband Mel Gibson, and as of December 23, their divorce is final, according to TMZ. Robyn Gibson, who has gone back to her maiden name, Robyn Moore, filed for divorce soon after the discovery that Mel Gibson’s then-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva was pregnant.
According to The Huffington Post, Gibson and Moore separated in 2008 after 28 years of marriage. They have seven children together. Overall, the couple’s divorce had been relatively amicable, and Moore even defended Gibson when Grigorieva accused him of abuse during their contentious custody battle, which only came to a close in April of this year.
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