Chicago Illinois Divorce Attorneys
Financial Requirements after Divorce
The decision to divorce is often made on an emotional basis. Emotions run high during a divorce in Illinois, and it can be difficult to focus on what your financial needs will be when the dust settles. At Nottage and Ward, we offer the resources and experience to help you determine what your financial requirements will be during and after the divorce and how you will handle your financial obligations after the divorce is final.
Dissolving a marriage in Illinois, like dissolving a business, involves splitting up property that once belonged to two partners and ensuring that each partner receives an equitable share. Many relationships are lopsided financially: one spouse may have considerably more education than the other, or may have more highly-paid employment than the other, or may have come into the marriage with significantly more assets and investments than the other.
In order to ensure that both spouses can survive after a divorce, Illinois law allows courts a great deal of flexibility in deciding how to split assets and whether one spouse should help the other with maintenance payments for some length of time. To determine what to ask your spouse or the court to provide, it is necessary to have a clear picture of your current finances as well as what your finances are likely to look like once the divorce is final. This involves looking at who owns which assets: the family home, any vehicles, valuable personal objects, and intangible assets like stocks, bonds, pensions and retirement plans.
Working with an attorney to build a clear picture of what the finances look like is just the first step in establishing your financial requirements after divorce in Illinois. At Nottage and Ward, we provide our clients with more than legal advice about the divorce itself. We work with each client to create a unique exit strategy that will allow them to have sufficient financial support to live on and to support any children, as well as the opportunity to go back to school or find a job if necessary.
To build this exit strategy, our Chicago divorce lawyers look at all of the financial assets and liabilities a client has or is likely to have once the divorce is over. This process includes obtaining assessments of property, income, possible settlement payments from the divorce itself, and what debts the client is likely to be responsible for paying. We consult financial professionals when necessary, and we also refer clients to the appropriate financial professionals – including financial planners, investment advisors, and accountants - to answer their specific questions about their own financial picture and how to make their finances work for them.
At Nottage and Ward, we understand that divorce is a business issue. Emotions run high, but at the end of the day, our clients must have a clear understanding of their needs and options, and have an equitable divorce arrangement that allows them the financial security to live their lives after a divorce. To learn more about how we can create your exit strategy based on your specific financial requirements, call Nottage and Ward today.
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