Divorce Law
Our able and experienced divorce lawyers and family law attorneys are used to handling divorces of all natures, ranging from simple collaborative settlements to major disputes involving parenting rights and complex asset and income issues. If you are looking for a divorce attorney in Bloomington IL, Cox and Fulk LLC. has skilled divorce lawyers to handle your needs.
What Does a Divorce Lawyer Do?
A divorce lawyer is a skilled advocate who is familiar with the law of divorce and uses that familiarity to help divorcing clients reach their goals via negotiation and/or litigation.
An experienced divorce attorney will be able to assist a client in understanding how the standards of the Illinois divorce statute are likely to be applied to their particular case.
A client should learn from their divorce attorney the extent to which they may need to seek additional information or evidence in order to determine the appropriate goals for the outcomes of each issue in the case.
Once the appropriate case goals are determined, the divorce attorney can assist the client in achieving them via negotiation, discovery of additional evidence, and conducting trial as to any issues that may remain in dispute after settlement has been attempted.
Importantly, a divorce lawyer can help the client identify and understand where it may be best not to invest effort and money in a case.
Finally, after a divorce case is concluded, a divorce attorney will be able to provide advice and representation with regard to “post-decree” issues that arise, which may include the enforcement or modification of parenting terms, child support, spousal maintenance, and/or the determination of relative parental financial responsibility for a child’s college expenses.
Who May Need A Divorce Lawyer?
The decision as to whether to dissolve a marriage has life-altering consequences, but between 39% and 49% of marriages in America do end in divorce. In many marriages, one spouse’s decision to divorce is based predominately on actions by the other spouse that have undermined the harmony of the marital relationship, but that is not necessarily the case. The personality or interests of one or both spouses may change over time, such that they have come to share less common ground in their pursuits and priorities. As an additional and unfortunately-frequent cause for divorce, one or both spouses having mental health, domestic violence, and/or substance abuse issues can affect the stability of marital relationships and the safety of marital environments.
Regardless of the cause, the goal of a divorce case is to:
- a) Convert the married spouses back into single persons,
- b) Separate the property and debts of the spouses, while providing for any appropriate child support or spousal maintenance, and
- c) Establish the relative “parental rights” of the divorcing spouses where they have children in-common.
Whatever the reasoning behind a divorce action, obtaining the advice of a divorce and family law attorney can be key to gaining an understanding of the issues involved and determining the most desirable approach to a potential divorce situation, and to litigating a divorce case as successfully and efficiently as possible in the event one is filed.
Spousal Maintenance Issues
Spousal maintenance is awarded in some divorce cases, according to certain factors and typically based on a mathematical formula in cases where maintenance is going to be paid.
Our Divorce attorneys can assist in determining the merits of a spousal maintenance case and in advocating for an appropriate and advantageous outcome on the issue.