Questions To Ask A Divorce During Your Initial Consultation
The first meeting with a divorce lawyer can shape many of the decisions you make during an Illinois divorce. You may arrive with questions about your children, your home, bank accounts, retirement benefits, support, or what your spouse may do once the case begins. You may also be uncertain about which concerns require immediate action and which can be addressed later in the proceedings. I use an initial consultation to learn what is happening in your family, identify possible legal issues, and explain how Illinois law may apply to your circumstances. Asking the right questions during that meeting can help you understand what lies ahead and make more informed decisions before taking actions that could affect your case.
Your Divorce Strategy Should Begin With Your Most Important Goals
One of the first subjects I recommend discussing is what you actually want the divorce to accomplish. Some people are primarily concerned about protecting their relationship with their children. Others are worried about keeping a home, preserving retirement savings, obtaining financial support, protecting a business, or preventing a spouse from disposing of marital assets.
Tell me which issues concern you most and ask how Illinois law treats them. Divorce cases are rarely identical. A strategy that makes sense for someone with no children and limited property may be very different from the strategy required when spouses have substantial assets, closely held businesses, disputed parenting issues, or allegations of misconduct affecting the children.
I represent clients on either side of these disputes. That includes spouses seeking divorce and spouses responding to a divorce filing, as well as parents involved in contested parenting time, parental responsibility, support, and related family-law matters.
Ask How Illinois Law Treats Your Property And Debts
Your initial consultation should include a discussion about what you own and what you owe. Bring information about your home, mortgages, bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts, vehicles, businesses, credit cards, loans, and other significant assets or liabilities.
Illinois follows an equitable distribution system. Under 750 ILCS 5/503, property acquired during the marriage is generally presumed to be marital property unless a statutory exception applies. Property acquired before marriage, certain gifts and inheritances, and property excluded through a valid agreement may qualify as non-marital property. The court divides marital property in just proportions after considering the statutory factors. An equitable division does not automatically mean that every asset must be divided exactly 50-50.
Ask me whether particular assets are likely to be classified as marital or non-marital property. This can become especially important when one spouse owned a home or business before marriage, inherited money, received a substantial gift, or mixed separate funds with marital funds.
Ask Whether Maintenance Could Be Part Of Your Case
Spousal maintenance can substantially affect both parties’ finances after divorce. If there is a significant difference between your income and your spouse’s income, ask whether maintenance may be requested and how a court could evaluate the issue.
Under 750 ILCS 5/504, an Illinois court first determines whether maintenance is appropriate after considering factors that include each spouse’s income and property, financial needs, present and future earning capacity, impairment of earning capacity, the standard of living established during the marriage, the duration of the marriage, age, health, and other relevant circumstances. The statute provides that maintenance may be awarded without regard to marital misconduct.
If you may be paying maintenance, I can discuss the potential financial exposure and possible arguments concerning entitlement, amount, and duration. If you may be receiving maintenance, I can discuss what information may be necessary to establish your financial circumstances.
Parenting Time And Decision-Making Require Separate Analysis
Parents often come to a consultation asking about “custody” or “visitation.” Illinois law generally addresses these subjects through the allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time.
Under 750 ILCS 5/602.5, significant decision-making responsibilities are allocated according to the child’s best interests. These responsibilities can include major decisions involving education, health care, religion, and extracurricular activities. A court may allocate responsibilities jointly or give particular decision-making authority to one parent depending on the circumstances.
Parenting time is addressed separately under 750 ILCS 5/602.7. Unless the parents submit an agreed parenting plan that the court approves, the court determines parenting time based on the child’s best interests. Illinois law presumes parents are fit, and parenting time ordinarily cannot be restricted unless the statutory requirements for restrictions are satisfied.
During your consultation, explain the children’s current schedules, where they attend school, each parent’s historical involvement, work schedules, transportation arrangements, medical needs, and any concerns about safety or the children’s welfare.
Ask How A Parenting Schedule Could Work In Daily Life
A parenting schedule needs to function outside the courtroom. Ask how weekdays, weekends, school breaks, holidays, vacations, transportation, extracurricular activities, and communication with the children could be addressed.
Under 750 ILCS 5/602.7, the court considers numerous best-interest factors when determining parenting time. Those considerations can include the wishes of the parents, the child’s needs, the amount of time each parent spent performing caretaking functions during the preceding 24 months, the child’s adjustment to home, school, and community, the mental and physical health of those involved, and the parents’ ability to cooperate in arrangements affecting the child.
The practical details matter. A proposed schedule that looks equal on paper may not serve a child’s interests if it conflicts with school, long travel distances, a parent’s work obligations, or important medical or educational needs.
Discuss Child Support Early In The Case
Financial support for the children should also be addressed during the first consultation. Bring recent pay information if possible and tell me about your spouse’s income, health insurance for the children, daycare expenses, and other significant child-related costs.
Under 750 ILCS 5/505, Illinois courts may order either or both parents to provide reasonable and necessary support for a child. The statute addresses child support calculations and recognizes the parents’ duty to meet children’s physical, mental, and emotional health needs.
Ask how parenting time, each parent’s income, health insurance, childcare expenses, and other financial circumstances may affect the support analysis. Knowing the potential financial structure early in the case can help you create a more realistic post-divorce budget.
Paternity May Need To Be Addressed Before Other Parenting Issues
Some family-law cases involve parents who were never married or situations in which parentage itself is disputed. In those matters, establishing the legal parent-child relationship may be necessary before parenting time, decision-making responsibilities, or support can be fully addressed.
The Illinois Parentage Act of 2015, 750 ILCS 46, governs determinations of parentage in Illinois. Section 104 states that the Act applies to determinations of parentage in this state and that Illinois law governs adjudication of the parent-child relationship.
If parentage is uncertain or disputed, tell me at the initial consultation. Paternity questions can change the procedural and strategic issues involved in a family-law case.
Ask What You Should Avoid Doing Before And During The Divorce
An initial consultation is also a good time to discuss what not to do. Decisions made during the first few weeks of a separation can create problems that last throughout the case.
Ask before moving significant amounts of money, selling property, changing insurance, closing accounts, removing children from school, relocating with the children, or making major changes to an established parenting schedule. You should also assume that text messages, emails, social media posts, photographs, and other electronic communications could eventually become evidence.
I also recommend avoiding confrontational communications with your spouse whenever possible. Messages written during an angry moment can later become exhibits in disputes involving parenting, finances, or credibility.
Ask What Documents I Need To Review Your Case
Good legal advice depends on accurate information. Ask which records you should gather after the consultation.
Depending on your circumstances, I may need tax returns, pay statements, bank statements, retirement records, mortgage documents, deeds, credit card statements, business records, insurance information, existing court orders, parenting schedules, and relevant communications between you and your spouse.
You do not necessarily need every document before speaking with me. The initial meeting can help identify which records matter most so that you can gather information efficiently instead of collecting large amounts of material that may have little relevance.
Ask What Happens After The Divorce Case Is Filed
Understanding procedure can reduce uncertainty. Ask where the case will be filed, how your spouse will receive notice, whether temporary orders may be necessary, what financial disclosures will be required, and whether settlement, mediation, discovery, or trial may become part of the process.
You should also ask what issues could require immediate court attention. Parenting arrangements, possession of the marital residence, support, access to money, payment of household expenses, and preservation of property sometimes need to be addressed while the divorce remains pending.
My goal during the consultation is not simply to tell you that a divorce can be filed. I want you to understand the issues that could affect your family, finances, and future so that we can identify reasonable priorities from the beginning.
Frequently Asked Questions About An Initial Divorce Consultation In Schaumburg
What Should I Bring To My First Meeting With A Divorce Lawyer?
Bring whatever information you already have concerning your finances, children, property, debts, and existing court proceedings. Helpful records may include recent tax returns, pay statements, bank and investment statements, retirement account information, mortgage documents, credit card statements, and copies of any premarital or post-marital agreements.
If children are involved, information concerning their school schedules, childcare, medical needs, extracurricular activities, and the current parenting arrangement can also be useful. Do not postpone a consultation simply because you do not have every document. I can identify the information that is most important after learning more about your particular circumstances.
Should I Ask Whether I Will Get Custody Of My Children?
You should certainly discuss your goals concerning your children, but Illinois no longer structures these cases around the traditional concept of awarding “custody” to one parent in every case. The law addresses significant decision-making responsibilities under 750 ILCS 5/602.5 and parenting time under 750 ILCS 5/602.7. Both determinations focus on the child’s best interests.
Tell me how parenting responsibilities have historically been divided, what schedule currently exists, and what arrangement you believe would work best for your children. I can then discuss how those facts relate to Illinois law and the issues a court would likely consider.
What Should I Ask About Visitation Rights In Illinois?
Parents commonly use the word “visitation,” but Illinois law generally refers to a parent’s scheduled time with a child as parenting time. During your consultation, ask how a parenting schedule could address weekdays, weekends, holidays, vacations, transportation, school activities, and communication.
Section 602.7 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act requires parenting time decisions to be based on the child’s best interests. The statute also provides that both parents are presumed fit and establishes standards concerning restrictions on parenting time.
If you believe parenting time should be restricted because of serious safety concerns, tell me specifically what happened. The legal standard for restricting parenting time differs from simply disagreeing with another parent’s choices.
Should I Tell My Divorce Lawyer About Problems That Make Me Look Bad?
Yes. I need accurate information, including facts that you believe could hurt your position. Learning about a potentially damaging issue from you allows me to evaluate it before it appears in a court filing, discovery response, text message, financial record, or allegation from the other side.
Do not decide on your own that something is irrelevant. Financial conduct, communications between spouses, parenting decisions, criminal allegations, substance use, domestic violence allegations, undisclosed assets, and other circumstances can have very different legal significance depending on the facts. Attorney-client confidentiality is one reason to have a candid discussion with your lawyer from the beginning.
Speak With A Schaumburg Family Law Lawyer About Your Divorce
The decisions made before and during an Illinois divorce can affect your children, finances, property, and day-to-day life for years. A productive initial consultation should give you a clearer understanding of the issues that matter, the information you need to gather, and the options available under Illinois law.
At the Law Office of Fedor Kozlov, I represent clients in divorce proceedings and other family-law matters involving parental responsibilities, parenting time, visitation rights, paternity, child support, maintenance, property disputes, and related concerns. Whether you are preparing to file for divorce or responding to a case initiated by your spouse, I can review your circumstances and discuss an approach based on your family’s needs and Illinois law.
Contact our Schaumburg divorce attorney at the Law Office of Fedor Kozlov by calling (847) 241-1299 to receive a consultation.
