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What Should You as a Parent Expect From a Juvenile Defense Attorney?
When your child gets arrested, it is normal to feel angry and upset. However, being too emotional can make it hard to communicate effectively with your child, the police, and your child’s lawyer. It is important to remain calm so that you can work effectively with your juvenile defense lawyer to obtain the best possible outcome for your child. If you have not worked with a lawyer before, four things you can expect from a juvenile defense lawyer are the protection of your child’s legal rights, simple explanations of the process, a thorough investigation of the circumstances of your child’s case, and appropriate recommendations for your child’s defense.
Protecting Your Child’s Legal Rights
The first thing your child’s lawyer should do is make sure you and your child understand your legal rights within the Illinois juvenile justice system. For example, your child has the same rights as an adult to remain silent and to have a lawyer at their side to counsel them during any questioning by the police or the State’s Attorney. Your minor child also has the right to request that a parent or other adult family member be with them during questioning. Under Illinois law, the police must make a “reasonable attempt” to contact the juvenile’s parent or guardian before questioning the child.
Could a Juvenile Diversion Program Help Your Child Avoid Incarceration?
If you are a parent, you probably spend a great deal of time and energy worrying about your child and the decisions that they are making. Unfortunately, children and teenagers can sometimes get involved with the wrong crowd and make decisions that lead to formal charges being filed in juvenile court. Young people may behave in reckless or illegal ways because they are trying to fit in, they struggle with an addiction or mental health problem, or for other reasons. If your son or daughter has been accused of a crime, a diversion program may help them avoid jail time and turn their life around.
What is the Purpose of a Diversion or Intervention Program?
Juvenile detention is similar to adult incarceration. Minors who are convicted of a crime are sent to juvenile detention as a punishment for their wrongdoing. Generally speaking, juvenile diversion and intervention programs are an alternative to incarceration which may be more likely to help your child stay out of the criminal justice system in the future.
Managing Debt in Your Will County Divorce
Illinois couples who are considering a separation or divorce should also begin the process of evaluating their amount of consumer and other debts. When couples elect to divorce in Illinois, the partners are required to divide both their assets and debts between them. If the matter of debt and asset distribution is placed into the court system, the state’s equitable distribution guidelines will be used.
However, in most cases, these rules are not conducive to the wide variety of financial situations couples may be contending with. Also, it is important to understand that the state’s equitable distribution guidelines do not mean that all debts and assets will be divided equally. Instead, they will be divided in a manner that court deems to be fair and just based on the circumstances of the situation.
Prenuptial Agreements Often Fail to Include Provisions for Debt Accumulated While Married
How Can a Finalized Divorce Decree Be Modified in Illinois?
The purpose of divorce is to separate two peoples’ lives that have been intertwined through marriage. When two people get married, they not only combine their personal lives but also their financial lives. In order to divide them again during a divorce, a judge will decide what is a reasonable amount of marital property, spousal support, and/or child support to assign each spouse. These decisions are made based on several factors such as each spouse’s income, their contributions during the marriage, and their respective parental responsibilities. But, what happens if these factors change after the divorce is finalized? In a case like this, a divorced individual may need to seek a divorce decree modification.
Verbal Agreements Are Not Enforceable
Circumstances which would necessitate a divorce modification include substantial changes in income, illnesses, relocation, or remarriage. Generally, courts do not make changes to the original property or debt division, but modifications of spousal support or alimony, child support, and parenting time are more common. Couples who wish to modify the terms of their divorce agreements by way of a verbal agreement should be warned that such verbal agreements are not enforceable by the court. Modifications must be in writing and approved by the court to be effective.
Experts Recommend Avoiding Social Media During a Divorce
Social media apps like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and others are a ubiquitous part of everyday life. Status updates, pictures, and opinions are regularly shared, giving the world a cultivated view into people’s lives. However, during the divorce process, social media posts can receive greater scrutiny as your assets and your behavior could be factored into the final divorce settlement. It would be wise to limit or eliminate your social media presence if you are going through a divorce.
Ways Social Media Could Affect a Divorce
A preoccupation with social media can drive many couples apart. Many studies have shown a link between increased social media use and decreased marriage quality. It is even possible social media played a role in the end of your marriage, as has recently been cited in up to 20 percent of cases by divorce lawyers. You should not let a preoccupation with online posts continue into the divorce proceedings.
What to Know If You Are Facing Heroin-Related Charges in Illinois
If you are charged with crimes related to heroin possession, sales, delivery, or trafficking, the results can be life-shattering. Heroin is considered a Class I drug, meaning that it has a high likelihood for abuse and has no accepted medical use. While punishments for some drugs like marijuana are slowly lifting, heroin-related offenses are still aggressively prosecuted, often resulting in severe penalties including substantial fines and prison time. Working with an experienced drug crimes defense attorney is essential.
Heroin Possession Penalties in Illinois
All heroin-related crimes are charged as a felony. Here are the potential penalties for heroin possession, which increase based on the amount of heroin found:
- Up to 15 grams is a Class 4 felony with a minimum 1 to 3-year sentence and up to $25,000 in fines.
4 Things to Consider When Making a Parenting Time Schedule
When parents divorce, children will likely share time between the two parents. To avoid having the important decisions related to your children decided by a judge, you and your spouse are encouraged to work together to negotiate a parenting plan, also known as the allocation of parental responsibilities. In addition to deciding how important decisions regarding the children will be made, the plan will also include a parenting time schedule. This schedule will allocate when each parent has physical care of the children, during which time they have the sole responsibility to make routine daily decisions as well as emergency decisions about the children’s health and safety.
Parenting Time Schedule Tips for Illinois Families
When negotiating the parenting time schedule with your spouse, it can be difficult to put the difficulties of the divorce behind you and cooperate. However, it is helpful to take a step back and remember that the schedule should be set up to help your children succeed in their new living environment.
Three Actions That Could Affect Your Spousal Support Payments
During an Illinois divorce, the spouses may agree on, or the court may order the payment of spousal support payments, also known as spousal maintenance or alimony, from one party to another. These payments are to ensure that the receiving party is financially secure after the divorce is finalized. The amount and length of the payments are based on several factors, including income, length of the marriage, the receiving spouse’s education and training, any impairment to their becoming self-sufficient, and other factors. However, future modifications to the payments are possible.
Changes in Income, Marital Status, and Health Could All Qualify
Once the payment amount and length are set, life goes on and changes can and will happen to both parties. There are several factors that can qualify for a modification to these payments.
These include:
Increased Charges Coming for Organized Retail Theft
Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed a new bill into law that targets organized retail theft in Illinois. The law, known as the INFORM Act, will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and will allow the Illinois attorney general to charge anyone who knowingly participates in an organized retail theft of more than $300 with a Class 3 felony. Offenders who engage in organized theft from multiple establishments could be charged with a Class 2 felony.
The bill comes as a response to increasing retail theft, including by organized crime rings, and as a reversal of a movement in recent years in some jurisdictions to lower the charges of shoplifting and other retail theft crimes. The Cook County State’s Attorney has not yet commented on how the law would impact Cook County.
The bill will give one state’s attorney jurisdiction when crimes by the same individual or group occur in more than one county. It will create a statewide intelligence platform to help law enforcement track organized groups and provide additional funding for attorneys and investigators. It also focuses on online third-party marketplaces, where much of the stolen merchandise ends up for sale.
My Ex Has Stopped Making Child Support Payments
After a divorce, it can be tough for a single parent to make ends meet. If you have the bulk of parental responsibilities, you could be depending on the money that your ex-spouse has been ordered to pay in child support to provide your family with food, clothing, and other necessities. If those payments suddenly stop, you could be faced with a real financial struggle. Fortunately, you do have different options to enforce the child support order and get the payments moving again.
Three Steps to Take to Get Your Child Support Payments
There are different steps to take, whether payments are coming in sporadically or not at all, to enforce your court-ordered child support. The most common and effective ways are:
- Reach out to your ex-spouse directly – If you are still on relatively good terms, you can reach out directly to ask about the payments. While they may try to explain why they have been late, remember, the decision to excuse payments is not yours to make since the payments are through a court order. It is best to keep a record of all communications.
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From our office in Joliet, Illinois we serve the communities of Plainfield, Lockport, Crest Hill, New Lenox, Mokena, Romeoville, Homer Glen, Bolingbrook, Naperville, Aurora and Will County.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
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