Illinois requires divorcing couples to divide their marital assets fairly. Despite the requirements of the law, emotions are often running high in a divorce, and spouses sometimes try to gain the upper hand in the asset division process by hiding property so it does not have to be shared with the other spouse. If your spouse is likely to hide assets during divorce, you likely already have noticed some signs that suspicious activity may be at play. If your spouse seems reluctant to give you financial information, suddenly begins buying large “gifts,” or has a small business that seems suspiciously successful in the recent past, be open to the possibility that financial malfeasance may be part of your divorce. 

Where Assets Are Often Hidden During Divorce? 

The list of places a spouse might hide assets is seemingly never-ending. From laughably simple schemes like hiding cash money in a mattress to elaborate endeavors to transfer assets to overseas bank accounts, The Stogsdill Law Firm, P.C. has seen it all. Some of the most common ways spouses try to hide assets in divorce include, but are not limited to: 

• Secretly buying valuable things, like jewelry or collectibles, with the intent to sell them later

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Deciding what to do about retirement accounts can be a tricky part of divorce. Both spouses have often worked long and hard to amass their shared financial portfolio and the prospect of splitting it can be daunting. Moreover, the implications of dividing retirement accounts has the potential to impact both spouses long after the divorce is finalized; after all, running two separate households costs more than just one, and spouses will no longer be able to rely on the other’s earning power to get them through retirement. 

Understanding how retirement accounts can be managed in a divorce is important as you begin to strategize the path you want your divorce to take. While asset division is ultimately under the purview of Illinois law, courts prefer divorcing couples to create an asset division agreement on their own. If you and your spouse can discuss your retirement options reasonably, you are more likely to reach an agreement that allows you both to maximize your future financial stability. 

What Can We Do With Our Retirement Accounts in a Divorce? 

One of the most commonly exercised options is that each spouse simply keeps their own retirement account. When both spouses have been working for similar amounts of time and making roughly similar salaries, this can be a simple and straightforward option–especially because Illinois law requires marital assets to be split fairly, rather than equally. 

Ask most parents of young children who have gotten divorced whether they truly accomplished the goal of getting out of each other’s lives, and the answer will typically be a resounding “No.” This is because parents of young children have to continue to raise their children together until the youngest child reaches 18 or graduates high school (and possibly even after that, if a child is disabled or parents are responsible for paying for the child’s college). 

Fortunately, there are strategies to help even those parents who struggle to get along and co-parent successfully after divorce. If you are getting divorced or are considering getting divorced and you want help from an attorney who has specific experience in Illinois high-conflict divorce situations, read on and then contact someone from our team. 

Start Setting Boundaries Now

Generally speaking, parents in high-conflict relationships benefit from rigid arrangements with as little communication as possible. This means setting clear boundaries and expectations, starting with the period immediately following filing for divorce. Experts recommend communicating with your spouse only through your lawyer whenever possible, and, when interpersonal communication is strictly necessary, only doing so in writing. This can include emails or text messages, but they should be easy to find and use as evidence if necessary. You may even want to set up a specific email address for issues related to the divorce and the kids. 

Although divorce rates are well-known, very few people actually anticipate getting divorced when they get married. If you signed a prenuptial agreement before your wedding, you may not have taken the document seriously or truly investigated its contents. You may also have felt pressured to sign a prenuptial agreement that you did not really want because your spouse, or his or her parents, told you the wedding would not happen without one. This may not have seemed like a big deal at the time, but now that you are getting divorced, your entire marital asset distribution may be dictated by a prenuptial agreement that is fundamentally unfair or that you did not agree to. If this situation sounds familiar to you, contact an Illinois family law attorney right away. 

Can I Prove That I Signed a Prenup Involuntarily? 

Proving involuntariness can be difficult after the fact because it so often comes down to one spouse’s word against the other’s. However, there are a few things that might suggest to a court that you signed your prenuptial agreement under coercion or duress: 

• You did not have the advice of an attorney - This situation is especially problematic if your spouse had an attorney, but you did not. For example, if your spouse’s parents’ attorney drafted a prenuptial agreement that favored your spouse and you did not have the time or resources to hire an attorney of your own, you may have been put at a serious disadvantage. 

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If you have recently gotten divorced, you may wonder whether you can leave Illinois and move to another state with your minor child. After all, without your marriage keeping you here, you may want to move closer to family, pursue other job opportunities, or simply go somewhere with winters that do not require you to dig your car out from under two feet of snow. 

But relocation is much more complicated when there is a minor child and a court-ordered parenting plan involved. If you want to relocate with your child and explore the potential to change your custody order in your new state, you need to understand the rules about child relocation as well as when Illinois retains jurisdiction over a child who lives out of state. 

Can I Move My Child Out of Illinois After Divorce? 

Unless you are the only parent with parenting time and parental responsibilities, you cannot unilaterally decide to move your child out of state. Your parenting plan likely has specific rules about when you can relocate with your child, and it is important that you follow those rules exactly. Leaving the state without permission from your child’s other parent or the court can result in having your child physically removed from you by law enforcement, as well as having a negative impact on your own parenting time or parental responsibilities in the future.