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Divorce rate rises among baby boomers
It's a commonly-held belief that 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. According to a recent article in the New York Times, however, that's no longer the case. After years of harboring a 50 percent divorce rate, the number has begun to decline in America, dropping to just above 40 percent. The trend was observed in all age groups, except for one - baby boomers.
This is a surprising statistic. Many baby boomers in Illinois and other states have been married for years – decades, even. But over the past 20 years, the divorce rate among baby boomers has increased by a whopping 50 percent.
The reasons for this are complex and various. A sociology professor at the University of Washington recently advanced her opinions on the subject, suggesting a number of reasons why baby boomers may be ending their marriages.
One key factor, according to the sociologist, is the time in which the baby boomers were born. Boomers' parents were part of a more traditional age. The boomers themselves, however, lived through a period of transition. They were part of the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement and anti-war movements. Women's rights were also addressed during their time, an issue that led many to question the traditional role of marriage in our society.
Bode Miller involved in lengthy child custody dispute
As many in Illinois are aware, determining child custody can be a long and difficult process. There are a number of extremely important decisions that need to be made, decisions that will have life changing consequences for all parties involved.
When the child custody agreement must be made across state lines, however, the issues can become even more complex. Problems with jurisdiction and visitation can arise, as well as the logistical issues that come from traveling between court appearances.
These are the problems faced by Olympic skier Bode Miller, who is currently embroiled in a child custody dispute that recently reached its eleventh month. Unusually, the cross-state dispute began even before the child was born.
When Miller's girlfriend, Sara McKenna, was seven months pregnant, she moved from southern California, where Miller lived, to New York, where she aspired to attend graduate school. A co-parenting agreement had not yet been decided when she left the state.
Divorce increases among older generations
Contrary to popular belief, divorce is not solely the domain of young couples. While many spouses do get divorced in the first few years of marriage, making it five or ten years does not necessarily mean the union will last forever. In some cases, couples who have been together for decades - couples that outwardly seem to be happily married - may realize that their marriage should not continue.
The reasons for this are varied, but the trend seems to be on the rise, both here in the U.S. and abroad in Europe.
One reasons that older couples may get a divorce could be attributed to the so-called "empty nest syndrome." When a couple's children leave the house, often they have to go through a period of enormous change, as the focus of their lives shift away from child-rearing. Often, spouses have difficulty adjusting to the new social dynamics of living without children. In other cases, spouses may realize that they have different opinions on their goals and dreams, now that the children are out of the house.
Prenuptial agreement aids Rupert Murdoch's divorce
For many years, prenuptial agreements have been viewed as a tool only for the wealthy. In recent years, that perception has been shifting; many couples who are marrying later in life, or marrying for the second time, use the document as a way to protect their personal assets before entering into marriage. Though still far from common, prenuptial agreements are used by couples with average wealth as well as the rich and famous.
It's the rich and famous, however, who get the media attention, and it's perhaps this fact that leads viewers to conclude that prenuptial agreements are only for the wealthy.
Recently, one of the wealthiest people in the world, Rupert Murdoch, put a prenuptial agreement into use in preparation for his third divorce. He and his wife Wendi Deng recently separated after a marriage lasting 14 years. They have two children together, girls aged 10 and 11.
Murdoch and Deng, with the assistance of family law attorneys, prepared their divorce in private, meaning the terms of the separation or not open for public viewing. According to the New York Daily News, however, a prenuptial agreement signed before the wedding ensures that Rupert Murdoch not cede any control of his vast media empire to his ex-wife. Though she will likely be given a portion of the Murdoch fortune, neither she nor her children will have voting rights in any of Murdoch's businesses.
$5 fee for Illinois child custody exchanges upheld in court
As many parents know, co-parenting can be a difficult process. It's no easy splitting time with a child; it's much harder, however when one has a strained relationship with the other parent.
Unfortunately, divorce has a reputation for strained relationships. Often, couples enter the divorce process feeling angry and resentful towards the other spouse. By the time the divorce process is completed, spouses sometimes feel emotionally raw and unwilling to communicate with the former spouse any longer.
For co-parents, however, this is not an option. The parental relationship persists forever, even after the spousal relationship has ended. Even in these difficult, acrimonious relationships, parents have a responsibility to work together to raise their child.
These difficult relationships led to the rise of child custody exchanges in Illinois. Child custody exchanges are buildings managed by the government that act as safe, neutral places that co-parents can use to exchange custody of their children without ever seeing one another. Exchanging custody is a key part of honoring the divorce agreement's visitation schedule.
New computer program could aid in child support
When a couple makes the decision to divorce, they often assume that they will be able to go their separate ways, and, if they so choose, never see one another again. This is not the case, however, if the spouses have children.
The marriage may come to an end, but parenting lasts forever. It can be difficult, however, for ex-spouses to maintain a successful parenting relationship after the divorce, especially if the separation was acrimonious. Child support, in particular, is a common stumbling block.
Oftentimes, noncustodial parents resent paying child support, especially if they feel they are not involved in the child's life. In other cases, noncustodial parents may resist making payments because they fear the custodial parent is spending the money on personal items, rather than on the child.
A new computer program seeks to smooth over these sticking points by simplifying and clarifying child support accounting. The program, called SupportPay, keeps track of the amounts that noncustodial parents must pay each month and tracks any back payments. If a noncustodial parent misses a payment, he or she receives a polite reminder from the program.
Family therapists criticized for failing to consider divorce
When a couple runs into marital troubles, they often turn to couples' therapy for answers. Often, the therapist works with both spouses to try to find the best way for the couple to move forward with their lives. Rarely, however, does the therapist bring up the possibility of divorce.
This is according to a couple's therapist who recently published an open letter to her colleagues on The Huffington Post. She says that although she considers divorce an acceptable conclusion to couples' therapy, many other therapists do not follow this line of reasoning.
For many couples, divorce is viewed as "failure," and, therefore, it is avoided at all costs. Unfortunately, many therapists enter therapy with the same idea, and thus go to great lengths to avoid the topic. In these cases, divorce becomes the enemy.
According to the author of the open letter, however, couples and therapists shouldn't view divorce in this light. Rather, divorce is one of many options, one that is acceptable and correct under certain circumstances.
Illinois courts have difficulty with child support collection
When a pair of parents get a divorce, they may be able to end the romantic relationship, but their parental responsibilities will continue for the rest of their lives. These responsibilities include visitation, child custody and child support.
Child support, in particular, is often a sticking point between divorced parents. The noncustodial parent may feel as though he or she doesn't have a large enough role in the child's life and, resentfully, refuses to send child support payments.
Parents considering this practice should consider the fact that the child support check is not for the benefit of the custodial parent - it's for the benefit of their child. Furthermore, the child support payments are not a gift that can be rescinded or discontinued. Child support is the child's right, and noncustodial parents are legally bound to make regular payments.
This doesn't always happen, however. Many Illinois parents are having significant trouble obtaining child support payments from noncustodial parents. Though parents have the right to take the other parent to court when this occurs, experts say this doesn't always solve the problem.
Man turns his life around in battle over fathers' rights
The removal of a child from a parent's care is something that is treated very seriously in Illinois courtrooms. Indeed, in courts across the country, judges work slowly and carefully to determine a parent's right to raise a child. If the court deems that the best interests of the child would be better served by permanently severing the parents' parental rights, they do so. In many cases, however, courts are reluctant to do this, as a child's biological parents are viewed as a valuable resource for the child's future.
One particularly difficult issue is whether a father's rights to visitation or child custody, once taken away, should be reinstated. Often, children are removed from a father's care due to issues with domestic violence - courts are understandably reluctant to allow such parents to regain custody of their children.
But what if the father turns his life around? Even then, it can be a difficult road.
Take, for example, a Nebraska father who lost custody of his infant son after he committed domestic violence against his wife. The child was removed from his care in 2011 and sent to a foster home. Since then, the father has taken many steps to improve his future. He has taken GED classes and anger management classes. He has consistently attended Alcoholics Anonymous. He has been to parenting groups and taken parenting classes. He moved away from a roommate who could not pass a background check. He has attended his twice-weekly visitations with his child.
Child custody battle over same-sex couple's child comes to an end
The rise of increasingly advanced reproductive technology, such as artificial insemination, has led to a number of very complicated court cases in recent years. It's a common complaint that the law is slow to catch up with our technology, making it difficult for family law judges and attorneys to make sense of new and highly unique situations. These court cases can often take a great deal of time and effort to resolve.
One such situation came to a close recently after a years-long court battle. The case revolved around a lesbian couple who used an anonymous sperm donor to conceive a child. Unlike most artificial inseminations, however, the woman who would bear the child did not use her own egg - she used her partner's.
As a result, the child was, biologically speaking, the woman's partner's. Before the child was born, the couple signed a joint-parenting agreement that gave each parent certain rights and responsibilities regarding the child's custody, care and visitation.
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