Posted on February 02, 2013 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on January 30, 2013 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on January 29, 2013 in Family Law

In In re Estate of Doman, the Illinois Appellate Court issued a ruling on October 11, 2012 that helps to clarify the importance of a Will in a marriage and a divorce, and potentially, a revocable trust, depending on circumstances.

Trial Court Proceedings:

In the Doman case, when Mark Doman died on July 4, 2011, his wife Sara and he were in the home stretch of their divorce. The trial court had issued a written dissolution judgment and reserved ruling on the additional issues on June 10, the status hearing was set for July 11. On July 5, Sara’s attorney called the court and informed the trial court of Mark’s death. The trial court then entered a docket that state, “Cause set for 7/11/11 is vacated. Cause is dismissed.”

Probate Court Proceedings:

Sara filed a petition in the probate court on September 28, 2011 stating that their divorce proceedings were dismissed and that she was Mark’s surviving spouse. She was seeking appointment as administrator of Mark’s estate. On October 13, Sara’s daughter Aimee (Sara’s child from a prior marriage whom Mark legally adopted) filed a counter argument. Aimee argued that the trial court’s June dissolution judgment on grounds only was a final judgment.

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 Posted on January 26, 2013 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on January 23, 2013 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on January 22, 2013 in Family Law

According to the Duluth News Tribune, John Butler has more than his fair share of appearances in front of a judge. Although only 28 years old, has a very long history of cases in the court. He has been convicted in cases including drug offenses, domestic violence and several drinking and driving offenses.

His court meeting in front of Judge Eugene Harrington was of a different sort. He pled no contest to a felony failure to pay his ordered child support for more than four months. This offense was committed in 2011. He was recently sentenced to two years probation with several stiff stipulations. One of the stipulations that was placed on Butler was that within three minutes of making acquaintance with a female he must divulge to her not only that he is a convicted felon but also that he is in arrears with his child support. He is also ordered not to conceive any more children until he has paid all of his back child support. He also has several other standard conditions of his probation to follow such as remaining employed full time, keeping up with his child support payments, remaining sober and attending all required counseling sessions.

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 Posted on January 20, 2013 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on January 17, 2013 in Personal Injury

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 Posted on January 16, 2013 in Family Law

Divorcées are rarely over the moon about their split, not even when they have actually been on the moon. While this celebrity divorce is no exception in that sense, Buzz Aldrin's divorce settlement with his third wife, Lois Driggs Cannon, unlike some other celebrity splits, is not a story of a brutal court battle over millions of dollars in assets. The Huffington Post divorce section reported a story on the case.

The 82-year-old former astronaut, who was the second man to walk on moon, ended up with having to give up half of a $475,000 bank account and a monthly $9,500 in spoucal support. According to the New York Daily News, this means nearly half of Aldrin's fortune. The couple's divorce was finalized on December 28, 2012.

Aldrin filed for divorce back in June 2011, wanting to end a 23-year marriage because on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. As mentioned earlier, this was Aldrin's third marriage. The astronaut was married to Joan Archer and Beverly Zile before being married to Cannon for almost a quarter of a century.

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 Posted on January 14, 2013 in Personal Injury

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