Posted on March 14, 2019 in Family Law

Illinois child support payments are determined by the “income shares” method, meaning that each parent pays a portion of the child’s expenses based on their share of the parents’ combined net income.

When both spouses have stable annual salaries, this calculation is straightforward. But what if your or your spouse’s income fluctuates significantly from month to month or year to year?

Income fluctuations may be due to:

• A small business with an uneven or unpredictable income stream.
• A regular job that is supplemented with freelance work that comes and goes.
• A job that often involves overtime pay.
• An employment compensation plan that involves commissions or bonuses.
• A professional who has an ownership stake in their company which pays out a share of profits at the end of each year.

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 Posted on March 13, 2019 in Immigration

In today’s highly volatile political environment, it can be easy to encounter misinformation about immigrants and immigration law, but this can yield negative consequences, especially if you are an immigrant yourself. One of the most commonly confused issues nowadays is in discussing the difference between improper entry and unlawful presence in the country. One is a crime, while one is not, and misunderstandings on this score might imperil your ability to obtain immigration benefits in the future.

Unlawful Presence Is Not a Crime

In many situations, when the average person is complaining about “illegal immigrants,” they mean those who are present in the United States but are not authorized to be in the country. This is referred to as having or accumulating unlawful presence. It is important to understand that these people, and there are a significant amount of them, may possibly have committed crimes (for example, identity theft may occur when an undocumented person uses another person’s Social Security number so they can work) - but their simply being present in the U.S. is not one of them.

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 Posted on March 11, 2019 in Personal Injury

Being involved in an automobile accident is an overwhelming experience. Often, those involved suffer physical injuries, and it takes time and money to recover from them. Additionally, there is damage to the vehicle, which also costs money to fix. In the majority of automobile accidents, someone is at fault. Although the injured victim must bear these costs upfront, the possibility exists that he/she may be able to seek reimbursement from the person at fault. Retaining the services of an experienced personal injury attorney, and one especially versed in car accidents can be instrumental in receiving this reimbursement.

Part of this strategy is to determine whether expert witnesses should be used. Expert witnesses do provide a basis for establishing damages. Nevertheless, they are not appropriate in all situations, and the Illinois Supreme Court recently held that photographs of damage to automobiles which have been involved in an accident can be used at trial to combat a personal injury claim brought by an individual involved in the crash, without supplying expert analysis. In other words, a picture is worth a thousand words that an expert witness would provide in his/her opinion, and, as such, an expert witness is not necessary.

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 Posted on March 06, 2019 in Immigration

Rightly or wrongly, the current administration has chosen to detain the majority of asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants, as well as the occasional immigrant with status or U.S. citizen. If you or a loved one has been detained by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), it can be terrifying and confusing, as options to affect your release can seem nonexistent. However, there are things that you can do to improve your situation or to at least stabilize things.

Do Not Say or Sign Anything: Especially under this administration, the push to have immigrants sign away their legal status or admit to potentially damaging conduct is strong and persistent. You are not required to speak or sign anything, and any threat to you as a result of refusal is unlawful. You can ask for an attorney - the government is not required to provide one for you, but they must allow you to engage one yourself - and it is generally a good idea not to speak to ICE without an attorney present.

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 Posted on March 06, 2019 in Family Law

If you have young children and are divorcing a spouse who abuses drugs or alcohol, Illinois law provides a process for restricting an individual’s parenting time and parental responsibilities. Illinois law 750 ILCS 5/603.10 calls for a court hearing at which attorneys from both sides may present evidence.

In preparation for this hearing, you want to work with a skilled family lawyer to compile as much documentation as possible. Write down everything you remember about specific incidents that demonstrate your spouse’s issues. You may ask friends and family to write down their recollections of specific instances as well. If your spouse has ever been arrested for DUI, drug possession, or disorderly conduct, those police reports can be used to prove your case. Medical records showing stints in rehab or even bank records displaying frequent liquor store purchases could be helpful as well.

Illinois Court Orders to Protect Children

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 Posted on March 04, 2019 in Personal Injury

Sending a child to school should not entail concern about whether he/she will get injured. However, when accidents do happen that result in a child being injured, it is crucial to determine if the fault lies with the child or the school. In cases where the school holds responsibility, retaining the services of an experienced premises liability or personal injury attorney can help recoup some of the costs associated with recovering from any resulting injury.

One source notes the potential for some 300 lawsuits to be filed against the NCAA relating to concussion-like symptoms suffered by football players at colleges across the country. Although the source looks at liability at the college level, it nevertheless does bring up the general question of when a school can be liable for injuries suffered by its students.

Basis for Liability

In most cases, liability to the school will be based on either the legal theories of personal injury or premises liability. In both cases, an injured plaintiff, in order to be successful, will have to show that the school did not adhere to its responsibility to keep the student free of any dangerous conditions. In either case, if it can be shown that this dereliction of duty directly caused the injury to the student, the injured student may be able to hold the school liable.

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 Posted on February 27, 2019 in Immigration

A federal case out of California has interesting ramifications for the family and loved ones of immigrants - and quite possibly their attorneys! On December 4, 2018, the 9th Circuit overturned the convictions of one woman who was convicted of violating provisions of the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) that made knowingly ‘encouraging’ or ‘inducing’ someone to enter the U.S. or remain in the U.S. without documentation a felony. The court held that the provision affected a range of free speech issues and was likely overbroad.

Relevant Provision Too Broad

The relevant section of the law states that it is unlawful to “encourage or induce” an alien to enter or reside in the U.S. without documentation if one is aware that their arrival/entry/residence in the country will be against the law. It was passed in 1985, during a revamping of the INA, and its initial intent was to punish alien smugglers and others who might try to suborn people into unlawful entry and residence, and any other malevolent actor who might try to convince aliens out of status to remain in the country when they ought to have departed.

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 Posted on February 25, 2019 in Family Law

No marriage is perfect, and marriages regularly end in divorce. Disagreements and anger about the end of a marriage can cause a spouse to lash out at their former partner in whatever ways they can. Divorces with an adversarial nature often seriously impact the lives of the spouses and any children involved. Occasionally, a parent may take the anger and resentment even further than normal and cause their child or children to experience parental alienation syndrome.

What Is Parental Alienation Syndrome?

Parental alienation syndrome is a term created in the 1980s by the child psychiatrist Dr. Richard Gardner. Gardner used this term to describe what happens when a parent tries to make their children dislike the other parent. The parent who is attempting to alienate the child is often not happy about the divorce and wants their children to be on their side in order to influence child custody decisions. The alienation is accomplished by making negative comments about the other parent, constantly putting them down, blaming them for everything, and even making false accusations. It is also common to see a parent attempt to keep the children to themselves as much as possible and limit the other parent’s parenting time with the children.

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 Posted on February 25, 2019 in Personal Injury

Being an invited as a visitor to another’s property, whether the property owner is a business or another person, carries with it some expectations. Fundamentally, the visitor can expect the property to be reasonably free of any dangerous conditions, or, if not, to be made aware of any hazards. Additionally, the visitor can expect that he/she will be safe while on the property, even if that means that the property owner provides an appropriate level of security detail. If these expectations are not met, and an injury to the visitor occurs, retaining the services of an attorney experienced in personal injury matters, and one especially focused on premises liability and insufficient security, can be crucial to obtaining compensation for the visitor’s injuries.

Recently, the estate of a teenager who froze to death after getting trapped in a hotel freezer has sued the hotel, alleging that it failed to secure the area around the freezer, which, although not used, was still accessible to the public. Allegedly, the teen walked around, visibly disoriented, past hotel staff and into the freezer, and no one attempted to stop her. A discussion of premises liability, as well as some examples of insufficient security procedures, will follow below.

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 Posted on February 20, 2019 in Immigration

As 2018 draws to a close, one can look back at the U.S. immigration system as it once existed and see very little remaining. While the system has never been perfect, many different changes have been instituted in 2018 which have failed to make the United States any safer, despite their stated aims. Inefficiency has persisted, and suffering has mushroomed. The people who have cases pending in the system have been put through far more than anyone should expect to endure. However, that perseverance does sometimes pay off - and for the sake of a better life, many continue to try.

“Zero Tolerance”

Despite the "sturm und drang" coming from immigration hardliners, anyone caught in the act of crossing the U.S. border without inspection is generally deported as quickly as possible, thanks to a policy called expedited removal which permits deportation without being allowed to see an immigration judge if someone is arrested within 100 miles of the U.S. border and has been in the U.S. for less than two weeks. Under the previous administration, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) had a strict system of priorities when seeking to enforce detentions and removal orders - generally, those with convictions for aggravated felonies and crimes of moral turpitude were the migrants actively targeted by federal enforcement. Many undocumented people were allowed to remain if they had established ties to the country, paid their taxes, and had no criminal records, with federal might being used on those deemed a greater danger to U.S. national security.

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