Divorce often comes hand-in-hand with stress, anger, grief, and no small amount of uncertainty. Attorney Turrisi will work with you to devise a legal strategy regarding the issues of property and debt division, parental responsibilities, and support, giving you confidence and peace of mind. We have the utmost respect for our clients’ priorities, including their goals and budget. We will lay out all of your legal options, provide you with recommendations, and will incorporate your choices and priorities into our legal strategy.

A final divorce decree (Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage) will dissolve your marriage, allocate parental responsibilities (formerly called “custody”), provide for financial support through maintenance (formerly called “alimony”) and/or child support, and divide marital assets and liabilities. This can be accomplished through a negotiated agreement or, in the case of no agreement, through trial. Divorce cases are governed by the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.

Our goal is always to attempt to work out a favorable agreement in order to reduce the duration and cost of your case. However, where litigation cannot be avoided, we will fight for you in court with smart strategies, persuasive legal arguments, and professionalism.

In Illinois, the law no longer uses the word “custody” with respect to children. Instead, the law refers to allocation of parental responsibilities. Allocation of parental responsibilities breaks down into two components: major decision-making and parenting time.

Parents are presumed fit to make routine, daily decisions for their children while they are in their care. The law’s (and therefore, the court’s) focus is on major decision-making. Major decisions include educational decisions, medical decisions, extracurricular activities, and religious upbringing. Sometimes one parent will be assigned all major decision making, sometimes parents share decision-making in all areas, and sometimes the best solution is a hybrid of the two.

Parenting time includes several schedules that all work together, including regular, holiday, vacation, school break, and special occasion parenting time. At the outset of your case, you will need to prepare a parenting plan to present to the court that lists out the schedule you believe is in the best interest of of your child or children.

If parents cannot agree on decision-making or parenting time schedules, they are mandated to attend mediation to attempt to work out their differences before a hearing on those issues can be held. Mediation is intended to allow the parties the opportunity to work toward an agreement in a neutral space with a trained professional, which is advantageous to the parties and the court. The parties benefit by reducing litigation (attorneys’ fees and everyone’s time), and by maintaining control of the outcome of their case. The court benefits by reducing its caseload.

In some cases, in particular those with unmarried parents, it is necessary to legally establish parentage, which is a legal parent-child relationship. While this may seem straightforward, often it is not. Relationships are complicated. There are clear laws about when parentage is presumed: for example, when the parties are married, regardless of sex, or when a biological father signs a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity with respect to a child.

Sometimes, parentage is disputed. When this happens, either party can ask the court for a DNA test to determine biological parentage. Cases become more complex when there is more than one mother or father for a child, under the law. For example, if a man and woman are married, and the woman gives birth to a child that is not biologically her spouse’s child, then the child has both a legal father (the spouse) and a biological father. Another example of how parentage can become complex is when there is a gestational surrogacy contract, the validity of which is being disputed. In such a case, there are multiple people claiming parentage of a child.

The Illinois Parentage Act provides the legal bases for establishing a parent-child relationship, and was recently amended, with the most recent amendments coming into effect in 2017. It also provides for the inverse – establishing the non-existence of a parent-child relationship.

If you are seeking legal counsel regarding the existence or non-existence of a parent-child relationship, contact our firm right away. There are time limits on any challenge to parentage, and the law in this area is not always intuitive.

In many cases, parentage is straightforward, and is either agreed upon by the parties or resolved simply with a DNA test. Note that the establishment of a parent-child relationship is necessary before seeking child support.

Prior to 2016, child support was based upon the income of the parent who was paying support. Illinois shifted to an income-sharing model, which takes into account the income of both parents.

It can be challenging to determine the income of a parent who is self-employed, is paid in cash, or who has hidden income. We have extensive experience in investigating, discovering, and proving the additional income of parties who try to hide their earnings to avoid or reduce child support.

If you have experienced a substantial change in circumstances and believe that you need a modification of child support, maintenance, parenting time, decision-making responsibilities, or other provision of an existing order, we can help. During our consultation, we will explain to you the standard you need to meet for a modification and whether or not you have arguably met that standard. We can represent you in your modification action, and frequently we bring multiple-count petitions for modification, where more than one modification is requested.

Likewise, we can help you enforce an order that is not being followed, whether it relates to a financial or a parenting issue. Obtaining a court order is not an easy accomplishment, and you deserve to have the order enforced to the fullest extent. In many cases, we are also able to obtain an award of attorneys’ fees against the offending party.

The role of a guardian is admirable. A guardian is a person who steps up to care for another, while having no legal obligation to do so. A guardian spends time, effort, and resources, and takes on an emotional and financial burden, in order to petition the court for guardianship. We highly respect guardians and value their commitment and dedication to the wards in their care. The process of obtaining guardianship can be very difficult, especially in cases where a parent objects to the guardianship. We handle both simple and contested guardianship cases related to minor children, and will guide you through this process with efficiency, clarity, and support.

If you are a victim of domestic violence, including verbal, emotional, financial, or physical abuse, harassment, neglect, intimidation of a dependent, deprivation of personal liberty, we are ready and willing to help you on both an emergency and long-term basis.

If you have been accused of domestic violence, or if you have a petition pending against you for an order of protection, we will review your case and provide legal representation in your defense.

An emergency order of protection can be sought to protect a person or people from immediate harm or any further abuse.A person can file a petition for an order of protection on their own behalf and on behalf of others (for example, one’s children). During the pandemic, many courts remain physically open to accommodate emergency petitions, but some of them are being conducted online.

Emergency orders of protection are valid for up to 21 days, and can be continued if the respondent (the person against whom the petition has been filed) has not been served with the paperwork.

Once the respondent has been served, they will have the opportunity to appear in the case and a right to a hearing. If the petition is granted, this results in a plenary order of protection, which can last for up to two years.

Orders of protection can provide for custody, child support, anger management courses, and other relief in additional to the usual “stay away” order. However, these are not permanent orders, and so it is often necessary to file a petition in family law court to obtain a permanent order.

In Cook County, if a divorce, parentage, or custody case is pending or filed in family law court (the Domestic Relations Division), and an order of protection case is also pending or filed, then the cases will be consolidated and transferred to the domestic relations division. In other counties, consolidation is also the norm.

If you need emotional or logistical support, or for information about resources for victims of domestic violence, call the Domestic Violence National Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), available 24/7. You can also visit their website at www.thehotline.org, where you can chat live with an advocate.

Minors who are foreign nationals and present in the United States without legal status may be eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which allows them to obtain legal permanent residency (a green card) in the US. In order to be eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, a minor must prove:

They are under the age of 21 years;

They are currently living in the United States;

They are not currently married;

They are unable to be reunited with one or both parents because they have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by one or both parents;

It is not in their best interest that they be returned to heir country of origin;

They have been placed in the custody of the state or an individual; and

Said placement was not sought solely for immigration purposes.

As this is a nuanced area of the law with intersecting family and immigration issues, it is important to speak with an attorney if you or an individual you know may be eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. We can help you obtain the order necessary to apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and we will work with you current immigration attorney or refer you to one of our close contacts and work in tandem with them. Time is of the essence in these cases; do not delay in seeking this remedy if you believe it is appropriate for you or someone you know.

See the USCIS website for more information.

Family law proceedings often intersect with other areas of the law, including immigration, bankruptcy, foreclosure, civil actions, domestic violence, DCFS proceedings, worker’s compensation, probate, and guardianship, among others.

Cases can also become complicated in high net worth divorces, when one or both parties own business interests, when a spouse owns property abroad, or when there are other international issues.

We have knowledge and experience with overlapping legal issues, parallel litigation, and the quagmire of legal procedure involving multiple areas of the law.

We often see cases in which a spouse owns an interest in property or other assets in a foreign country, a party resides in a foreign country, or where issues arise related to the relocation of children to or from another country. Attorney Turrisi has a Certificate in International and Comparative law and a wealth of experience handling property and child-related international issues, especially in Spanish-speaking countries. Our network of attorneys and other contacts help to facilitate the retrieval of records, service of process, and other legal tasks abroad.

Our clients in LGBTQIA+ community find compassionate, understanding advocacy at our firm. Discrimination against LGBTQIA+ spouses, parents, and children is, unfortunately, still present in our society, and the judicial system is not exempted from that. However, more and more courts have begun to examine this bias and attempt to uproot it.

LGBTQIA+ families face unique challenges against the backdrop of ever-evolving state and national legal landscapes. We keep abreast of litigation related to the rights of the LGBTQIA+ families, and provide reliable and sensitive legal counsel to our LGBTQIA+ clients. We invite you to visit the website of Family Equality for helpful resources and information.