Lawyer Schaumburg

Under a new Illinois law, effective in 2019, if a boss requires you to use your personal phone or computer for word, the boss must have a reimbursement policy

Schaumburg Criminal Lawyer

A new law in 2019 allows family members or police to petition courts to take guns away from people who pose a danger to themselves or others.  A judge may issue the order without notice but a hearing must be conducted within 14 days.

Lawyer Schaumburg

A new law in Illinois, effective in 2019, requires that children younger than 2 must ride in rear-facing child-restraint seats in automobiles.  Children taller than 40 inches or weighing more than 40 pounds are exempt.  The first offense carries a $75.00 fine at the discretion of the local authorities.

Lawyer Schaumburg

Whether a secret recording is illegal and unethical depends on where it takes place and why.

The first question to address is whether state wiretapping laws have been violated and whether the attorney secretly recorded the conversation in a state with a one-party consent or two-party consent law. In many states, a person can secretly record a conversation as long as one party knows of it, and that one party can be the recorder. These are called “one-party consent” states. Other states are two-party or “all-party consent” states. In these jurisdictions, all parties to the conversation must know a recording is taking place. Illinois is a two-party state.

But even if secretly recording another person is legal—as it would be in a one-party state—attorneys must also consider whether such recordings are ethical.

Lawyer Schaumburg

Record sealing has helped many to permanently secure or delete personal criminal records of felonies, misdemeanors, or even arrests when ultimately found not guilty. Generally speaking, when an arrest or a conviction occurs, it’s available to society via public records that anyone can access. This means that a record has the potential to follow a person everywhere, possibly undermining his or her ability to secure housing, employment, and career advancement. Having records sealed makes it so that a criminal record isn’t as accessible. It’s worth noting that there is a distinct difference between record sealing and expungement. In the case of an expungement, it is like the event never occurred, with a record even being destroyed. When a record is sealed, however, it is still kept on file by the government; the ordinary citizen cannot gain access to it.

Lawyer Schaumburg

 In Illinois, you can make a living trust to avoid probate for virtually any asset you own -- real estate, bank accounts, vehicles, and so on. ... At your death, your successor trustee will be able to transfer it to the trust beneficiaries without probate court proceedings.

Schaumburg Divorce Lawyer

For divorces entered on or before December 31, 2018, alimony (maintenance) has been deductible to the maintenance payor. And the spouse receiving maintenance includes it as income for tax purposes.  What this means is that generally the alimony payor has received a tax break on alimony as paid.

Yes, there have always been exceptions.  These exceptions have included situations where the parties agree in writing as part of their divorce decree that alimony would not be tax deductible to the payor.  There have been other exceptions and the law has been complex including provisions for what is called alimony recapture, etc.  This post will not discuss those complexities.

For divorces and separation agreements entered on or after January 1, 2019:

• No longer will maintenance be deductible for the spouse who pays maintenance.
• The recipient no longer includes maintenance as taxable income.

The loss of the tax break of maintenance will have a significant negative impact on divorce cases where one spouse has high income.