Posted on February 16, 2019 in Islamic Divorce

Many DuPage County residents realize that their marriages are not working out and that it may be time to separate from a spouse. For most people, this results in a decision to file for divorce. Yet we also speak with many people who want to know what the difference is between divorce and annulment, and whether they may be eligible for an annulment instead of a divorce. To be sure, there is a common misconception that annulment can be an alternative to divorce and that it can be quicker and easier.

It is important to understand that annulment and divorce simply are not interchangeable. In the most basic terms, a divorce is the only way to dissolve a legal marriage, while an annulment is how two parties would officially dissolve a marriage that was never legal in the first place. We will say more about how these distinctions work.

Annulment: When a Marriage Is Invalid

Annulment is a process that is only possible when a marriage is invalid. While the law in Illinois concerning annulment falls under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA), it cannot be used when a couple is legally married.

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 Posted on January 29, 2019 in Business Law

The start of the New Year is an important time to revisit the financial and legal documents governing your business. Depending upon the type of business you currently own and the structure of your company, reviewing your business documents and updating them could involve many different tasks. At the start of 2018, you should have reviewed your partnership agreement and the partnership audit rules that took effect on January 1, 2018, as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. Whether or not you reviewed your business documents at this same time last year, it is important to work with an experienced DuPage business law attorney to review your company’s agreements, financial materials, and legal considerations for 2019.

Reviewing and Amending a Partnership Agreement

If your business is a partnership, the New Year is a good time to review your partnership agreement and to amend it if necessary. If all partners agree to amend the partnership agreement, then an amendment is possible at any time under the Uniform Partnership Act (805 ILCS 206/) in Illinois.

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 Posted on January 14, 2019 in Family Law

When you have made the decision to file for divorce — or you have at least made the decision to speak with an attorney about the possibility of filing for divorce—the next steps can feel daunting. For most residents of DuPage County, the first step is to schedule a consultation with a divorce lawyer. Once you have scheduled an initial consultation, you will likely be wondering what you need to bring with you when you meet with a divorce attorney for the first time. While preparing for a divorce consultation can feel intimidating, you should keep in mind that this consultation is for you so that you can get a sense of the attorney’s role in the process, whether you want to work with this particular divorce lawyer, and what major issues you are likely to face in your divorce.

The family law advocates at Farooqi & Husain Law Office have years of experience assisting members of the Muslim community in DuPage County with divorce. Recognizing the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) will govern your divorce proceedings, the following is a checklist to consider when preparing for your divorce consultation.

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 Posted on December 28, 2018 in Estate Planning

As we approach the New Year, all families in DuPage County should recognize that it is the perfect time to consider estate planning issues or to review your estate planning documents. You may have developed your estate planning documents earlier this year, or you may have drafted estate planning materials years ago without considering updating those materials until now. Since you last considered estate planning more generally or created documents, laws have changed and your own personal circumstances may have changed.

We want to discuss some important estate planning issues that you should consider revisiting for 2019. No matter what changes you need to make, an Oakbrook Terrace estate planning lawyer can assist you.

New Tax Law Implications for Estate Planning

The first major change to the law that could have implications for your estate planning strategy is the new tax law that took effect in 2018. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) raised the federal estate tax exemption. Between 2017 and 2018, the estate and gift tax exemption went up to $5.6 million per person from $5.49 million. As such, starting in 2018, a person can leave up to $5.6 million to family members without it being subject to a federal estate tax. Married couples who jointly leave an inheritance to their heirs can double the amount, meaning that up to $11.2 million can be exempt from federal estate tax. The federal tax exemption does not result in a change to the Illinois exemption, which is $4 million for an individual.

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 Posted on December 17, 2018 in Family Law

Many families in DuPage County may realize that, once the holidays come to an end, more friends and neighbors are filing for divorce. Indeed, divorce is so prevalent after the holiday season in the U.S. that many commentators have begun to refer to the Monday after the holiday season ends as “Divorce Day,” or the Monday after Christmas break when the flood of divorce emails clogs attorney inboxes. To be sure, divorce filings at the start of the New Year jump by nearly one-third. And this is not only the case in the U.S. Divorce lawyers in the U.K. also see a spike in divorce filings at the start of January.

What is leading so many people to divorce after the holidays? In short, divorce may have notable seasonal peaks, and there are a couple of different reasons for these spikes in divorce filings. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Washington noted these salient rises in divorce filings at two times of the year and discussed the reasoning behind these trends.

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 Posted on November 30, 2018 in Spousal Support

As you may know, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)—better known as Trump tax reform—will change the way in which spousal maintenance affects taxes. In short, after the new year, the spouse making alimony payments will have to pay more money in taxes, while the spouse receiving alimony payments will have to pay less in taxes. However, a new Illinois law considers these federal tax law changes and makes it so that the spouse making payments is not as adversely affected as she or he otherwise might have been. We will say more about how spousal maintenance is taxed, and then we will talk about the calculations for spousal maintenance after 2019 when both laws (federal and state) will take effect.

How Spousal Maintenance and Taxation Currently Works

Currently, under Illinois law (750 ILCS 5/504), here is how taxation works when it comes to spousal maintenance: the spouse who makes alimony payments (the payor) can deduct the spousal maintenance payments from his or her income prior to paying taxes, while the spouse who receives alimony payments (the payee) must pay taxes on the spousal maintenance payments in the same way that the spouse would pay taxes on other types of “income.”

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 Posted on November 16, 2018 in Child Custody

As families that have newly gone through a divorce in DuPage County know, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) was amended relatively recently to do away with the terms of “ child custody” and “visitation.” Amendments to the law changed those terms to “parental responsibilities” and “parenting time,” which reflect the human relationships that exist between parents and their kids and the differences in family structures.

With those changes to the law, Illinois legislators recognized the need for flexibility in allocating important decision-making tasks about a child’s upbringing, as well as flexibility in terms of regular parenting time or spending time with the child and providing caretaking functions. Currently, the IMDMA says the court can take into account a number of different factors in allocating parental responsibilities, which include parenting time.

However, a proposed bill aims to change the presumptions about parenting time in the state. If House Bill 4113 were to pass, courts would have to begin from the presumption that equal parenting time is the best option for all families. We will say more about the potential effects of this bill and what it could mean for different families in DuPage County.

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 Posted on October 31, 2018 in Business Law

Common judicial processes in the U.S., and in DuPage County, in particular, can be problematic for many members of the Muslim community. The American court system functions in a manner that privileges individual rights over collective responsibilities and communities, which can be alienating to Muslims in general and particularly so for members of the Muslim community who are immigrants and are accustomed to different legal, social, cultural, and religious practices. Relying on Muslim arbitration can be one way to handle business disputes and other legal conflicts involving a member of the Muslim community without treading on certain norms that are important to that party.

To learn more about Muslim arbitration, first we want to say more about arbitration generally. Then we will provide you with some background information about Muslim arbitration in the United States.

What Is Arbitration and Why Is It Beneficial?

Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). It is a process that is non-judicial and private through which disputing parties agree that one or several individuals can make a decision about the dispute after receiving evidence and hearing arguments.

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 Posted on October 15, 2018 in Business Law

Resolving legal conflicts in business and other areas can be complicated and frustrating for anyone, but the prospect of conflict resolution can feel even more daunting — and potentially biased — for members of the Muslim community. Common legal practices in the West rely on rules and individual responsibility, and as such, lawsuits are routine and necessary. Such practices can corrupt the ethical assumptions and religious or sociocultural practices of persons who do not ascribe to Western norms. All of this is to say that conflict resolution, particularly involving members of the Muslim community, can be complicated in relation to the U.S. judicial system.

Lawyers who regularly work with members of the Muslim community are trained to think outside of the box and to come up with unique solutions to legal and business disputes that arise between and among community members. There are multiple methods of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and other non-judicial options, for resolving conflicts.

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 Posted on September 30, 2018 in Business Law

Business disputes arise in many different contexts, from disputes with suppliers or employees to disputes among co-owners of the business. Given that corporate law as it is practiced in the U.S. tends to be very Western and individualistic in its approach, it can be difficult for members of the Muslim community to integrate their own cultural and religious practices into the existing corporate law structures. For example, the practice of taking a business dispute to court can come into conflict with a Muslim business owner’s religious and cultural practices for resolving disputes.

When Western jurisprudence seems to diverge from the principles of Islamic law or Islamic cultural practices more generally when determining the outcome of a business dispute, the parties may consider turning to mediation. A form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), mediation allows parties to a dispute to play an important role in the outcome of the situation all while being flexible with regard to the practices and styles of the mediation space.

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