FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY PROVIDING DEDICATED REPRESENTATION
Choosing a family law attorney should not be taken lightly. A lot is at stake in these proceedings, and the outcome will impact you and your children for years.
As you weigh your options, remember that the attorney you choose must have the experience, commitment and skill to help you successfully navigate even the most challenging family law issues. At Anna K Law, in Northbrook, I take a consultative approach with each client, identifying the right course of action to help you reach your goals.
Customized Solutions To Accommodate Your Needs
I understand the stress and anxiety you suffer when troublesome family law issues arise. You need the support of a knowledgeable adviser, a trusted advocate. I do not try to apply a one-size-fits-all solution. I will work with you to gain a complete understanding of your concerns and recommend a solution built around the special circumstances of your case.
I provide high-quality legal services in all areas of family law, including:
- Divorce and separation
- High net worth divorce
- Legal separation
- Annulments
- Child support, parenting responsibility and decision making
- Visitation and placement
- Maintenance and spousal support
- Collaborative process and mediation services
- Property division, including business and pension evaluation
- Grandparents' rights
- Parenting responsibility and decision-making and support modification
- Parenting responsibility and decision-making and support enforcement
- Parental kidnapping, including Hague Convention issues
- Paternity
- Appellate representation
- Premarital, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
- Post-decree family law modifications
Benefit From More Than 14 Years' Legal Experience
Contact my office today to discuss your family law questions. I offer a free 30-minute consultation. You can reach me by phone at 847-715-9328 or via email to schedule an appointment.
The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation. I invite you to contact me and welcome your calls, letters and electronic mail. Contacting me does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not send any confidential information to me until an attorney-client relationship has been established.
Deciding to Divorce
The decision to divorce is not ever an easy one, and even having the initial thoughts and opening your mind to the possibility can be terrifying. It’s important to have a network of support during this time. You will need trusted confidants, both personally and professionally, to help you make the decision about what’s best for you and your family.
In this decision-making process, we encourage you to explore all your options thoroughly and take your time to make all considerations appropriate for your situation. This decision needs to be made by you, and we believe no one, especially an attorney, should be pushing you unduly to decide.
Choosing a Lawyer
Once you choose to pursue divorce, selecting an attorney who matches your needs and values is the next biggest decision. Your attorney should be offering you details about all your options in this process, and making recommendations that reflect your values.
It’s important to remember that you may be working with your attorney for some time, so do your research and find the right fit for you. It is worth it.
Ultimately this entire process requires patience, and that patience will pay off when you can take a difficult situation and make it easier because you have the right team in place to support you.
Here at Anna K Law, we are a small but mighty firm who takes the care you need to know that your individual needs are met. Although our preference is to follow the more equitable forms of divorce like mediation and collaborative divorce process, our lead attorney, Anna, has years of litigative expertise if/when the need arises.
Understanding your Options
Depending on your specific circumstances, your options for divorce may be more straightforward, or more complicated. When we understand the assets involved, and whether or not there are children to take into consideration, we can determine the different options for your divorce proceedings.
Our firm values making sure you understand all your options about how your divorce may proceed, and helping you to find calm in the storm of a major life-change.
Setting the Intended Course
Once you understand all your options, (i.e. collaborative divorce, mediation, settlement, trial/litigation, and your assets in question) it’s important to decide your intended course of action with your representation. Next, your attorney will communicate this information with any other parties involved so the divorce can proceed.
Collaborative Divorce
This increasingly popular approach encourages couples to work through their disputes together with the support of professionals trained in mediation and collaborative process and make decisions which are tailored to their family and their particular circumstances. This “kinder, gentler” approach to divorce offers great flexibility and confidentiality to the divorcing couple. In many cases the process begins with a spouse retaining a collaboratively trained attorney to represent him or her in the collaborative process.
A collaborative divorce is driven by the goals and concerns of the divorcing couple rather than merely by the requirements of the Illinois statutes or scheduled court dates. Moreover, since the divorcing couple arrives at their settlement agreements during a series of meetings, not in a courtroom, they have the flexibility and the support of the collaborative team to confidentially undertake the effort of dissolving the marriage, and structuring the best possible settlement for their family. In most collaborative divorce process cases, only once everything is agreed upon and settlement documents have been signed, is the final divorce decree entered in a court of law. This approach gives a family incredible privacy, greater control over the possible outcome and expense of the divorce, and an opportunity to craft a future that is based on their particular goals and needs, rather than a cookie- cutter approach.
Mediation
Mediated divorces are unique in that a trained mediator guides the decision-making and communication between the spouses. Generally attorneys are not present during the mediation sessions, although there is an exception to every rule.
Since the mediator is a neutral professional hired to help the couple arrive at an agreement, the mediator cannot prepare the legal settlement agreement which will be entered in court to finalize the divorce. Therefore, it is common to see at least one spouse represented by an attorney. It is important to note that divorcing spouses have conflicting interests, and when only one attorney is involved in the case, he or she represents one spouse, and the other spouse represents him or herself. Of course, ideally each spouse will be represented by, or at least consult with, an independent attorney.
Settlement and/or Trial Litigation
Settlement is one of the ways to finalize your divorce. This means that both sides come to an agreement about how assets are to be divided, and if children are involved, how to divide the time they spend with each spouse. If both sides cannot come to an agreement in order to settle, the process will move into litigation and a court will decide the details.
Litigation can be a lengthy process, expensive, and even more traumatizing for all parties involved, including children, who may be asked to speak with the Court in order to make final decisions. Here at Anna K Law, we believe that litigation is the last option, reserved only for extreme cases where it really is necessary. We work with our clients to avoid litigation whenever possible. And more than anything we work to find the best possible approach to divorce for each of our clients.
