Divorce Attorneys Who Look At Every Angle
One of the many things that distinguish Katz & Stefani from our competitors is our ability to listen to our clients, determine their specific needs and goals, analyze the facts and law of the case, and craft a resolution that meets the client’s specific needs and goals.
Our ability to “look at every angle” of a case has enabled us to achieve results that work for clients. Each client brings a unique set of circumstances that require this approach to achieve a positive outcome. We represent individuals at all stages of life and marriage, which include individuals with relatively short-term marriages; individuals with young children; individuals with children in college (empty nesters) and a growing number of “gray divorces”.
One example of our methodology is highlighted by a case in which I represented a 52-year-old female who had not been in the work force in over 20 years. It was not realistic to expect that she could enter the work force at any position except at a low income and she did not have the ability to establish and/or accumulate funds for retirement. Her spouse had a high paying, secure position with a large company and the marital estate was substantial. Clearly she was entitled to maintenance and at least 50% of the marital estate, but, even with these allocations, her long-term financial security could have been in jeopardy without a substantial retirement fund. Protocol would have been to simply split the retirement accounts, but this would not have been adequate to protect our client. In order to address this concern we successfully advocated for the allocation of 100% of the marital retirement funds to our client. Her spouse accepted our analysis that she would not be able to accumulate additional retirement funds and that he had the ability to rebuild his retirement fund. By “looking at every angle”, we achieved an outcome that protected our client and insured her financial security.
In another case, I represented a male with a high income. He agreed to paying child support, but guideline support on his entire income as required by statute would have created a payment that was twice as high as the historic expenses of the children. His concern was two-fold: first, if he paid the full amount in child support it would be a “windfall” to his spouse, and secondly, the payment would leave him without adequate cash flow to fund the childrens’ education accounts. I knew that his spouse really wanted to fund college but she did not have the discipline to do it. By “looking at every angle” and understanding the goals of both parties, we were able to get an agreement to pay “guideline” support in two separate payments: one to her equal to the expenses of the children and the rest to a college fund controlled by my client. We felt this was a perfect outcome for our client.
In closing, all attorneys are required to take continuing legal education and keep current on the law, but it takes more than just knowledge of the law. Not only do the divorce attorneys in Chicago at Katz & Stefani, LLC have knowledge of the law, but one of our co-Founders, Andre Katz helped write the law. In addition, we have years of experience, and we continually educate ourselves on many other areas. This is evident by the recent blogs written by David Ainley which discuss issues related to psychologic damage caused by parent alienation and tax and settlement implications of large losses. They both cited other sources besides legal education in their articles. We are always “looking at every angle.” This practice empowers us to better represent our clients and ensure positive outcomes and experiences for each of them.
By Katz & Stefani.