Saw this new bill introduced in Springfield:

Orders of protectionPublic Act 95-234 (Fritchey, D-Chicago; Haine, D-Alton) authorizes a judge to include protecting animals as part of an order of protection. Effective Jan. 1, 2008.

I admit I'm sort of anti-pet personally, but isn't this taking things a bit too far?

Here's a map of gay marriage across the U.S.

Saw a lot of stories this week regarding the denial of U.S. passport due to child support arrearages. Here are the State Dept. regulations. Nothing new I just think with the tightening up on travel even between Mexico and Canada it's becoming a larger problem for child support deadbeats.

Here's a post about a 14-year-old who couldn't get into a suburban Chicago high school while living with her grandmother. Legally, why in the world didn't the grandmother become the girl's short-term guardian? It's simple and you can do it without court intervention.

The state legislature had talked about extending these to 360 days from the current 60 days...not sure if that happened or not.

Here's a link to a story about a custody stand-off in McHenry County. Take a read...seemingly the issue was basically about a non-custodial father wanting more visitation.

The dispute apparently revolved around Gitchel (father) wanting further visitation with his daughter, police said.

What to do in this situation? Well, if you're the non-custodial parent I'd recommend having a certified copy of the court's visitation order with you at your pick-up time. Calling the police is an option because visitation abuse IS a criminal violation...however it should be a last resort. Probably a first step to avoid this type of blow-up would be to have visitation pick-up/drop-off at a neutral location which could be the police station.

Interesting recent case holding:

Crank v. Crank, No. 3-06-0907. Section 505(g-5) of Income Withholding for Support Act does not limit the amount that can be withheld from obligor's wages, for payment of support and maintenance arrearage after emancipation of children to the amount that had been withheld for current support before emancipation. Pursuant to federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, incorporated in Illinois Income Withholding for Support Act, maximum withholding for support and maintenance is 50% of obligor's wages if he or she has a dependent spouse or child, and 60% of ogligor's wages if not. Therefore, $300 per week (50% of wages) order, on arrearage exceeding $200,000, is neither illegal nor improper.

**Rememer, there is a maximum limit to how much child support a person can pay based on a percentage of income...don't overpay!!

A couple of informative new postings over at the Illinois Legal Advocate. There's one on developing a visitation plan and another on advising domestic violence victims.