Attorney Cory Easton
At the office of Cory Easton, P.C. - he handles Divorce and related family cases in many parts of Illinois including St. Clair, Perry, Monroe, Randolph, Washington, Madison and Clinton Counties.
Mr. Easton's main areas of practice are Drug Defense, DUI and Family Law in Belleville Illinois. He received a bachelor's degree in Accounting in 1992. He received his Law Degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law in 1996. He prosecuted cases for a short period of time while in Law School under a Supreme Court Rule 711 License, then began his career as a Trial Lawyer at the Public Defender's Office in St. Clair County, Illinois. After handling numerous high profile First Degree Murder cases and jury trials, he entered into Private Practice in 1999, establishing Cory Easton, P.C. (Professional Corporation). Cory has been a Divorce and Criminal Trial Lawyer since entering the Practice of Law. He is also the attorney for O'Fallon Township in St. Clair County Illinois.
Attorney Cory Easton is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, St. Clair County Bar Association and the East St. Louis Bar Association. He is also a member of the Illinois Capital Litigation Bar, which includes only a handful of Lawyers in the Down State Illinois area. He has represented numerous defendants that have faced the ultimate penalty -- Death. He is also among a select few attorneys in the United States that have freed an innocent man that the State was seeking to kill.
Mr. Easton, in addition to high profile cases, handles all types of Traffic, Drug and DUI related cases. A large portion of Mr. Easton's criminal practice is DUI and felony cases. He has handled hundreds of DUI's in Belleville and will fight to keep your license. He has a team of experts that are willing to review and investigate your case, whether it is a felony or misdemeanor.
Divorce Lawyer Belleville | St. Clair County Family Attorney Cory Easton P.C.
If you haven't been separated for 2 years and don't agree on the divorce, one spouse can seek a divorce based on these grounds:
- Impotence of the other spouse
- Bigamy at the time of the marriage, adultery or desertion
- Your spouse has tried to kill you by poisoning or other malicious means
- Extreme and repeated mental or physical cruelty
- Felony or infamous crime conviction
- Infection of the spouse with a sexually transmitted disease
- Excessive use of addictive drugs for two or more years
Note that grounds such as adultery do not matter in determining property or custody issues.
A divorce case starts when a spouse files a "Petition for Dissolution of Marriage" or "Praecipe for Summons" with the Circuit Court. The other spouse is then served with the paperwork and has time to respond. If the spouses agree on key issues, such as property division and child custody and support issues, the divorce can be finalized without a trial. If you can't agree, the court schedules a hearing on the issues.
Once the divorce complaint is filed, either spouse can ask for temporary assistance from the court in the form of temporary custody and child support orders, and orders to determine who pays community debts on a temporary basis.
A simplified divorce process may be an option for you.
Dividing the Property
In Illinois, assets and debts acquired during your marriage - called "marital property" - will be divided "in just proportions" when you divorce.
But not all property is considered "marital property." "Non-marital property" includes assets you had before marriage, or income from non-marital property.
Taking the Next Step
If you are considering legal assistance in regards to your marriage and family situation you might want some answers before taking the next step. Attorney Cory Easton specializes in issues pertaining to dissolution of marriages whether through annulment, legal separation, or divorce. He also specializes in other issues involving marriage and family such as adoptions and wills while practicing as family law practitioners. Regardless of your reasons in seeking legal assistance, retaining a divorce lawyer like Mr. Easton is a wise choice to make in dealing with your marital and family situation in Belleville Illinois.
Depending on the circumstances of your marital situation, a divorce lawyer is qualified to offer legal assistance that will make going through the divorce process less stressful. Retaining a Belleville divorce lawyer like Mr. Easton for the purpose of dissolving your marriage will give you the assurance that your legal rights will be protected. With his counsel, you will avoid a lot of unnecessary headaches in making rash decisions on your own, especially when there are a lot of issues that need to be settled.
A Legal Support System
Having a divorce lawyer represent you is also a good support system in dealing with the stress of going through a difficult time. Attorney Easton will be able to handle any child custody issues, settlement of child support/alimony, division of assets, and pre-nuptial agreements involved in an Illinois Divorce hearing.
In some situations where both parties mutually agree to dissolve their marriage, the couple can retain a divorce lawyer together for legal assistance. However, in the majority of cases where the divorce is contentious, usually only one of the parties will consult a divorce lawyer to file for divorce. In this case, your divorce lawyer will have to draw up the petition for divorce as requested by the person seeking the dissolution of the marriage. This person will sign the petition which is then served to the other party. Most of the time, when the divorce is contentious your divorce lawyer will be able to represent you in court.
What exactly is a divorce?
Essentially, it's a process to end the marriage, which could be the result of a variety of circumstances. The spouse who files first is considered the petitioner, while the other is the respondent. Divorces result in legal separation.
Is a divorce settled in court?
It's estimated that up to 90 percent of divorces are settled outside of court. This would involve both parties coming to a mutual agreement on how to divide the property, custody of children and assets in mediation with their respective lawyer.
What about alimony?
Alimony, which is also known as maintenance; is awarded based on the standard of living the couple lived by throughout the marriage. A determining factor to award alimony for any period of time is whether or not the spouse can reasonably live within his or her needs with the income they earn and whether or not the spouse who is paying the alimony has the means of doing so. Men can be rewarded alimony, too. Keep in mind, however, that if you are divorced and receiving alimony and you should remarry, you will no longer be eligible for alimony.