A judgment closes a case, but it rarely closes the story. Incomes change, children grow, people move, and an order that fit a family a few years ago can stop fitting the lives it governs. When that happens — or when the other side simply refuses to do what a court told them to — we go back to court to set it right: to modify what should change, to enforce what is being ignored, and to revisit a result that deserves another look.
Illinois allows many orders to be revisited when there has been a substantial change in circumstances — a job loss or a new job, a relocation, a change in a child’s needs or in a parent’s availability. We bring the petition to modify support or the parenting schedule, gather the financial and factual proof that supports it, and make the case that the order should now reflect life as it actually is rather than as it was. And when the change runs the other way, we defend clients against modifications that are not justified.
An order is only worth as much as its enforcement. When a former spouse stops paying support, withholds parenting time, or refuses to turn over property the judgment awarded, we pursue contempt and rule-to-show-cause proceedings to compel compliance — and to recover the arrearages, fees, and make-up time our clients are owed. Courts have real tools to enforce their orders, and we use them.
Some results need to be reopened, not just adjusted. In family matters we handle post-decree relief — petitions to modify, to enforce, and in the right case to vacate a judgment obtained by fraud or mistake. In criminal matters we pursue post-judgment and post-conviction relief, including motions to reconsider a sentence, to withdraw a plea, and to vacate a conviction where the law and the record allow — relief that can be especially urgent when an old conviction is now driving an immigration consequence.
Post-judgment litigation cuts both ways, and sometimes the motion lands on your side of the table. If a former spouse is trying to cut your parenting time, raise your obligations without cause, or drag you back into court on a baseless contempt claim, we defend the judgment you already earned and hold the other side to what the order actually says.