In The News
Read news and media mentions with the Sterling team.Firm Announcements & Media Coverage
Sterling Lawyers, LLC is a trusted family law firm serving communities throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. Our team is regularly featured in media coverage and industry publications for our client-centered approach and knowledge of divorce, child custody, and family law matters. We want to highlight our firm's news, media appearances, community involvement, and press releases that demonstrate our ongoing commitment to supporting families during life's most challenging transitions.
Documents Needed For Divorce
If you are going to represent yourself in your divorce these are the documents you will need to complete. You will need to file a summons, a petition, a confidential petition addendum. If minor children are involved, the court will want you to file a child support application.
Best Interest Of The Child
Every part of the court decision must be made to best promote or preserve the best interest of the child. The court wants stability for kids. “No roller coasters,” says Attorney Kinsler.
How to Prove You Are a Fit Parent in Court
When a party's ability to parent is questioned, the Wisconsin Court will look to ensure that the children's safety is maintained. Issues that the court views as problematic include substance abuse, mental health issues, and neglect.
Leadership, Success and Core Values
Hear from the leaders at Sterling Lawyers on what makes a great leader, what success looks like for the firm, and what are the values that we embrace at the firm. A team that works together is the cornerstone of everything we do at Sterling. To accomplish this we must all strive toward the same goals and have the same values.
Benefits of Creativity and Art
In addition to stress relief and promoting problem solving there are many benefits to creativity. We talk with Teresa Spenser, the owner of Soul Fire art studio, and tour the shop in Delafield, WI. She shares with us her joy watching adults and children exercise their own creativity.
Meet Attorney Erin Boyd
Attorney Erin Boyd of Sterling Lawyers is hard working and truly cares about helping her clients. It’s not just the legal issues that we have to focus on. It’s also about helping clients get through the process and see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Is Wisconsin Considered a Pro Mother State?
Is Wisconsin considered a “mother state” when making decisions regarding custody and placement? Wisconsin courts are explicitly forbidden in using gender to make custody and placement decisions. The courts look at what is in the best interest of the child.
Strong Families Build A Strong Society
We believe that the cornerstone of a strong community is a healthy and strong family structure. This is why at Sterling Lawyers we produce stories that help promote strong belief systems, good communication, and healthy relationships. Learn more about what we stand for and why we believe as we do.
How is Alimony Awarded In Wisconsin?
In Wisconsin Alimony or Spousal Maintenance is not guaranteed. The courts have “broad discretion.” Learn from Attorney Austin Miller of Sterling Lawyers what factors the court considers and why it’s important that your attorney knows how the court or judges in your county look at alimony.
Importance of Servant Leadership in Family Law
Servant Leadership in family law can lead to attorneys and support staff being better positioned and motivated to serve the needs of their clients. In this article and video, Anthony Karls, president of Sterling Lawyers describes how the concepts of “Truth and Love” create our version of servant leadership and why it is important that we influence people to become servant leaders. Without servant leadership, we don’t become a client-centered law firm.
Does 50/50 Custody Pay Child Support?
In Wisconsin, child support is determined by placement and not custody. Child support is calculated from the amount of overnights a parent has with their children. Attorney Austin Miller of Sterling Lawyers explains how people often confuse custody and placement and why the better place to start when calculating child support is to first determine placement.
Meet Attorney Ellen Rhodeman
Attorney Ellen Rhodeman of Sterling Lawyers believes it is important for a family law attorney to be mild mannered, level headed, and calm. She believes that just as stress is infectious, so is being calm and it is important that she brings this emotional balance to the emotional charged lives of her clients as they navigate divorce. She wants to help her clients get through this transition, not just legally, but emotionally, as well.
Finding Positive Parenting Solutions
What are Positive Parenting Solutions? Parenting Place’s Triple P Program is an evidenced based trauma informed program that focuses on developing Positive Parenting Solutions. There are different programs structured for the specific needs of the parents and the children.
Life During Quarantine As We Experienced It
We all have been going through this coronavirus Safer At Home lockdown together. In this fun video, Anthony Karls gets on Zoom and chats with some of our attorneys and staff to learn how they have been surviving the quarantine while working from home and staying safe.
How to Plan for Retirement & Divorce
The highest rate of divorce is when people are 45 years old or more. With that in mind, it is important to know where someone stand's financially as they get closer into retirement years.
How to Budget After Divorce
More often than not, the standard of living of both spouses drops in the first few years after divorce. This is because the now two separated people are not on the same income and pool of assets that they had been with during the marriage.
How Does Life Insurance Impact Divorce?
Insurance is an important piece of finance as it safeguards your family from the unforeseeable. After a divorce, it's important to take a look at your options as the family dynamic has changed and new options may be available to you.
IEP Meetings and Guardian Ad Litem
A lot of situations that involve a guardian ad litem would be where parents are having problems helping their kids with discipline at school or behavior at school, or falling behind academically. The parents might get frustrated because they don’t know what to expect from the school or what to do with their child.
Achieving Goals With the Help of a Coach
Life is full of surprises and it can be challenging after dealing with a hurtle like divorce, but there are professionals who will help guide people to achieve their goals in a timely manner.
Complexities of House Appraisals During Divorce
No one enjoys the thought of splitting their assets during a divorce, but it's an important step to equally distributing the things two people have jointly owned.
Handling the Emotional Turmoil of Divorce
Handling the Emotional Turmoil of Divorce Latrice Knighton is an award-winning divorce attorney, life coach, and speaker. She solves problems using her experience and legal knowledge to offer practical advice.While going through divorce it may seem like you're going...
The Changing Practice of Home Appraisal
The process of diving property and debt during/after the divorce is called property division. When it comes to homes, whether you want your house to appraise above or below the fair market rate depends on you wanting to keep it or be bought out.
Maintaining Communication During Divorce
Children may make the idea of “no contact” a little tricky after your divorce. If you have kids, it's important to put your differences aside for the betterment of the child's life.
Do I Have to Pay Alimony if My Ex is Living With Someone?
Many factors affect alimony. A spouse does not have to marry someone legally in order to be eligible for change in spousal support. Two people can be in a de-facto married relationship where they are not married and they act as a married couple by living together and paying everyday bills, etc.
The Power of Validating Others
We all seek validation and likely have a basic understanding of the benefit of validating others. However, this simple skill is often the hardest interpersonal skill to understand and master.
The Stages of Financial Independence
We recently sat down with George Schmidley of Affiliated Financial Advisors for this video about getting started towards financial independence and followed up with questions where we ask him about the stages of financial independence and if this were a goal or a process.
Meet CSS MGR Kelley Shaw
Client Solutions Team manager Kelley Shaw has been with Sterling Lawyers since 2015. “Every interaction with every client and every potential client, is an opportunity for us to build relationships across our community,” Kelley says, in this interview.
The Benefits of Day Camps for Kids
Anthony Karls, the host of Flourishing Families, sits down with Pat Quin of Cedar Springs Outdoor Adventure Day Camp and the conversation quickly turns to the benefits of a child attending day camp. They discuss how day camps provide the child an opportunity to develop the foundations of their character.
What are the Benefits of Parenting Coaching?
It may not be the easiest thing to acknowledge the need for outside help, but when you do everyone will have the opportunity to benefit for parent coaching.
How Earning Capacity is Imputed will Affect your Divorce Settlement
If you lose your job or are looking to go back into the workforce while going through a divorce, your earning capacity will be evaluated and imputed based on what is learned about your earning potential. This could affect your divorce settlement.