CHRISTOPHER T. MARX
PRINCIPAL ATTORNEY
ABOUT ME
Christopher T. Marx is a distinguished member of the Illinois trial bar, with a seven year track record of proven success, while focused exclusively on the practice of family and matrimonial law. Chris is passionate about identifying, and defending, his clients' best interests from every conceivable angle. He is a tireless advocate for men, women, and children navigating the treacherous roads of Illinois family courtrooms.
After earning his B.A. from the prestigious liberal arts College Hobart & William Smith, Chris moved to Chicago where he earned his J.D. from the DePaul University College of Law and served as President of the DePaul Center for Law & Science. It was during this time that Chris realized his calling in the field -- first serving an internship under respected Chicago family law Judge Nancy J. Katz, then clerking for world renown matrimonial law attorney Marshall J.Auerbach (better known as the "Dean of Illinois Matrimonial Law Attorneys") while he was a student.
Chris has been licensed to practice in the State of Illinois since 2006. He is a member of both the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association. While dedicating his legal career the practice of family law, he has earned a reputation as a tenacious litigator and negotiator. Chris possesses extensive experience and has a successful track record against other top Chicago divorce attorneys in cases across Cook, Lake, and DuPage counties -- earning significant victories in highly contested custody matters, and cases involving complex financial matters with high net worth estates.
Christopher T. Marx
CONTACT
Please call to schedule a free consultation regarding your divorce, custody, support, or other family law issue. For any general inquiries, please fill in the following contact form:
Trust is the most crucial ingredient of any attorney-client relationship. Once that trust is fractured, it becomes nearly impossible for even the best lawyer to effectively represent their client. In a contested family law case, trust is rarely lost based on any blatant misdeed, or overt act, on the part of the attorney. The most frequent culprit is a break down in communication… the client no long feels like their attorney understands their goals, the litigation and negotiating strategies no longer makes sense, or in the worse of circumstances, the client is being ignored and feels left out of their case altogether.
Successful client’s are always strong advocates for their own case, and that mentality must extend to the relationship with their counsel. If your case has reached a point where you are questioning the direction your lawyer is headed in, or if you are still the priority that you once were when you first signed the retainer agreement, do not hesitate to contact another attorney and seek a second opinion on your case. Provide them the facts, the strategy and you understand it, and describe any specific problems with communication. And should you reach the conclusion that fresh blood is needed in your case, act quickly to get your case moving back in the right direction.
Dedicated Family & Divorce Law Attorney
MARX LAW LLC
PRACTICE
AREAS
Contested divorce
Uncontested divorce
Paternity
Custody and visitation
Child support
Maintenance (alimony)
Payment of college expenses
Identifying, tracing, and preserving non-marital assets
Protecting professional practices and family businesses
Locating, valuing, and dividing assets of the marital estate
Relocating with children outside the state of Illinois
Payment and allocation of attorney fees
Enforcing final judgments, agreements, and Court Orders
Seeking, or defending against, Orders of Protection
Appeals of final judgments
Two of the most common questions in any client's mind are, "How long will my divorce take?" and "How much will my divorce cost?"
Four primary factors determine the length of any family law case. Namely, the skill of the family law attorneys involved in the case, animosity of the parties, complexity of the issues, and the Judge's docket schedule.
Nothing can shorten the length of a family law case more than having the time and attention of a top divorce attorney. The best family law attorneys know how to keep cases moving through the court system, deploy aggressive deadlines in their negotiating strategy, and can defeat any tricks and delay tactics from the other side. Avoid attorneys who do not practice family law exclusively -- and run from any attorney who appears overworked, unresponsive, or who fails to communicate with you effectively regarding your case. Do not be afraid to change family law attorneys while your case is ongoing, if you sense that a relationship which started strong is now beginning to sour. At the first sign of doubt, seek our another highly respected divorce attorney to offer a second opinion on your case. It may turn out they are a better fit, or at the very least, can help arm you effective questions to raise during the next call or meeting with your current attorney, to help assure that you are on the same page. Just as retaining a family law attorney who charges a higher hourly rate can often save money in the long run, by completing your contested divorce quickly, not waiting too long to change attorneys once that route becomes clear will help save you time and money in crossing the finish line.
Further, it is easy to understand how the acrimony of the parties and complexity of their issues will affect how long the divorce will last. The more bitterness between them, the harder it will be to reach a settlement. Similarly, complex marital estates, or highly specific custody needs, will always take due time to sort through, even where the parties are both reasonable and suitabley motivated to reach an agreement.
One of the biggest wild card factors affecting the length of your divorce will take by the Judge's schedule. At the start of any new family law matter, your case will be randomly assigned to a specific court docket. Divorce court's are notoriously overcrowded, and nowhere more so than in Cook County. But regardless of which courtroom you are assigned to, and in which part of the State, parties are at the mercy of the Court's schedule. Judges are often forced to work on a triage system, sometimes having no choice but to hear serious matters involving the safety of a party or child out-of-turn, which can leave your case bumped to the back of the line and forced to reschedule. And while Judges will always plan around things such as vacations, like all of us, they have personal emergencies, sick days, etc. that arise without warning. If a Judge is absent on the day your case is schedule to be before the Court, the result is nearly always that the case will have to be heard another day. Unfortunately, he more important and more complex an issue that the Judge is being called on to decide, the more time in their schedule must be blocked out to hear arguments and render decisions. When one of these important dates is missed, for whatever reason, the longer it will take to find the time necessary to reschedule on a Judge's calendar. It does not take many delays of this nature to severely impact how long it will take to complete divorce, or other family law matter.
Pre-nuptial agreements
Post-nuptial agreements
Every case is different, and making a prediction of the final costs in any contested case far from an exact science.
That said, while some people pay as little as $50.00 per hour, and others as much as $500.00 or more, the majority of clients pay between $150.00 and $350.00 per hour, with $250.00 per hour being the most commonly reported rate.
Further, the typical average end-to-end cost for an average divorce is reported to be $15,500.00, of which $12,800.00 represented the costs of attorney fees, with the remainder going to expenses such as court costs, expert fees, court reporters, process servers, and the like.
As examined in "How long will my divorce take?", the four primary factors affecting length of a contested family law matter (skill of the attorneys, animosity of the parties, number and complexity of the issues, the Court's schedule) are variables that will have the greatest impact on your final bill. A fifth variable here is the cost of attorneys, experts, or any other necessary professionals. Your attorney's hourly rate, the rates of any Court appointed attorneys or experts to represent the interests of the children, and the necessity of hiring any outside professionals such as private investigators, or forensic accountants, etc., will all factor heavily in determining the final costs.