Brian J. Gilbert - Chicago, IL

Brian J. Gilbert brings to the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving, Ltd. over a decade of experience litigating family law cases in Cook County and surrounding counties. He is dedicated to helping fathers protect their rights in parentage, divorce, parenting time, child support, and order of protection matters.

Initially trained in real estate and housing law, Brian also has extensive experience negotiating property partitions and buyouts for his clients in complex family disputes. He has litigated multiple cases before the Cook County Chancery Division to partition shared properties and to remove title and equity rights from non-contributing family members and co-owners.

Prior to joining the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving, Brian was an Attorney and Financial Director at Chicago Advocate Legal, NFP, a non-profit law firm that he co-founded after participating in the Chicago Bar Foundation’s Justice Entrepreneurs Project. At Chicago Advocate Legal, NFP, he helped form the Empowering Fathers Program, a grant-funded program that provides legal representation to fathers at risk of incarceration due to unpaid child support. Brian was also previously the Pro Bono Coordinator at Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services.

Victories

Brian has a proven track record in Illinois family law courts. His case victories include,

• A highly contested relocation matter that granted his client the right to move to Germany with the minor child, along with sole decision-making rights and majority parenting time.
• Successfully obtaining emergency relief on behalf of a father who had been placed on supervised parenting time, after which his client was granted majority parenting time and sole decision-making rights.
• For another father, prevailed on an emergency motion for the immediate turnover and exclusive parenting time of his child from the child’s maternal grandmother.
• Restored a father’s equal parenting time schedule after his parenting time was suspended following a mental health episode.
• Helped a father overcome a criminal charge and 5 years of frivolous allegations, psychological evaluations, and guardian ad litem investigations, to obtain joint decision-making rights and liberal parenting time with his two children.
• Successfully defended a long-time CTA worker against his ex-wife’s relentless pursuit of permanent maintenance following a lengthy marriage, allowing the client to retire at the time and manner that he wished.
• Resolved a multi-year contempt proceeding against a father who fell tens of thousands of dollars behind on his disabled adult’s support. Despite an aggressive opposing counsel continuously seeking sanctions and jail time, the client was provided with the time to reduce his entire support balance, without the threat of incarceration constantly being held over his head.
• Secured 75% of the equity for a client who maintained a valuable Lincoln Park 3-flat with little contribution from the other party.