Child Custody (Parenting Time) FAQ

Despite how the media may portray divorce and child custody, most divorcing couples come to a parenting plan for what was formerly called custody (allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time) that is in the best interests of the children.  Despite the 2016 change in the terminology of … [Read more...] about Practice Area – Child Custody

Commencing January 1, 2016, Illinois law no longer refers to the term "child custody."  Nor is  "visitation" a term that divorce lawyers in Illinois should be using.  Clearly with the 2016 changes to Illinois law the goal is to avoid battles even of which parent will be the named as the primary … [Read more...] about Custody of Children: Allocation of Parental Responsibilities

"Parents do not visit their children."  And starting January 1, 2016, this is the law in Illinois. Since January 1, 2016, Illinois divorce law eliminated the term visitation throughout.  "Visitation" is now a concept that only applies to grandparents and third parties -- not to the parents in … [Read more...] about Child Visitation – Parenting Time

In 2016, Illinois law regarding restricting parenting time significantly changed.  Historically, the focus was merely on whether there was serious endangerment and then restrictions usually were defined as prohibiting overnight visitation or requiring visitation to be supervised.  This changes … [Read more...] about Restricting Parenting Time (Visitation) and Parental Responsibilities

Illinois law calls moving out of the state with minor children (or a significant distance within the state) "relocation."  The law regarding relocation changed dramatically on January 1, 2016. When the child's primary residence is in a collar county (defined as Cook County, DuPage County, Kane … [Read more...] about Relocation – Moving the Children’s Primary Residence