Best Child Custody Lawyer Near Me

Best Child Custody Lawyer Near Me

Because child custody affects your parental rights, child custody issues are far too important to take a wait-and-see approach. If you are facing a child custody concern, you naturally want and need the best child custody lawyer near me.

Parental Responsibility

Parental responsibility is what the State of Illinois now calls legal custody, and it relates to two components – parenting time and who will be making those primary parenting decisions about the following important matters

• Your children’s schooling
• Your children’s health care
• Your children’s extracurricular activities
• Your children’s religious upbringing

Both of you can share this responsibility, or you both could decide that one of you will handle it or share it. 

Parenting Time

Parenting time is the second component to parental responsibilities and it is what the State of Illinois used to call physical custody and visitation. It is very rare for a parent to be completely cut out of all parenting time (barring a very serious reason for making this extreme decision). Courts base this decision on the prevailing wisdom that parents better serve children’s best interests when they have the opportunity to spend ample time with both parents. There are numerous parenting time scheduling options that you can contemplate with an experienced Chicago divorce attorney.

The Court’s Position on Child Custody

Whenever the court addresses a matter that involves children, such as child custody arrangements (which is now known as parental responsibilities), it always bases its decisions on the best interests of the children involved. If you and your soon-to-be-ex are unable to hammer out parental responsibilities including both decision-making and parenting time arrangements between yourselves, the court will do so on your behalf. While the judge handling your case will base his or her decisions on your children’s best interests, the judge obviously doesn’t have the same nuanced understanding of what this actually means for your children (the way you do). All told, it is generally preferable for both parents to negotiate child custody terms (now known as decision-making and parenting time) between yourselves whenever possible. 

Those Factors the Court Considers

When making decisions about child custody (now known as parental responsibilities: decision-making and parenting time), the court takes many factors into consideration, including:

• The preferences of both parents
• The children’s preferences (if they are old enough and mature enough to weigh in) 
• The relationships the children have established with each parent and each other
• The children’s overall adjustment to their current living situation
• The mental and physical health of each parent and of each child involved
• Each parent’s ability to facilitate the children’s ongoing relationship with the other parent
• Whether there is any history of abuse

It’s time to Consult with the Best Child Custody Lawyer Near Me

The skilled Chicago child custody lawyers at Ward Family Law have the experience, legal savvy, and drive you are looking for, so please don’t hesitate to contact us today for more information about what we can do to help you.