Chicago Parental Allocation Attorney

Chicago Parental Allocation Attorney

Parental allocation (which includes both parenting time and decision-making) concerns arise in relation to divorce, but the matter also extends to post-divorce modifications and to child custody concerns outside of marriage. Your parental rights are fundamental, which makes it important to have the skilled legal guidance of an experienced Chicago parental allocation attorney on your side from the outset. 

Parental Allocation: Parental Responsibilities in Decision-Making

As parents, we’re called upon to make a wide range of primary decisions on behalf of our children’s upbringing and well-being. When parents are no longer together, they need to determine how they will address this basic parental responsibility moving forward. While parental responsibilities for decision-making can be sole or joint, there are a range of options within these categories, including:

• Both of you can hammer out these decisions between yourselves.
• One of you can have the authority to break a deadlock if your dedicated efforts to resolve the matter between yourselves prove unsuccessful.
• One of you can make the decisions entirely on your own.
• You and your ex can divide these decisions between yourselves according to the kind of decision that needs to be made.  

Parental responsibilities include decision-making and address big-ticket parenting decisions like the following:

• Where your children will attend school or daycare
• The medical attention your children will receive
• Where your children will make their primary home
• The extracurriculars, travel, vacations, and summer activities your children will participate in
• The religious upbringing your children will receive

Parental Allocation: Parenting Time

Parenting time equates with what you may think of as physical custody, and it determines your and your ex’s parenting time schedules. Illinois courts are invested in maximizing the parenting time each parent is awarded – barring a significant reason for deciding otherwise. Because Illinois courts are always guided by the best interests of the involved children in matters related to child custody, they take best-interest factors like the following into careful consideration:

• The age and unique developmental needs of the children, including any special needs that require special consideration
• Each parent’s ability and commitment to addressing these needs
• Each parent’s parenting-time preferences
• The preferences of each child who is found to be mature enough to participate in the process
• Each parent’s commitment to supporting the other’s ongoing relationship with the children
• Each parent’s commitment to successful co-parenting
• Each parent’s overall mental and physical health
• The home each parent is able to provide the children
• How well-adjusted the children are to their primary home, school, and community, which is referred to as the status quo
• Any concerns related to domestic abuse, child abuse, or child neglect
• The level of each parent’s previous involvement in raising the children

Turn to an Experienced Chicago Parental Allocation Attorney for the Help You’re Looking For

The trusted Chicago parental allocation attorneys at WARD FAMILY LAW, LLC, dedicate their imposing practice to skillfully protecting the parental rights of valued clients like you. We’re on your side and here to help, so please don’t put off contacting us for more information today.