Child Custody Lawyer Chicago

Child Custody Lawyer Chicago

Child custody concerns involve your children, which makes them very important matters that require your careful attention to help ensure that your parental rights remain protected and that your children’s best interests are upheld. If you are facing a child custody issue related to divorce, have a child custody concern outside of marriage or divorce, or need a child custody modification, an experienced child custody lawyer in Chicago can help.  In Illinois, child custody is now called an allocation of parental responsibilities that includes an allocation of parenting time and decision-making. 

Parental Responsibilities

Under Illinois law, child custody is now called an allocation of parental responsibilities, which includes both parenting time (formerly physical custody) and decision-making (formerly legal custody) but the meanings behind the terms remain consistent. The aspect of decision-making within parental responsibilities relate to who will be making important decisions like the following on behalf of your children:

• Decisions about your children’s health care  
• Decisions about your children’s schooling
• Decisions about your children’s religious education
• Decisions about your children’s extracurricular activities

When it comes to parental responsibilities, you have options, including:

• You and your children’s other parent can share this important responsibility, while one of you may have the authority to break any ties.
• One of you may take on this parental responsibility on your own.
• You and your children’s other parent may divide this responsibility according to the kind of decision that needs to be made. For example, one of you may address decisions about health care and religious upbringing, while the other is responsible for decisions about schooling and extracurriculars. 

It is important to note that when it comes to workaday decisions that parents everywhere must make on a daily – if not hourly – basis, the parent who is with the children at the time the issue arises is usually responsible for the decisions at-hand.  However, everything can be negotiated, mediated, or litigated.

Parenting Time

Illinois now calls physical custody parenting time, and it refers to how you and your children’s other parent will divide up your time with your children. The two primary options include:

• Both parties are allotted parenting time with the minor children: there is routine parenting time, holiday parenting time, summer parenting time, and the like.
• You and your children’s other parent can also negotiate a schedule that divides your parenting time more evenly between both of you.

With each of these approaches, you have the leeway to hammer out a schedule that works for you, your children’s other parent, and your children. If, however, you and your children’s other parent are unable to resolve this matter between yourselves, the court will intervene and will very likely hand down a standard parenting time schedule (that adopts one of the above approaches). 

Turn to an Experienced Child Custody Lawyer in Chicago for the Legal Guidance You Need

The Chicago divorce lawyers at WARD FAMILY LAW, LLC, take great pride in helping clients like you obtain child custody terms that work for you, uphold your parental rights, and support your children’s best interests. Your case is important, and we’re committed to helping you – so please don’t wait to contact us for more information today.