Many fathers are concerned that, with divorce, they will be at a disadvantage regarding issues related to parental rights, decision-making and parenting time (what used to be called child custody). While it is important to take your parental rights – as they relate to divorce, post-decree modifications, and custody concerns outside of marriage and divorce – seriously, it’s also important to know that the days of a mother’s rights routinely usurping a father’s rights have fallen by the wayside. If you are a father with concerns regarding your divorce-related parental rights, reach out to an experienced dads’ rights attorney in Chicago today.
When it comes to matters that involve children, the court’s position is always in support of the children’s best interests. And the fact is that prevailing wisdom on the topic continues to find that children are nearly universally better off when they are allowed to forge deep relationships with both parents by spending a considerable amount of time with each (barring a compelling reason for determining otherwise).
In other words, the court’s starting position is in line with fathers’ rights, but defending your parental rights – in pursuit of divorce terms that work for you and your kids – is paramount. It is important to note that, when it comes to divorce, the court often seeks to limit the upset experienced by the children involved and, as such, may be inclined to maintain the status quo as it relates to your children’s current living situation.
The State of Illinois breaks child custody issues into both parental responsibilities and parenting time. Parental responsibilities refer to who will be making important decisions on behalf of the children, including those related to the following:
There is no preconceived notion that mothers are better equipped to make big picture parenting decisions, and while this decision-making authority can be sole or joint, it can also be allocated between both parents according to the kind of decision being made.
Parenting time determines the schedule whereby you and your ex will split your time with your children. As mentioned, if one of you has traditionally been the primary caregiver, the court may be influenced to maintain the status quo and to make that parent have a greater number of overnights with the children. Parents can also, however, split their time with their kids more evenly. If you and your divorcing spouse are able to hammer out a parenting schedule that you can both live with, you will be afforded all the scheduling flexibility you’d like. If not, however, you’ll likely receive a standard parenting time schedule from the court.
If you have concerns related to your rights as a father, the practiced dads’ rights attorneys at WARD FAMILY LAW in Chicago are standing by to help. To learn more, please don’t wait to contact us today.
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My Husband, now ex, and I wanted a friendly, fast divorce. We had nothing to fight about and nothing really to divide. We thought that would make it easy but when we saw all the paperwork we knew that we needed help. It takes one piece of paper to get married and 100 pieces of paper to get divorced in Chicago!! Ward Family Law made the divorce a smooth process for us and got it done faster than we thought. If you want to be friends with your ex but still want the divorce then look no further and call…
I had a very complicated divorce with a lot of family-owned businesses and assets. Jennifer and her team of professionals help navigate the formal discovery and litigation process with great knowledge, strategy, and patience with all our questions. My family was very concerned about the impact and outcome and we are all pleased with the results. From the appraisers to the business valuators, Jennifer utilized the right people at the right time to shore up our case for the best settlement position at pre-trial. We were happy with the Judge's recommendations, we believe, based on all her hard work and…
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