Illinois Child Custody Laws in 2022

 Posted on November 08, 2022 in Child Custody

When a couple is in the midst of a divorce, child custody can be one of the most contentious issues between the spouses as both parents will usually be seeking as much time as possible with their children. One of the first things to understand about major changes to Illinois child custody laws is that the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act no longer refers to the matter as “child custody,” but instead as parental responsibility and parenting time. Multiple factors go into court determinations in these types of cases.

Parenting Time and Parental Responsibilities

As it relates to child custody in Illinois, parenting time means the amount of time and the schedule during which parents can spend time with their children. Parental responsibilities is the decision making capability each parent will have when it comes to the health care, educational, and social, religious or extra curricular activities in a child’s life.

In a vast majority of cases, it is the parents themselves who agree to the parental responsibility and parenting time for each parent, and judges often refer spouses to mediation when there is any persistent disagreement. Courts rarely want to render decisions in these cases unless there are issues relating to domestic abuse or questions about parental fitness.

Under Illinois law, a court must allocate parenting time based on the best interests of a child. When determining a child's best interests, courts must consider every relevant factor, including any of the following: 

• Wishes of both parents who seek parenting time

• Wishes of the child, depending on a child's maturity

• Time both parents invested in caring for a child during the two years preceding a determination relating to parental responsibilities or since a child's birth when a child is less than 2 years old

• Any previous agreement between parents as it relates to caretaking functions

• Interaction of a child with their parents, siblings, and any other individual significantly affecting the best interests of a child

• How a child adjusts to their school, home, and larger community

• Physical and mental health of every involved individual

• A child's needs

• Distance between parents' residences, costs and difficulties of transporting a child, daily schedules of parents and a child, and the parents’ ability to work together in such an arrangement

• Whether any parenting time restriction will be appropriate

• Physical violence or threat thereof by a child's parent against a child or another member of a child's household

• Each parent’s ability and willingness to place a child’s needs ahead of their own

• Each parent’s ability and willingness to encourage a continuing relationship between another parent and a child

• Any occurrences of abuse involving a child or another member of a child's household

• Whether either parent is a convicted sex offender or is currently living with a convicted sex offender and, when that is the case, the nature of a criminal offense and what treatment an offender successfully participated in

• Terms of a military family-care plan that must be completed before deployment for United States Armed Forces members who are being deployed

• Any other factor that a court finds to be relevant. 

When allocating parenting time, a court cannot consider any conduct of a parent not affecting that parent's relationship to a child.

Contact a Rolling Meadows Child Custody Attorney

If you are filing for divorce in Illinois and anticipating issues with child custody, get legal representation to be by your side and assist in making the most compelling argument possible in court. The Law Offices of Donald J. Cosley has handled scores of these kinds of cases, and our Arlington Heights child custody lawyer will know how to help you achieve the most favorable possible outcome for your case. Call 847-253-3100 or contact us online to take advantage of a free initial consultation. 

Source:

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&SeqStart=8300000&SeqEnd=10000000