Terms regarding custody and visitation in Illinois have changed in recent years. It is important to know the new terms and what they mean if you are co-parenting.
Custody is now referred to as parental responsibilities. The best interest of the children is a court’s focus when determining parental responsibilities.
A court considers various factors when deciding what is in children’s best interests. Some of these include the relationship between the children and each parent, the children’s adjustment to their school, home and community, the children’s wishes and the physical and mental health of both parents. Any history of domestic violence is also considered.
There are two main pieces of parental responsibilities: allocation and parenting time.
Allocation
Allocation is specifically called allocation of responsibilities and was previously called legal custody. Allocation refers to the obligations each parent has to make important decisions on behalf of their children.
Decisions are typically made on major topics such as education, healthcare and religion. You and your co-parent can agree to share in this decision-making responsibility. This is called joint allocation.
If you do not agree to share in decision-making, sole allocation allows one parent to make all major decisions. You can also agree to shared allocation, which means that the parent that the child is physically with at the time makes any major decisions that need to be made.
Parenting time
Parenting time refers to which parent the children physically live with and when. The goal of establishing a parenting time schedule is to provide a consistent and stable routine for the children.
When courts decide parenting time schedules, they presume that equal time with each parent is in the children’s best interest. This means a shared parenting time schedule.
Sometimes one parent having more parenting time than the other is in a child’s best interest. If you believe that you should have more parenting time than your co-parent, you must have evidence to support your belief that your children are better off being with you more than half the time.
In rare circumstances, one parent is granted sole parenting time. This means one parent does not get to see their children unless the other parent allows it. This typically only happens when the situation makes it difficult to impossible for a parent to see their children, such as if they are in prison or struggling with an untreated substance abuse addiction.
Know your options
The legal system can be challenging and complicated and navigating changes to terms and the law can make the process feel more complex than necessary.
You and your co-parent are always free to come up with your own agreement for allocation and parenting time. But if you cannot agree, a court will need to decide, using the factors listed above.
A common misconception is that a court favors mothers over fathers when making these decisions. This is untrue. The law requires a court to consider both parents equally when considering parental responsibilities.