First of all, if a parent wants to move away, we consider that to be a substantial change in circumstances, which allows us to file a petition for relocation – that’s what it’s called. Either parent can file that petition. They have to give notice at least 60 days before. They have to have all […]
Parenting and Step-Families
Does a parent need permission from the other parent to do the same things with their child…
Does a parent need permission from the other parent to do the same things with their child as they did when the family was intact?
At what point, if the child is distressed enough, should parenting arrangements be changed?
The first thing I would do, if it was my client that had the child, is encourage them to get the child into counseling immediately to find out what’s going on. Second of all, I would then encourage them to include the other parent in the counseling with the kid so you can find out […]
What kind of decisions do the parents still have to make together?
They have to decide with the schools, whether they’re going to be public or private. The court cannot send a child to private without the parent’s consent or force them to pay for it. There’s school, there’s whether the kid needs IEPs. Does the kid need a tutor? All those things roll into the education […]
If a child is living by choice with a parent full-time but the court granted equal parenting rights and responsibilities…
If a child is living by choice with a parent full-time but the court granted equal parenting rights and responsibilities and time to both parents, should the de facto full-time parent apply to change the agreement to reflect this reality?
If there’s a lot of conflict between the parents, can they still share equal parenting rights and responsibilities?
What we have to do is we have to separate the party’s relationship from the party’s relationship with the children. The hardest part of a divorce lawyer’s job is to get the people to visualize that we’re not dealing with their husband or wife anymore, we’re dealing with their relationship with the kid and what […]
If a parent has gone into a residential program for drug or alcohol abuse, are parenting rights transferred to the grandparents?
You could do something called a standby guardianship, which gives guardianship to whomever the grandparent is until the mother or father can come out of it. You can enter an order where the parties are in agreement that the grandparents will have the kids until further order of court. There’s a whole myriad of different […]
Can parenting rights and time be awarded to grandparents either temporarily or permanently if both parents are deemed unfit?
That’s a high threshold to first find them unfit. Yes, there’s a new section in the statute that allows grandparents, stepparents, and siblings to come in and ask the court to have parenting time or, in that case, visitation because we want to distinguish it from parenting time. Those people are allowed to have visitation, […]
At what age will the wishes of the child be seriously considered regarding parenting time?
The court looks at each of the factors. None of the factors has greater weight than the other on paper. It’s the facts that say which factors are of greater weight. A child that is over, like in high school, their opinion is going to be considered much more than someone who’s five. It’s not […]
What is the criteria for assessing best interest in Illinois?
The statute lists a number of different things that the court would take into consideration when they’re assessing best interest. Part of it, they will look at the wishes of the parents and the wishes of the child, depending on how old they are. By the way, the wishes of the child never controls; they […]
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