Kane County Visitation and Parenting Time Attorneys

Divorce Lawyers Serving St. Charles, Elgin, and Aurora

Child parenting time orders must accommodate the paramount consideration of assuring the child's welfare. Recent updates to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act have renamed parental visitation as parenting time, and the law provides that a legal parent is entitled to reasonable parenting time with his or her child unless the parent presents a serious danger to the child. Visitation or parenting time arrangements can be modified. The statute provides that a parenting time order may be amended to serve the best interests of the child. Grandparent visitation rights have been controversial, but there are agreements and court orders providing for grandparent visitation rights that are enforceable in court.

The parenting time statute does not contain any standard schedule for the time children spend with parents. However, local court rules may contain standard or suggested schedules. The experienced attorneys of Goostree Law Group, can help create a schedule based upon your situation. The court can consider numerous factors in determining parenting time rights and scheduling, including the age of the child, the relationship between the parent and child, the distance between the parent and child, the school schedule, and any other factors affecting the best interest of the child.

Parenting Time and the Allocation of Parental Responsibilities

One of the frequently asked questions involves the difference in parenting time schedules depending on whether one or both parents have been granted decision-making authority regarding the child. The short answer is that there is typically no difference. The same schdedule may be used in either case. There may be an implication that because the parents have opted for shared parenting arrangement that each parent may have equal amounts of responsibility; however, even if one parent has sole decision-making authority, parents may share equal or near-equal amounts of parenting time.

Such arrangements were previously known as sole and joint custody, but those terms have recently been eliminated from Illinois law. The have been replaced with a more fluid, cooperative approach to allocating parental responsibilities and parenting time.

Most questions related to parenting time have to do with scheduling and the rules or restrictions that are placed on parents. The schedule can depend on the age of the child, the parents' schedules, whether is it during the school year or summer, the distance between the parents homes, and any other factor affecting the best interests of the child.

At Goostree Law Group, we can provide suggested schedules and suggested guidelines for many different situations. We can review and discuss holiday schedules and rules about homework, parents' alcohol usage, overnight guests, and many other issues that may be considered. We can advise you about the standard terms included in a parenting plan, what to do about holidays, what may and may not work, and how to build in flexibility for family events.

Please contact the divorce attorneys of Goostree Law Group at 630-584-4800 to ask a question or set up a confidential free initial consultation regarding Illinois parenting time rights.