When parents get a divorce or were never married, they often wish to share custody of their children. Laws regarding child custody and visitation, officially called the allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time, are outlined in Section 750 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes. A parent who wishes to share custody of a child must do so within the bounds of the court-ordered parental allocation judgment/agreement. Withholding parenting time from the other parent can potentially have severe consequences.

Custody Agreements Are Legally-Binding

Generally, divorced or unmarried parents have a allocation of Parental Allocation and Parenting Time Agreement that is submitted to a judge. After this agreement is approved, it becomes a legally-binding document. Parents who fail to follow the rules in the document can be considered to be in violation of the court order. Typically, one parent is designated as the parent with the majority of parenting time. Withholding parenting time from the other parent or not returning the child on schedule can result in legal consequences including contempt charges. When a parent refuses to comply with a Parental Allocation Judgment, there can be even more serious consequences. A parent who consistently does comply with the order or moves a child without notifying the other parent can have their parenting time restricted and even lose it.  

How to Address Problems with Parenting Time or Parental Responsibility

Never take family law matters into your own hands. Failure to comply with Parental Allocation Judgments can endanger your own parental rights. If major problems with a parenting plan or schedule arise, they must be addressed through the Illinois family court system.  The parent who feels the parenting time schedule has been compromised should always petition the court, preferably with the help of a family law attorney, to have the schedule enforced as it stands or petition the court to make changes to the parenting plan to better address their needs.

The winter holiday season is a time that is meant to be shared with friends and loved ones. For some families, however, spending time together can be a challenge due to divorce, child-related legal matters, and other concerns. No matter what you may be going through, you and your children deserve to enjoy the Christmas season, and there are some steps you can take to help make that happen.

Be More Flexible

Shared parenting time is often a major point of contention for divorced parents around the holidays. You want to see your children on Christmas, but so does their other parent. It is important to keep in mind that fighting with your ex-spouse will do nothing to promote a happier holiday for you or your children. Try to compromise on a parenting time schedule that affords you both the opportunity to share in the joy of the season with your children, even if you do not get as much time as you would like.

When you have limited time with your child due to a divorce or breakup, the time you do get to spend with your child is extremely valuable. It is during this time that you must foster the relationship you share with your child and strengthen the parent-child bond between you. Anything that threatens your parenting time, then, must be taken very seriously, especially if your parenting time could be affected for an extended period of time. This is typically the case when your child's other parent intends to move with the child to a new city or state. Such a move is usually considered a relocation and Illinois law provides you, as a parent, with certain rights to object.

Legal Definition of Relocation

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act defines a relocation as a move by a parent with half or more of the parenting time outside of a certain radius. A move is considered a relocation if it includes the child and is a move of:

In most cases, children benefit greatly from having the financial and emotional support of both biological parents. Unfortunately, there are some cases in which one parent interferes with the time allocated to the other parent. If this denial is in direct violation of a court order, the parent that is missing out on time with their child has the right to seek enforcement through the court. If you are being denied parenting time with your child, the following information can help you determine what to do.

Visitation Interference is Considered a Crime in Illinois

If you took legal steps to receive legal parenting time with your child and your time is being interfered with (late drop-offs or returns, failure to show, etc.), then the denying or “interfering” parent is in contempt of a court order. This gives you certain legal rights, and it allows you to seek assistance from law enforcement and the family court for enforcement of the order. Unfortunately, these matters can be difficult to prove. Essentially, it is your word against the other parent's. For this reason, anyone who is being wrongfully denied parenting time should seek the assistance of an experienced family law attorney.

For parents who are planning to divorce, telling the children is often the most dreaded part of the process. They do not want to hurt their child, but they know that the discussion will be painful. There may be tears, anger, uncomfortable questions, accusations, or the child may simply shut down and shut their parents out. Delaying it will not make it easier, nor will glossing over the truth. However, there are some ways that you can talk to your children – tips and strategies – that may smooth the process, if not initially, then possibly in the long run.

Tell Your Child Together

If you follow only one piece of advice, let it be that you and your spouse sit down and talk to your child about the divorce together. While this might be challenging for parents who have a high-conflict marriage, it is absolutely critical. Everything is about to change, your family is about to split up. In the midst of all of that, your child needs to know that the divorce is mutual, and that there will be some things that do not change – namely that you will both be there for them when things are hard. That starts with sitting down together to tell them about the divorce.