In previous decades, legal childcare arrangements often favored the mother after a couple’s divorce. A father’s time with his children was relegated to weekends and holidays, and sometimes not even that. Because of this skewed historical trend, many people are surprised to find that child custody laws in many states have been updated to reflect modern family trends.
In Illinois, child custody has been divided into two important areas: Allocation of parental responsibilities (also known as “custody”) and parenting time (also known as “visitation”). Together, these two elements make up what is known as a “parenting plan.” If you are getting divorced, you likely have many questions about how parenting time is managed in Illinois. In this blog, we will do a deep dive into parenting plan arrangements and encourage you to contact an Illinois family lawyer for help with your case.
How Do Parents Divide Visitation in Illinois?
Unless there is a good reason to do otherwise, under Illinois law both parents are assumed to be necessary to a child’s well-being and development. Therefore, both parents are permitted to be part of the visitation, or parenting time, schedule unless there is evidence that one or both parents are abusive or neglectful of the child or other parent. Even in cases where one parent has abused the other parent in the past, courts are still hesitant to remove a parent from the child altogether and will often order limited or supervised parenting time.
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