Illinois divorce and family law underwent substantial changes that went into effect on January 1, 2016. A major change involves children.
Under the previous law, family law courts granted “custody” solely to one parent or jointly to both parents. The non-residential or non-custodial parent was granted “visitation”. This distinction upset many non-custodial parents who reacted badly to “visiting” their children.
The new law rewrites much of the previous law, even starting by changing the title of “Custody” to “Allocation of Parental Responsibilities.” The new law lists fifteen factors for the court to consider when determining the children’s best interests for allocating significant decision-making responsibilities to the parents. Some factors from the previous law continue into the new law, such as the child’s wishes, the wishes of each parent, and the mental and physical health of all persons involved. New specified factors include “the ability of the parents to cooperate to make decisions, or the level of conflict between the parties that may affect their ability to share decision-making”, “the level of each parent’s participation in past significant decision-making with respect to the child”, and “the distance between the parents’ residences, the cost and difficulty of transporting the child, each parent’s and the child’s daily schedules, and the ability of the parents to cooperate in the arrangement”.
The new law also includes seventeen factors for the court to consider In determining the children’s best interests to allocate parenting time. The previous law on visitation directed back to the custody statute, but the new law has its own list of factors. Many factors for parenting time are identical to the factors for allocation parental responsibilities. Factors that are specific to the new parenting time law include “the amount of time each parent spent performing caretaking functions with respect to the child in the 24 months preceding the filing of any petition for allocation of parental responsibilities or, if the child is under 2 years of age, since the child’s birth”, “the distance between the parents’ residences, the cost and difficulty of transporting the child, each parent’s and the child’s daily schedules, and the ability of the parents to cooperate in the arrangement”, and the willingness and ability of each parent to place the needs of the child ahead of his or her own needs”.
The Law Office of Christopher Haaff urges parents in the middle of a divorce, considering a divorce, or returning to court (now or soon) to modify custody and visitation to consult legal counsel about the changes to the law and their available options.