Child Custody Attorney Hoffman Estates

Child Custody Attorney Hoffman Estates

The State of Illinois no longer employs the term child custody – replacing it with parenting time and parental responsibility – but the meaning and the serious nature of these matters remain unchanged. Because these issues directly affect your rights as a parent and your ongoing relationship with your children, it’s important to allow them the careful attention they deserve, and working closely with an experienced child custody attorney in Hoffman Estates is well-advised. 

Your Parental Responsibility

Every parent is responsible for the welfare and well-being of his or her children. Parental responsibility relates to whether one of you or both of you will be responsible for making the big-picture decisions in your children’s lives moving forward (parental responsibility can be either sole or joint). These decisions include all of the following:

• Decisions related to your children’s education
• Decisions related to your children’s health care (including medical treatment)
• Decisions related to your children’s extracurricular activities
• Decisions related to your children’s religious upbringing

These are the kinds of decisions that are foundational to your children’s lives, which makes parental responsibility a critical component of child custody. 

Parenting Time

If you and your children’s other parent are no longer going to be together (or were never together), the matter of whom the children will live with (and according to what schedule) must be determined. It’s important to note that Illinois courts are always motivated by what they perceive to be in the best interests of the children involved, and because it is nearly universally agreed that children benefit from having a relationship with each of their parents, it is rare for the court to refuse a parent some form of visitation (absent a serious reason for doing so). 

Your Parenting Time Schedule

Your parenting time schedule will play out in one of the following two ways:

• Either you or your children’s other parent will have your children the majority of the time, and the other parent will see your children according to a visitation schedule.
• Your and your children’s other parent will split your time with your children nearly equally.

If you and your divorcing spouse are able to hammer out a parenting time schedule that works for all of you, you’re free to get as creative with your scheduling as you’d like. After all, you’ve all got a lot going on, and a cookie-cutter parenting schedule that’s handed down by the court is unlikely to address your unique needs and time constraints. If you are unable to do so, however, it’s very likely that the court will hand down one of its standard parenting time schedules. 

It’s Time to Consult with an Experienced Child Custody Attorney in Hoffman Estates

When it comes to your parental responsibility and parenting time, it’s an important matter, and the trusted child custody attorneys at Andrea Heckman Law in Hoffman Estates are on your side. Your parental rights are too important to leave to chance, so please don’t wait to contact us today.