Parenting Time and Responsibility

The Illinois Parentage Act of 1984 was replaced by the Illinois Parentage Act of 2016. Before the new law came into effect, a major issue in a divorce of parents was who got residential “custody” and whether both parents made the decisions (joint custody) or only one (sole custody).

no-sole-joint-custody
Now we have Allocation of Parenting Responsibility and Allocation of Parenting Time.
There are 4 areas covered in the Allocation of Parenting Responsibility (decision-making):

  • Health
  • Education
  • Religion
  • Extra-curricular

If both parents have authority in all four areas, the results are the same as the old “joint custody”. But it is possible to mix and match: have one parent make Health decisions, the other parent make the Religious and Extra-curricular decisions, and both parents make the Education decisions.

no-visitation
Residential Custody and Visitation have been replaced by Allocation of Parenting Time. Parents need to produce a Parenting Schedule as part of their Parenting Plan to specify when each parent is responsible for the child’s care and day-to-day decisions.

See Parenting Plan for more details.

We can explain the terminology to you in more detail and assist you in developing the parenting plan that would be best for your child or children. Contact us at (312) 558-9100.