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Parenting Time

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Parenting Time Attorney

Visitation Schedules & Custody Arrangements

As you go through the divorce process as a parent, you will have many important issues to resolve regarding child custody. The most prominent issue for many parents is the amount of time their children will spend with them after their divorce, known officially in Illinois as “parenting time.” Understanding how Illinois courts handle parenting time can help you work toward an arrangement that allows you to spend as much time as possible with your kids.

At Reifman Law Offices, we have nearly 20 years of experience helping parents address parenting time in divorce cases and other custody matters. Based on your children’s best interests and your personal preferences, we will help you negotiate an appropriate parenting time schedule with your child’s other parent, or represent you in litigation to make the case for a parenting schedule that meets your needs.

Parenting Time Considerations

When parents divorce and move into separate households, it is important to determine when the children will stay with each parent. It is also important to ensure that each parent has the ability to provide for the children’s care and needs during their scheduled parenting time. Ultimately, the court will want to ensure that the allocation of parenting time is consistent with the children’s best interests.

In most cases, parents will work together to create a parenting plan that includes a parenting time schedule along with other important details. If the court determines that this parenting time agreement is in the children’s best interests, it will be approved and become legally binding. If the parents cannot agree on a parenting time schedule, the court will make the decision after considering factors including:

  • The parents’ wishes
  • The children’s wishes and needs
  • The physical and mental health of the parents and children
  • The parents’ previous involvement in caretaking for the children, as well as any previous agreements between the parents
  • The children’s comfort and adjustment to their current home, school, and community
  • The location of the parents’ residences and the distance between them
  • The parents’ willingness and ability to cooperate as co-parents, to prioritize their children’s needs, and to promote positive relationships between the children and the other parent
  • Evidence of a parent’s abuse, violence, or endangerment that would necessitate restrictions on parenting time

Details of an Illinois Parenting Time Schedule

The court will generally presume that it is in a child’s best interest to spend significant time with both parents, but the details of your parenting plan will largely depend on your family’s situation. In some cases, it may be in your children’s best interests to divide time roughly equally between each parent’s homes. For example, if you and your former spouse will live fairly close to each other and your children’s school, your schedule might include alternating weeks with each parent.

In other cases, it may be better for the children to spend more time with one parent, perhaps because the location is more convenient for their school and extracurricular activities, or because that parent has more time to devote to the children’s care. If so, your schedule may allocate most weekday parenting time to one parent, with some weekend parenting time to the other.

In addition to your regular weekly schedule, there are other important parenting time details to address in your parenting plan. For example, you should decide how you and your spouse will share school breaks and holidays with your children, how you will manage transportation for parenting exchanges, and what you will do when a parent needs child care during their scheduled parenting time. You should also consider how you will handle any future modifications to your parenting time schedule.

Contact an Arlington Heights Parenting Time Lawyer

Your parenting time schedule can have a significant impact on your children’s well-being and your relationships with them. We can help you make the best decisions for your family and protect your children’s best interests. Contact us at 847-229-8433 to schedule a free consultation. We serve clients in Arlington Heights, Schaumburg, Palatine, Hoffman Estates, Elk Grove Village, Rolling Meadows, Barrington, West Dundee, Streamwood, and the surrounding areas.

At Reifman Law Offices,

we will take the weight of dealing with family legal issues off of your shoulders.
Call Us 847-229-8433

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Arkady Reifman

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