Columbia Divorce and Family Law Blog

When parents in Illinois are getting a divorce, one parent could be worried about the child's safety with the other parent. One father feared that his wife, who drank a lot, would drive with their 7-year-old son in the car. That father was also concerned about the fact that his wife wanted to delay the divorce in order to record herself taking care of the child. She had reportedly blocked him and given him no way to contact her, and he was concerned since he had been the child's main caregiver up to that point.

A parent can try to get emergency custody if a child is not safe, but a court will probably want some kind of evidence that the parent is unfit. Without a police report or a similar type of evidence, the parent might need to rely on witness accounts from a child care provider, a neighbor or someone else. However, even this may not be enough. In a case where a father drank nightly, a court ruled that since there was not sufficient evidence that he did it when his children were present, he could still have access to them.

Illinois, like many other states across the country, is home to a diverse population of immigrants. As a result, immigration law and deportation are important considerations for families that may face immigration status challenges. Such issues can also lead to disputes regarding child custody in the event that a parent is scheduled for deportation.

A new study produced by Generations United has shown an increase in children of immigrants living with aunts, uncles and grandparents. According to the study, one in five children being raised by extended family members lives in an immigrant household.

Illinois parents who have decided to divorce will be faced with figuring out how to best raise their children post-split. For some, that might mean adopting the traditional arrangement of one becoming the custodial parent and the other exercising visitation rights. This agreement also usually includes the non-custodial parent paying child support. However, many parents now choose to share parenting responsibilities through shared legal and physical custody. In those cases, the question arises about who pays support and how much.

Research has shown that most families benefit from shared custody. Joint custody, split 50-50, means that one parent does not bear the brunt of the parental responsibility. In other words, both parents get to be fully present in their children's lives. Once the parents agree to legal custody, which revolves around medical, educational and even religious decisions, they also need to establish physical custody, which revolves around where the children live.

Domestic violence can have a deep impact not only on the victim but also on those who witness the abuse, particularly when they are children. This might be a concern facing Illinois parents who are negotiating parental responsibilities and have been victims of domestic violence. They might also worry about how the court will handle allegations of domestic violence or even distant-past instances of such as abuse when it comes to parenting time.

Courts will always consider the best interests of the child, so even though the goal of the court is usually to have the child continue their relationship with both parents as much as possible, if there are abuse allegations, the court will take them very seriously. When it comes to family law matters, a parent might lose parenting time if the court finds evidence of domestic violence or enough concern with the allegations to believe that parent could pose a danger to the child or their other parent. During the investigation, the court will consider what impact, if any, the domestic violence had on the child, if the abuse is continuing, if there is a criminal case pending against the abuser, how severe the abuse has been, any photographic evidence gathered and any police reports.