Child Custody Lawyers Palos Heights 

Illinois Child Custody Attorneys in Palos Heights

Are you planning for a child custody case in Illinois, or anticipating that you will soon be going through a divorce in which the court will need to decide child custody? In Illinois, child custody cases can arise when parents decide to separate, after a paternity case, or when parents are going through a divorce. When a child custody case is connected to an Illinois divorce, the court will typically decide specific issues pertaining to the divorce like property division but will then also address child custody by allocating parental responsibilities. Our experienced child custody lawyers Palos Heights can begin working with you today on your custody case.

Child Custody Cases We Handle in Palos Heights 

At Demetrios N. Dalmares & Associates, Ltd., we handle many different types of issues that commonly arise in child custody cases, including but not limited to the following:

• Child custody process;
• Allocating significant decision-making responsibilities;
• Allocating parenting time, including caretaking functions;
• Relocations;
• Best interests of the child standard and factors;
• Parenting plans;
• Allocation judgments;
• Domestic violence and restriction of parental responsibilities;
• Visitation by non-parents; and
• Modifications.

Understanding the Allocation of Parental Responsibilities in Palos Heights 

Under Illinois law, child custody is no longer awarded in Illinois, but instead courts allocate parental responsibilities. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) allows courts to allocate parental responsibilities, which include significant decision-making responsibilities and parenting time.

Significant decision-making responsibilities are similar to legal custody, allowing the parent (or parents) to make important decisions about the child’s upbringing, such as decisions about the child’s education, health care, and religious instruction. Parenting time is similar to physical custody or visitation, during which time the parent spends time with the child and provides various caretaking functions. Both significant decision-making responsibilities and parenting time are allocated based on what is in the best interest of the child.

Palos Heights Parenting Plans Versus Allocation Judgments 

Parental responsibilities in Illinois can be allocated in one of two ways: either the parents can come to an agreement on a parenting plan that reflects their children’s best interests, or they can take the matter to court and have a judge determine what their final division of parental responsibilities will be. 

If parents can reach an agreement about some aspects of parental responsibilities—such as significant decision-making responsibilities or parenting time, or vice versa—the court can allocate the remaining parental responsibilities. When parents develop a parenting plan, if the court finds it is in the child’s best interest, that parenting plan will become part of the divorce order like an allocation judgment would.

Contact a Palos Heights Child Custody Attorney Today 

If you are planning for a divorce and have minor children from your marriage, or if you are separating from a partner with whom you share minor children, you should speak with one of our Palos Heights child custody attorneys as soon as possible about the allocation of parental responsibilities in Illinois. It will be important to start planning for your case, and our firm can help. Contact Demetrios N. Dalmares & Associates, Ltd. for more information about the services we provide to families in Palos Heights.