Recent changes in Illinois family law have made it more important than ever for parents involved in child custody disputes to understand how courts reach decisions in such cases. Under the old laws, custody disputes were generally resolved by granting joint custody to both parents, or sole custody to one parent. In joint custody cases, both parents shared the authority to make decisions with regard to the child's education, healthcare, extracurricular activities, and religious … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2016
Jurisdictional Battles: When the Other Parent Lives Outside of Illinois
When one parent lives in Illinois and the other lives in another state, Illinois courts use the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act to determine which state's court should have jurisdiction to handle the child custody dispute. The law is a federal one that has been adopted by 49 states, including Illinois. It is used to determine initial jurisdiction as well as modification cases and emergency situations. While UCCJEA cases are rare in Illinois, custody lawyers do handle them … [Read more...]