Parenting Time Attorney Chicago

Raising children with your true love is difficult enough, and raising children with your ex after they break your heart is even harder. It is easy to give up more than half of the marital property you worked so hard to acquire, but giving up some of the control you have over your children’s whereabouts and actions is harder. You know that your fears that, after spending two interrupted weeks with your ex-husband, your kids will love their stepmother more than they love you are unfounded, but that does not make it easier to live with the fact that your kids will get an unlimited supply of junk food and screen time for two whole weeks while there is nothing you can do to prevent it. Like it or not, you and your ex-husband have to cooperate to raise your children until they reach adulthood. A Chicago parenting time attorney can help you draft a parenting plan that makes the process less stressful for you, your ex, and your children.

What is the Difference Between Custody and Parenting Time?

It is not the case that, after a divorce, only one parent gets custody of the children.  In fact, the word “custody” has two meanings in family law. Physical custody means that the children are living in your house; in the vast majority of divorce cases, the children spend some of their time with one parent and some time with the other. Before the court finalizes your divorce, you must submit a draft of a parenting plan that shows how you and your ex will divide your parenting time. You get to decide what works best for your family; if your children have started school, then the children usually spend every school night with the same parent unless the parents live very close to each other. “Custody” also refers to legal custody, which is decision-making authority.  Families also decide on an individual basis how to divide the decision-making power related to the children’s non-emergency medical care, education, and extracurricular activities.

What is the Relationship Between Parenting Time and Child Support?

Before the judge can issue a child support order or calculate child support, you must finalize your parenting plan, or at least the parenting time aspects of it. This is because the court calculates child support based on each parent’s number of days of parenting time per year relative to each parent’s income and expenses. If you have a much higher income than your ex, it is possible that the court will order you to pay child support even if you have more days of parenting time per year than your ex.

Contact Women’s Divorce & Family Law Group About Parenting Plans

A well-written parenting plan can help prevent conflict during and after divorce.  A Chicago parenting time attorney can help you prevent and resolve disputes with your ex-spouse over parenting time and other matters related to co-parenting.  Contact Women’s Divorce & Family Law Group in Chicago, Illinois, to discuss your case.