Resolving Child Custody And Visitation Disputes
The parent-child relationship often takes center stage in family court. Courts evaluate the best interests of the child when resolving child custody disputes. Parents frequently have difficulties in coming to an agreement over those best interests. Difficult disputes can arise, clouded by emotions involving both love for the child and the loss of trust between the parents. At The Law Offices of Jesse V. Barrientes in Wheaton, we are committed to protecting the well-being of children in family court.
In addition to helping our clients determine the child support and custody decisions that our best for them, we can assist with adoptions and guardianship orders. Our attorney’s decades of experience in a variety of legal areas allows him to help families make complicated legal decisions with confidence.
Understanding The New Child Support Law In Illinois
The state of Illinois completely overhauled its child support law on July 1, 2017. The previous child support law used a statutory guideline percentage model based upon the number of children and the noncustodial parent’s net income to calculate child support. The new child support law uses an income-sharing model that calculates child support based upon the parties’ respective percentage of their combined net income, health insurance premiums for the minor children and each parent’s total amount of actual parenting time. This new law seeks to better address the children’s needs while taking into account the financial resources of both parents.
Understanding The New Child Custody Laws
In 2016, Illinois law moved away from the formal terms of child custody and visitation, preferring now to allocate parental responsibilities between the parents and addressing parenting time. The new law allows parents (or the court) to allocate decision-making authority in four main areas of the child’s life, including:
- Decisions concerning education
- Health care decisions
- Determining what faith or religion to follow
- Deciding the appropriate extracurricular activities a child may be involved in
It is important to note that one parent may be responsible for any and all decisions, and both parents may share any or all of these decisions jointly. The new law also requires parents to have a parenting plan in place to address parenting time schedules. While the new law has offered increased flexibility to allocate responsibilities, our ultimate goal is to help our clients maintain a meaningful parent-child relationship, while protecting their parental rights.
We are devoted to championing the rights of both children and parents in divorce proceedings, paternity matters and post-judgment custody modification hearings.
Rely On More Than 30 Years Of Experience To Protect Your Parental Rights
Our family law attorney also has experience as a guardian ad litem and divorce mediator and draws on more than 30 years of experience to guide clients through the difficult process of creating a parenting plan. Reaching an amicable agreement through negotiations or mediation often produces the best outcomes as the parties are able to retain more control over the outcome. However, when the opposing party is not willing to settle custody and visitation disputes reasonably, we are well-equipped to fight to protect our clients’ rights in trial.
To learn more about your child custody and visitation rights, send us an email, or call 630-923-6595 to arrange a no-obligation, free consultation with a skilled Illinois lawyer. We can arrange to meet you by appointment at our locations in Wheaton or Villa Park.