Child Support & Visitation

In 2016, Illinois changed laws in the Family Law area. No longer are the terms "custody" or "visitation" in family law orders. Joint Custody agreements have been replaced by Allocation Judgments and Parenting Plans and instead of the word "visitation", "parenting time" is used. The terminology has changed but they are the same general laws.

Courts have become more liberal with the amount of parenting time “non-residential” parents have with their children. Each case and the situation of the parties is different so there is no “set” or “normal” parenting time. An experienced family law attorney can be the difference in the amount of time you and the other parent have with your child(ren).

Since 2016 Illinois has become an income sharing method state in determining child support. This means the Court is to consider the income of both parties in determining child support. If one of the parties is not working at least a minimum wage full time job, the Court can impute income or calculate what the Court believes the party should be able to be earning in determining the child support amount. Other costs that can be addressed and included in Parental Allocation Orders are school expenses, sport and extra-curricular expense, medical expenses and insurance, as well as daycare expenses.

A large factor in determining child support is whether the non-residential parent… which means the parent that has less time than the other parent… has 146 or more overnights annually. Under the new child support law, the number of overnights is what matters. This means you can have your child in your care every day, but if your child stays overnight at the other parent's home, you are only credited for the amount of overnights the child stays in your home. The residential parent is the parent that has the majority of parenting time and their address is designated to be used for school purposes for the child. The Keene Law Office can help you creating a parenting time schedule that works in the best interest of you and your family.

Contact the Keene Law Office to learn your rights and discuss how you can proceed in a child support and/or parenting time (visitation) case!