Major changes have been made to Illinois Family law in 2016 with new laws that have come into effect on January 1, 2016. The terms “custody” and “visitation” will no longer be used. Instead, these matters will be referred to as “parental responsibilities” and “parenting time”.
Under the new Illinois Child Custody law in 2016, decision making authority regarding major decisions will be allocated between the parties or both parents.
As always, every case will have different facts and different results. If both parents agree on how to split and share the different responsibilities, they can enter into a written Parenting Plan. If the parents do not agree, the judge will examine the facts of the case, and use the best interests of the child standard in reaching its decision.