Tag Archives: child custody

How to Prepare for a Child Custody Evaluation

When you are going through a divorce, the prospect of having to set up a child custody arrangement can seem daunting. You might worry about an outside evaluator meeting with you to ask you questions about your home, your lifestyle, and your relationship with your child, then deciding where your child should live. This is a very simplified view of the child custody evaluation process and in most cases, you will have plenty of opportunity to provide a detailed account of your parenting style and work with your former spouse and the evaluator to develop a custody arrangement that meets your child’s needs.

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Child Support: The Legal Process

If you have a child or children, you are required by law to support child until the child reaches the age of majority. The amount of child support you are required to pay must be reviewed and subsequently approved by a court of law. Once a judge approves the amount of child support obligation the non-custodial parent owes, the judge will put that amount into a judicial order. This judicial order is recorded and the determined amount must be paid. If a non-custodial parent fails to pay his or her child support obligation, he or she may be held in civil contempt, where he or she can be arrested until he or she “purges,” or pays, a specified amount of past due support.

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Co-Parents: Common Mistakes Divorced Parents Make and How to Avoid Them

Many divorced parent can attest that their divorce was a difficult process. Even the most amicable situations still carry a level of stress and distrust between spouses, and often, the total upheaval of the life of their children. During a divorce, feelings of bitterness and betrayal are frequently most acute, and their effects may last for months and years. For divorcing parents, who now have to co-parent, it is extremely important to avoid projecting such emotions onto the children, regardless of intention.

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Parenting Plans: A New Take on Custody Agreements

In a divorce situation, making arrangements for the custody and care of your children will be among the most difficult decisions to be made. Regardless of your feelings toward your ex-spouse, your children still deserve the best efforts of both parents in providing for them. For this reason, many divorced parents are recognizing the importance of a parenting plan that they have jointly negotiated rather than relying solely on a judge’s interpretation of the law.

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Custody and Visitation: Post-Divorce Holiday Planning

If you believe what you see in department stores, the holiday season has been in full swing for months. At this point, Ebenezer Scrooge himself could hardly deny that the holidays are now right around the corner. For divorced parents, it may be a season of unpredictable emotions as they find themselves trying to negotiate holiday plans and arrangements for their children. Stress, anger, and resentment may threaten to overshadow the happiness and joy of the holidays for those who are not prepared.

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How Mediation Contributes to a Healthy Divorce

Research has shown that divorce is on the decline in the last few decades, but there were still 33,789 total divorces and annulments in Illinois in 2011, 2,310 which occurred in DuPage County. There are various emotions that arise during the course of divorce proceedings. Guilt, anger, and sadness are all overwhelming and can affect day-to-day life at any moment. How can one deal in a healthy way with the dissolution of a marriage?

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Child Custody: Could You Handle Your Child Choosing Your Ex?

A family dealing with divorce must account for many considerations. The divorcing spouses need to decide who will keep the family home, which in turn decides who needs to find a new place. Property and assets must be divided equitably, and arrangements made regarding the children. When making decisions regarding child custody in Illinois, the court is expected to at least consider the wishes of the child as to which parent with whom they wish to live. For many divorced parents, it can be very difficult to find out that their child’s preference is the other parent.

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Legal Paternity Helps Children, Paternity Fraud Does Not

When a child is born to unmarried parents, it is very beneficial to establish legal paternity. By doing so, the biological father of the child is recognized as the legal father, with all of the rights and responsibilities provided by law. There are several ways in which legal paternity may be established to provide for the best interests of the child. Unfortunately, there are also ways in which the system may be fraudulently used to force a man other than the biological father to assume financial responsibility for the child.

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Legal Separation May Be an Option

When a marriage seems to have failed, many couples assume that divorce is not only inevitable, but the only available solution. For a large majority of couples in that situation, divorce may, in fact, be in their long-term best interest. In some cases, however, one spouse may instead wish to file for a legal separation.

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Modification of a Child Support Order

There are an estimated 24 million children in the United States currently being raised in single-parent homes. While this may not represent every child of unmarried or divorced parents due to the nature of the study, it clearly indicates that a large percentage of American children may be subject to shared custody, visitation and child support arrangements.

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