It is sad then there is a little one who is unsuspecting that their life is about to be changed forever.  Parents should be aware that their child’s future life can be affected by how they handle themselves throughout their transition from their former family unit.  Parents need to sensitive to their child’s behavior as divorce may take its toll on their children as well.   A child may feel protective of a parent who has been left or angry with the parent who fails to call or visit when scheduled. Emotional outbursts and social withdrawal are common child’s responses. Experience has dictated that the best solutions to child custody and visitation arrangements are made between the parents themselves but sometimes that is not possible. Utilization of a private mediator, prior to seeking court intervention, can often reserve resources. Unfortunately, there are circumstances where parents are immensely disappointed and hurt and are unable to communicate in a productive manner. Whether your situation is calm or volatile, we are here to help you understand the process and make the best decisions for yourself and your family.

Parenting Allocation in Illinois

Parenting Allocation, formerly known as custody and visitation, defines the time and responsibilities that each parent will have during the divorce process and moving forward.  In Illinois, the court is mandated to decide all matters related to minor children in accordance with the best interest of the child.  As your family is unique, we work...

Child support

Experienced Chicago Child Support Attorney Children are expensive from diapers to driver’s licenses. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated that $ 4,020 is the basic cost of raising each child per year regardless of the number of children.  Adjusting for inflation rate, it estimated that the total cost of raising a child...

Grandparents’ rights

Grandparent relationships are treasured.  Unfortunately, we are acutely aware that circumstances occur where relationships are severed and the grandchildren are impacted. The laws of the State of Illinois provide for grandparents to have rights to visit their grandchildren under certain circumstances.  Success in a grandparent visitation case is more likely if the grandparents have a...

International Child Custody

International Child Custody cases commonly occur in the following instances:  A parent wants to move to another country with the child or a parent has already moved with the child to another country and the parent who remains wants the child returned to the United States.  Depending on whether this is occurring before the divorce,...

Mediation

The Benefits of Mediation Like it or not,  the process of disentanglement from your spouse will trigger legal consequences and mandate court involvement. When you get divorced, especially when children are involved, the court has an automatic stake in the process. Mediation offers you an alternative path which minimizes court involvement and heightens your individual...

Parental Relocation (Removal)

In Illinois, if a primary parent intends to move outside the state or outside of a boundary that will significantly affect the visitation rights of the other parent, leave of court is required.   This requires the filing of a Petition to Modify the original parenting judgment or agreement.  There are a number of significant...

Visitation, Parenting Time and Virtual Visitation

Families facing divorce often encounter a huge challenge negotiating a parenting plan that meets the unique needs of that family. We completely understand that every family is different and every parenting plan should reflect those differences. We have years of experience writing parenting plans that will take your family through the upcoming years while still...