Understand Your Child Custody Rights

Any legal matter involving your family is difficult and can become all the more difficult when one or both of the parties don’t know his or her own rights. When it comes to child custody, many people seem unaware of the many rights they have available to them under Illinois law.
One common problem arises when a couple has a child together, married or not, and both parents have a legitimate claim to custody and to visitation with that child. For example, if a parent is being denied access to their child, whether a court decision has been ordered or not, that parent has the right to argue his or her case to a Judge, and should be granted visitation with the child. Take, for instance, a person who had been seeing someone for a prolonged period of time, and has a child with them. After the relationship ended, they were only allowed to see the child when the custodial parent saw fit, and often the custodial parent would cancel visitation with very little notice. In this situation it is important for the non-custodial parent to meet with an Attorney to discuss the fact that they do indeed have visitation rights even if they are being denied.
Usually, when clients come to us with children involved, one of the primary questions asked is “What are my rights regarding child support?” Illinois law requires assistance from both parties to pay for any medical or educational needs of their children, including assistance with college expenses. The amount of support is determined by the income of the non-custodial parent, and is automatically removed from his or her paycheck each pay period. If one party has a more all-encompassing health insurance plan that is deemed better, it can be court enforced for the child to be placed on that plan. Any co-pays or deductible costs are split between both parents.
Our Attorneys answer these and other questions such as these in free consultations every day. You should not have to pay to learn what your rights are. Call 847-933-0300 to schedule an appointment for a free consultation in our Skokie, Naperville, or Joliet locations.