Cook County Custody & Visitation Attorney Blog | Palatine Child Custody Lawyer

Illinois to be first in nation with 'right of refusal' visitation

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Visitation on Monday, June 17, 2013.

We have previously written in this blog about changes to child custody laws making their way through the Illinois Legislature. One bill recently passed by Illinois legislators is the so-called Right of First Refusal bill, making it the first state to officially add this type of visitation order to a parenting plan. The bill has passed both houses of the Legislature. If it receives the governor's signature, the bill will become part of the state's Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.

The legislation basically states that if a parent needs someone to supervise the children, the parent must first give the other parent the opportunity. This gives the second parent a chance for additional parenting time with the kids when the other parent technically has custody.

New women's group seeks to promote fathers' rights in parenting

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Fathers' Rights on Monday, June 10, 2013.

What does feminist and former president of the National Organization for Women Karen DeCrow have in common with Phyllis Schlafly, a noted ultra-conservative and founder of the Eagle Forum, a group fighting for traditional family values? They're both founding members of a new advocacy group aimed at complementing the efforts of the fathers' rights movement.

The new group, which was organized in May on an invitation-only basis, is called Leading Women for Shared Parenting, or LW4SP. Members include congresswomen from both parties, family law professors and attorneys, social workers, domestic violence advocates -- and daughters and granddaughters, Their goal is greater gender equity into child custody and visitation orders by family courts across the U.S. and Canada.

New case software will complement collaborative law divorces

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Collaborative Law on Friday, June 7, 2013.

The founder of a new software company called "Wevorce" decided to enter the case management software industry based on her own traumatic experiences in divorce court. When she was 9 years old, she was put on the witness stand in her parents' divorce and forced to choose which one she would prefer to live with. After she had another traumatic experience with her own divorce, she became a family law attorney. Still, she could see clearly that there was much that could be done to improve the divorce experience and make it more amicable.

Inspired by the collaborative law divorce movement, the now-former attorney decided to develop software that would complement that process and make it more accessible to non-lawyers. The result was Wevorce, a cloud-based case management software program. Not only does it save time by populating the numerous forms required in a divorce after the user enters the information once, but it also gives divorcing couples direct access to a network of trained specialists.

Will Wevorce replace divorce lawyers? Not at all, the founder emphasizes. The program can be used by lawyers, but it can also be used by the people who hire them. No legal advice is available on the site.

Sexism is an act that doesn't discriminate based on gender

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Fathers' Rights on Thursday, May 30, 2013.

The term sexism is often relegated to conversations involving discrimination against women. Whether it is in the employment context or in the home, and this is not to say that these conversations lack truth. However, the same stereotypes that women fought to eliminate affect men as well. Sexism is one act that doesn't discriminate based on gender.

When it comes to family roles, more and more men are taking on the job of caretaker whether it is a shared role in a two-salaried home or one in which the woman is the primary earner. Yet, when it comes to child custody, women are often favored over men. In fact, author of "The Second Sexism," David Benatar, relayed data that shows that men are granted the custody of the children in only 10 percent of divorce cases.

What should involved dads know about fathers' rights in divorce?

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Fathers' Rights on Friday, May 24, 2013.

If you're a dad with kids and a divorce is in your future, you may be wondering if it's true that even actively involved fathers face huge obstacles in child custody and visitation determinations. Do divorce courts automatically award the primary physical custody and the majority of time with the kids to mothers? Fathers have rights, too, along with deep and abiding love for their children.

The good news is that family courts across the nation are very sensitive to the issue. While disparities do remain, courts no longer ignore fathers' rights, especially when dads have been actively involved in parenting their kids all along. They're committed to the principle that, in the vast majority of cases, it's in the best interest of children to have strong relationships with both parents.

Even so, it's not advisable to just let things fall out as they may. Dads can and should take active steps from the beginning to ensure they get a truly fair portion of custody and parenting time. A Huffington Post divorce lawyer and blogger recently posted some astute tips about how dads can promote their parenting goals during a divorce. There are too many to summarize here, but here are a few of the active steps she suggested fathers take now to ensure they get plenty of time with their kids in the future:

Dispute over summer plans? Learn to mediate visitation conflicts

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Visitation on Friday, May 17, 2013.

Whenever you're co-parenting with someone you're no longer in a committed relationship with, issues can arise about what activities you would each like the children to be involved in, whether one parent can take the kids on an extended vacation, and who is going to pay for what. While many issues can be negotiated in advance of getting your legal child custody and visitation order, life can be unpredictable.

For example, one woman wrote in to a Huffington Post blogger who writes about family law and mediation to ask about how to resolve a dispute over her summer camp for her 10-year-old son. Divorced for two years and with shared legal custody, the woman was frustrated because her ex-husband told their son that he could attend an expensive, out-of-state sleep-away camp.

The couple's visitation order spelled out that the dad would pay 60 percent of any summer camp costs, but that doesn't mean the camp would be affordable for the mom. More important, however, is that the mom opposes the sleep-away camp because she believes her son is too young. Since her ex had already proposed it to their son, however, he was begging her to attend.

Have a happy post-divorce Mother's Day with visitation planning

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Visitation on Friday, May 10, 2013.

Happy Mother's Day this Sunday to all moms, whether you're married, divorcing, divorced or single. Not only is it the holiday meant to celebrate the essential contributions of mothers, it's also a traditional harbinger of spring, which we could all use this year.

If you're considering or are in the midst of a divorce, you may want to think ahead about future Mother's Days. If you want to make sure that your kids will always spend that day with you, the best place to start is to discuss the structure of your child custody and visitation with your lawyer and make sure you negotiate, or ask a judge, to put it explicitly into your parenting plan.

Cook Cty domestic relations judges give privacy perks to wealthy?

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Collaborative Law on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

The Chicago Tribune released a blockbuster this week when it documented in an extensive article that Cook County Domestic Relations Division judges have been allowing the wealthy and influential to file divorce, child custody, parentage and other domestic cases using only their initials -- or agreeing to seal such cases altogether.

Even though divorce and domestic relations cases often involve highly personal family issues and financial disclosures, both Illinois and U.S. law isn't meant to work that way. Under our judicial system, the strong expectation that all court proceedings are matters of public record. Juvenile delinquency proceedings are generally confidential, but otherwise people of all stations in life are subject to the same rule.

"If you avail yourself of the court system, you have to pay the price of it being public," the president of the Illinois chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers explained to the Tribune. "If we start making exceptions for the rich and famous, it creates a dual court system, which goes against our populist belief of what a court should be, which is really justice for all without distinguishing between the rich and poor."

Changes may be coming to Illinois child custody and parentage law

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Child Custody on Friday, April 26, 2013.

Last week, we discussed a bill before the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee that would clarify and codify the collaborative law process for resolving divorce and family law disputes. That bill isn't the only family law reform proposal before the legislature this year, however. Two other bills, the proposed Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act and Illinois Parentage Act would make substantial, although commonsense changes to the divorce process, child custody and parenting time, parental decision-making and child support.

The bills were developed by the bipartisan Family Law Study Committee, which spent the last four years examining the issues and gathering input from judges, family law attorneys, child advocates and the public about needed reforms to Illinois divorce and family law. The last time the laws were updated was more than 35 years ago, and many believe they are in dire need of an update.

Between the two proposals, a number of changes would be made to current practice in and surrounding the family courts. For example, the proposals would prohibit the practice of filing "home-wrecker" lawsuits against third parties who allegedly cause marital breakups.

Illinois Senate proposal would codify collaborative law practice

On behalf of The Law Offices of James M. Kelly posted in Collaborative Law on Friday, April 19, 2013.

A bill currently being considered by the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee could provide clearer guidance to those interested in a more amicable way to resolve divorce and family disputes. Collaborative law isn't new -- it's already being practiced by trained family law practitioners across the state. If passed, however, the Illinois Uniform Collaborative Law Act would lay out the expectations and obligations of the parties, lawyers and other professionals who take part in the process.

Choosing collaborative law for a divorce or other family law problem often saves people time and money. More importantly, the process provides a fair, structured process that is geared toward reaching agreement, as opposed to courtroom litigation, which is designed for adversaries.

In the collaborative law process, the parties can have their own attorneys, but those attorneys are given a strong incentive to reach an agreement -- they generally can't represent that client in litigation if an agreement can't be reached. The parties also have access to experts, such as accountants, child custody evaluators and psychologists, just as they could if they went to court.

Cook County Custody & Visitation Law Blog