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Parent Child Relationship When Moving a Child Out of State

The Parent Child Relationship When Moving a Child Out of State

The purpose of this blog is to inform the reader as to the procedure and law that dictates
the court's consideration of preserving the parent child relationship when moving a child
out of state after a divorce has been concluded. This is affects cases of Palatine divorce,
Arlington Heights divorce, Rolling Meadows divorce and all other areas of Illinois.

MOVING A MINOR CHILD OUT OF STATE PART XI

A. Removal by Agreement vs. Removal by Contest in Court
II. Removal by Contest in Court
i. When the parties cannot agree as to the removal of a minor child then the court shall after
a hearing determine whether the child should be removed. The section that controls removal when
there is no agreement as to same is Section 609.2(g).
ii. This Section states that, “the court shall modify the parenting plan or allocation judgment
in accordance with the child’s best interests. The Court shall consider the following factors:

1. The tenth factor that the statute sets forth is “the
minimization of the impairment to a parent-child
relationship caused by a parent’s relocation”. This of
course is the ultimate objective of a domestic relations
court in any circumstance. With short distance
relocations, this may be more possible than with longer
distance moves. For example, a move from Grays Lake, Illinois to
Kenosha, Wisconsin can be worked out in such a way that the
child will still have adequate time with both parents.
This being the case as long as the parents are willing to
sacrifice some additional time of theirs (primarily in
driving) to make sure the child can get to the other
parent. Thus, the disruption to the child can be greatly
lessened. On the other hand, a move to California will be
disruptive even in the best of circumstances. In a move
of that sort the non-moving parent’s parenting time will
be limited to the child’s summer break and holidays
from school. There simply is not much the Court can
do about that. ​

In the next blog we will take a look at the rest of the factors that the court can consider
when determining whether the minor child can be removed from the jurisdiction of Illinois.

About the author:
James M. Kelly is a Palatine lawyer who specializes in family law, divorce and bankruptcy. He is
engaged in representing clients in contested and uncontested
dissolution of marriage proceedings and bankruptcy proceedings, both Chapter 7 and
Chapter 13. James Kelly, has been practicing in the northwest suburbs of Cook County
and to a very relevant extent McHenry County, Lake County and DuPage County. James
Kelly has been admitted to the practice of law in the State of Illinois since 1994.

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