Parenting Plan Examples

A parenting plan is a written document confirming what the parents have agreed to with respect to their children. It is signed and dated by both parents, but is not lodged with the court (in the way that consent orders are). Parenting plans are not legally binding and cannot be enforced by the court.

The best way to secure your visitation rights is to have an Illinois divorce attorney petition the court for a court-ordered visitation schedule. It is important that the resulting visitation arrangement specify when visitation is to begin and end, and where it is to take place.

50/50 schedules work best when: The parents live fairly close to each other, so exchanges are easier. The parents are able to communicate with each other about the child without fighting. The child is able to handle switching between parents' homes.

Under Illinois law, married parents have joint residential and legal custody of a child born of the marriage while they are married. With unmarried parents, the mother has sole legal and residential custody of the child until a finding of paternity is made and the father petitions the court for some form of custody.

The most common arrangement is one in which one parent has sole physical custody, both parents have legal custody, and the noncustodial parent is granted visitation time.

An unfit parent is defined in Illinois as someone who can objectively be found to not have the child or children's best interests at heart. This can be shown by a lengthy list of considerations contained in the statute.

Each parent must file a parenting plan within 120 days of asking the court for parental responsibilities; If the parents agree on parental responsibilities, including parenting time, they can file one parenting plan (signed by both parents) within the 120 days.

Common joint physical custody schedules Two weeks each schedule when the child lives with one parent for two weeks and the other parent the next two weeks. 2-2-3 schedule where the child lives with one parent for two days, the other parent for two days and the parents alternate a three day weekend.

Parental responsibilities (joint legal custody) gives both parents equal authority regarding major decisions about the child such as education, health care, and religion.Parenting time (joint physical custody) maximizes the time the child has with both parents.