Crest Hill Child Custody Attorneys

If you are facing a child custody concern, it’s a complicated legal matter that will significantly affect you and your children’s future. Because the stakes are so high, you need an experienced Crest Hill child custody attorney on your side. Whether you’re going through a divorce or need a child custody modification, the best path forward includes having professional legal counsel on your side. 

Legal Custody

Child custody in the State of Illinois is divided into legal and physical custody. Legal custody refers to who takes on the parental right and responsibility of making important decisions that help guide your children’s lives forward. These decisions can relate to all of the following:

• Your children’s ongoing education
• Your children’s ongoing religious education (if any)
• Your children’s health care
• Your children’s extracurricular participation

Legal custody can be either sole (one parent makes these decisions on his or her own) or joint (both parents participate). When children are spending time with one or the other of their parents, that parent is responsible for making those day-to-day decisions that all parents encounter – and for making any on-the-spot emergency decisions that must be made. 

Physical Custody

Physical custody (called residential custody in Illinois) refers to whom the children live with – and on what schedule. Physical custody can also be sole or joint. In fact, you can negotiate physical custody arrangements that suit your schedules, that accommodate your children’s needs, and that take in any other factors that are unique to your family into account, which allows you a good deal of flexibility when it comes to arranging your parenting plan. If you and your soon-to-be-ex, however, are unable to find common ground in relation to your child custody arrangements, the court will intervene and do so for you. 

One important note is that, even if you are awarded sole physical custody of your children, the court is still very likely to award their other parent a visitation schedule (barring a compelling reason not to do so). This is based on the court’s presumption that it is in the children’s best interests to continue fostering a relationship with both parents and on the court’s motivation to uphold the best interests of the children. 

Negotiating Child Custody Terms

Negotiating child custody terms with your divorcing spouse can obviously be a complicated and emotionally fraught endeavor, but you won’t need to go it alone. In fact, you and your spouse can negotiate between yourselves with your respective child custody attorney’s guidance, your respective child custody attorneys can negotiate on your behalf, or you can take the matter to mediation where a professional mediator who is a neutral third-party will attempt to help you settle on a compromise that you can both accept. 

An Experienced Crest Hill Child Custody Attorney Can Help

The dedicated Crest Hill child custody attorneys at Sabuco Beck know how difficult it can be to settle on child custody arrangements, and we’re committed to diligently helping you find a path forward that works for you and your children. Your case is important, so please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information today.