Parents who file for divorce in Illinois often hear about a parenting plan long before they know what goes into one. It’s a written document that sets out how the children will be raised after the case ends. The law gives parents a deadline to submit one, and it lists what the plan has to cover.
When Does a Parenting Plan Have to Be Filed?
Under 750 ILCS 5/602.10, all parents must file a proposed parenting plan within 120 days after service or filing of any petition for allocation of parental responsibilities. The plan can be filed jointly or separately, and the court can extend the deadline for good cause.
What Happens if No Plan Is Filed?
The court has to hold an evidentiary hearing to decide how parental responsibilities will be allocated. That puts the judge in the position of choosing between competing accounts, and it can leave decisions about the children’s daily lives in the court’s hands. A Lincoln Park family lawyer can help draft a proposed plan early, so the court has something concrete to work from.
What Must a Parenting Plan Include?
The statute sets a minimum list. Among other things, a plan has to cover:
- An allocation of significant decision-making responsibilities.
- Living arrangements and a parenting time schedule.
- A mediation provision for any proposed reallocation of parenting time.
- Each parent’s access to the child’s medical, dental, school, and child care records.
- Advance written notice when a parent plans to change residences.
- Transportation arrangements between the parents.
- Ways for the child to communicate with a parent during the other parent’s time.
Parents can add other provisions that serve the child’s best interests, including a right of first refusal when one parent needs child care.
How Detailed Does the Schedule Need to Be?
Detailed enough to enforce. The statute allows either a calendar showing which home the child will be in on given days or a formula that is specific enough to apply later without argument. Vague language like “reasonable time” tends to cause trouble down the road.
Holidays, school breaks, and summer weeks deserve their own lines. Parents who work together on those details can find that collaborative co-parenting is easier to keep up once the plan is in place.
What if the Parents Disagree on the Plan?
Each parent can file a separate proposed plan, and the court resolves the differences. Narrowing them first can save time. A mediation session can settle the schedule while the case is still moving, and mediation for custody disputes can keep cost and conflict down compared with a contested hearing.
Talks sometimes stall on decision-making or parenting time. At that point a Lincoln Park child custody lawyer can present each parent’s position to the court in an organized way, with the schedule and the children’s routines laid out clearly.
Can a Parenting Plan Be Changed Later?
Yes, and the plan itself should say how. The statute requires provisions on a parent’s relocation, if that could happen, and on modifications when specified events occur. Children’s needs shift as they grow, so a plan that anticipates a move or a new school is easier to live with. Putting those contingencies in writing now is easier than negotiating them after a dispute has started.
When circumstances change in ways the plan didn’t cover, modifying a custody order may be an option. Keeping notes on what changed, and when, makes that conversation easier.
Plans for relocating with a child deserve their own attention, since a move changes the schedule for everyone. Advance written notice of a residence change is one of the items the statute lists for that reason.
How Do We Handle Parenting Plans?
At Hurst, Kay, Allen & Stambler, LLC, associate Priyal Thakkar represents clients in divorce and custody disputes, and she is fluent in Hindi, Gujarati, and Urdu. Olga A. Allen leads the firm as managing partner. We start by learning how each child’s week actually runs and then write a schedule that fits it.
What Should a Parent Do Before the 120 Days Run Out?
Start gathering information about school hours, work schedules, and travel needs now, since those facts shape every part of the plan. A parent in Chicago who has been served with a petition or is about to file can reach out to a Lincoln Park family lawyer to build a proposed plan well before the deadline arrives.
