Child Custody

 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. #childcustody,

Common Law Marriages

Common law marriages are not valid in Illinois, so you need a license to be legally married in this state. Unless you entered into a common law marriage in another state that allows them, or allowed them while you were living together, you were not married.

Changes regarding custody and visitation rights

Prior to 2016, the parties were defined as a "custodial parent" or "non-custodial parent," and the "non-custodial parent" was allotted "visitation rights."  The terms "custody" and "visitation" have been done away with and replaced with "allocation of parenting time and responsibility."  The intention is to soften the blow for the parent who would have previously been labeled as "non-custodial" and to reduce disputes over custody. 

In addition, parenting responsibility is divided into four categories: medical, education, religious, and extra-curricular.  The responsibility for making decisions regarding each of these separate categories will be divided among the parents either by agreement or by order of the court.