IN PLAIN ENGLISH
How custody works in Illinois
Illinois splits what most people call custody into two parts. [IL-P9] Significant decision-making means the big decisions about your child: school, health care, religion and extracurricular activities. [IL-P2] Parenting time means the time your child is in your care, when you handle day-to-day decisions. [IL-P4]
The judge divides both parts based on your child's best interests. [IL-P1, IL-P2] The law presumes both parents are fit, and the judge cannot restrict a parent's time unless that time would seriously endanger the child. [IL-P1] But there is no rule that time must be split equally, and the law does not require that each parent get decision-making. [IL-P2]
Within 120 days after the case is filed or served, each parent (or both together) must file a proposed parenting plan. [IL-P3] If you agree on a plan, the judge will usually approve it unless it is not in your child's best interests. [IL-P3] If you do not agree, the judge will order mediation unless something makes mediation inappropriate, and then hold a hearing. [IL-P3]
If you were not married when your child was born, a legal parent-child relationship (parentage) usually has to be set up first, either by both parents signing a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage or through a court case. [IL-P10, IL-P11] A name on the birth certificate alone does not establish parentage. [IL-P10]
Words you’ll see in your papers
- Allocation of parental responsibilities
- Illinois' term for a custody case: the court divides decision-making and parenting time between the parents. [IL-P9, IL-P2]
- Significant decision-making
- Deciding issues of long-term importance in your child's life, like school, health care, religion and activities. [IL-P4, IL-P2]
- Parenting time
- The time your child is in your care. It replaced the old word "visitation". [IL-P4, IL-P10]
- Parenting plan
- A written agreement or proposal that divides decision-making, parenting time, or both. [IL-P4]
- Relocation
- A move far enough that the law requires notice: more than 25 miles from the child's home in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry or Will County, more than 50 miles from any other county, or more than 25 miles out of state. [IL-P4]
- VAP (Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage)
- A form both parents sign in front of a witness to make someone a child's legal parent without going to court. [IL-P11]
COMMON QUESTIONS
What parents in Illinois ask first
Does Illinois start from 50/50?
No. Illinois presumes both parents are fit, but there is no presumption of equal time. [IL-P1] The judge divides parenting time and decision-making based on the child's best interests, and the law does not require that each parent get decision-making responsibilities. [IL-P1, IL-P2]
What does the judge look at?
For parenting time, the law lists factors including: what each parent wants; what the child wants, depending on maturity; how much caretaking each parent did in the 24 months before the case (or since birth for a child under 2); the child's relationships with parents and siblings; the child's adjustment to home, school and community; everyone's mental and physical health; the distance between homes and the cost of travel; whether each parent puts the child's needs first; whether each parent supports the child's relationship with the other parent; and any violence, threats or abuse. [IL-P1] The judge may not consider a parent's conduct that does not affect that parent's relationship with the child. [IL-P1]
Is there a standard schedule?
No statewide schedule applies automatically. [IL-P8] The Illinois Supreme Court's approved parenting plan form gives blank weekly charts (and a second chart if you alternate weeks) plus holiday and school-break sections that parents fill in. [IL-P8]
Does my child get to choose?
There is no set age in Illinois law. [IL-P1] The judge considers the child's wishes, taking into account the child's maturity and ability to express reasoned and independent preferences. [IL-P1, IL-P2] The child's wishes are one factor, not the deciding vote. [IL-P1]
Can I move away with my child?
Only a parent who has the majority of parenting time, or equal parenting time, may ask to relocate with the child. [IL-P5] For a move that counts as a relocation, you must give the other parent at least 60 days' written notice and file a copy with the court clerk. [IL-P5, IL-P4] If the other parent signs the notice, the move can go ahead; if not, you must file a petition and the judge decides based on factors like the reasons for the move, schools, extended family and the impact on the child. [IL-P5]
Can the order be changed later?
Yes. Parenting time can be changed at any time if circumstances have changed and a change is needed for your child's best interests. [IL-P6] Decision-making usually cannot be changed within 2 years of the order unless both parents agree or there is reason to believe the child is seriously endangered. [IL-P6] Some changes, like minor changes or putting in writing an arrangement that has worked for 6 months without objection, need no showing of changed circumstances. [IL-P6]
We were never married. What happens first?
First, parentage must be established. [IL-P10] If both parents agree, they can sign a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage in front of a witness; if not, a parent can go to court. [IL-P10, IL-P11] A parentage case through the state child support agency (DHFS) handles parentage and support only and does not decide parenting time or decision-making, so you would still ask a court for those. [IL-P10]
What if I am not safe?
If the judge finds after a hearing that a parent seriously endangered the child's mental, moral or physical health, or significantly harmed the child's emotional development, the judge must enter orders to protect the child. [IL-P7] These can include reducing or ending that parent's time or decision-making, supervised parenting time, exchanges in a protected setting or through another person, limits on contact, and required treatment. [IL-P7] Violence, threats and abuse are also factors in every parenting time decision. [IL-P1]
Free, official places to start
- Illinois Legal Aid Online: Parental responsibilities (custody and visitation)
Free guides and interview-style forms to start, answer or change a parental responsibilities case.
- Illinois Legal Aid Online: Parentage basics
How unmarried parents establish parentage, and when to talk to a lawyer about parenting time.
- Illinois approved Parenting Plan form (PDF)
The statewide fill-in parenting plan used in Illinois circuit courts.
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT · CHICAGO
Cook County
Circuit Court of Cook County, Domestic Relations Division
Cook County makes mediation mandatory for first-time parental responsibilities cases, changes to them, relocation and non-parent visitation. [IL-P12] Under local Rule 13.4, the judge must first consider any "impediment to mediation," such as past or present family violence or abuse. [IL-P14] Parents in these cases must also complete an approved parenting education program before mediation; the court's in-person Focus on Children class is four hours and costs $50 unless a judge waives the fee. [IL-P13, IL-P14] When the parents cannot agree on a mediator, the court's Family Court Services runs child-related mediation. [IL-P12] Cook County does not add its own parenting-time schedule in these sources; the statewide factors and parenting plan form still apply. [IL-P15, IL-P8]
- Mediation Program for Domestic Relations Cases
Which cases must go to mediation in Cook County and the three ways to get a mediator.
- Parent Education (Focus on Children)
How to register for the required parenting class, cost, schedule and FAQs.
- Circuit Court Rules, Part 13: Domestic Relations Proceedings
Cook County's local family court rules, including Rule 13.4 on mediation and parenting education.
- Rule 13.4(f) Consolidated Referral Order, CCDR 0009 (PDF)
The order a judge uses to send parents to parent education, mediation or a hearing officer.
Other counties in Illinois can have different local rules and forms. Check the court where your case is filed.
THE DETAILED GUIDE · WHAT KIND OF SCHEDULE THE LAW PROVIDES
No fixed statewide schedule identified
Research overview
Individualized allocation under 750 ILCS 5/602.7 and 602.10; statewide approved parenting-plan form is a fill-in schedule, not a statutory standard possession order. [IL1–IL3]
Legal force and applicability
Case-specific calendar; no fixed statewide calendar identified in reviewed sources. Any custody/allocation presumption is separate.
Schedule & conditions
Read these topics together with your actual order. A model, form, or presumption does not automatically supply an enforceable calendar.
Regular school-year schedule
No statewide fixed rotation identified in the reviewed sources. Form ATJ 108.4 provides blank hourly weekly charts and an optional second alternating week; parents identify their time by initials. [IL3]
Holidays and school breaks
No statewide fixed odd/even allocation identified in the reviewed sources; enter the actual holiday and school-break provisions in the plan. [IL2,IL3]
Summer and vacation time
No statewide fixed summer allotment identified in the reviewed sources; use the agreed/ordered vacation and summer provisions. [IL2,IL3]
Age and development
Child’s wishes are weighted for maturity and ability to state reasoned independent preferences; needs and caretaking history matter. The 24-month caretaking lookback becomes since birth for children under 2. No age-triggered statewide rotation. [IL1]
Safety & exceptions
General restrictions under §§602.7 and 603.10 require the applicable hearing and preponderance findings of serious endangerment or significant impairment of emotional development. Section 603.10(a) then requires protective orders as necessary, which may reduce/eliminate time, require supervision or safeguard exchanges. Separate §603.10(e) rules deny entitlement to parenting time during specified felony incarceration/supervision after a minor-victim illegal-sex-act conviction until court-set best-interest conditions are met; §603.10(f) separately governs visits to a person convicted of first-degree murder while the child is present. [IL1,IL4]