Wheaton Child Custody Lawyer
Helping You Find Solutions That Work
When you are divorcing, it may be easy to forget about the impact of divorce on children. Whether our attorney is your advocate in court, or working through mediation, the primary focus is always on the best interest of the children. Can you and your spouse agree on your children’s education, religious upbringing and medical treatment decisions? If you can agree on these major issues, then joint legal custody is a good option.
Elizabeth Chacko is a Wheaton child custody attorney who also acts as a neutral third party in mediation.
Even though there has been a shift toward more equal parenting time requests, the Illinois court generally prefers that the children have a primary residence to call home. Equal parenting time does not necessarily eliminate the need for child support payments.
Child custody is either joint custody or sole custody. In joint custody, one of the parents will be named a residential custodian. With sole custody, one parent will be solely responsible for decision-making regarding religion, medical choices and education. The court will look at whether parents can make decisions together in these three areas when deciding whether to award joint or sole custody.
Lombard Child Visitation Attorney
If the parents can agree on education, religion and medical issues, our family law attorney would help you to work out a parenting time or visitation agreement that works for all parties. Some of the considerations include the physical residence of each parent, education considerations, past parenting history and potential substance or abuse issues.
After the child custody determinations are made, a joint parenting agreement or parenting plan is developed and child support determinations are made. There may be additional expenses to consider, such as extra-curricular activities, medical expenses not covered by insurance, education expenses and day care expenses for young children.
Finding Closure
At the Law Office of Elizabeth J. Chacko, P.C., we work toward solutions that are agreeable for everyone involved so that there is family closure. The less acrimonious the divorce, the better the relationship between the parents, which, in the end, is better for the children. We help families through this by providing reading material for the adults and children, and referrals to counselors or other professionals as needed.
Contact Our Lawyer
The initial consultation is always at no charge. Please call (630) 580-9645 for any family law services, including mediation. Or send our law office an e-mail. We look forward to helping you.