Child Custody

Details Matter When Making a Parenting Plan

Your parenting plan directly addresses your rights as a parent, which makes it an especially important matter. When it comes to your parenting plan, the details make the difference, which makes working closely with an experienced Illinois family law attorney in your best interest. 

Your Parenting Plan

Your parenting plan is a document that delineates how you and your children’s other parent will proceed with making important decisions on behalf of your children – while folding in the details of how you and your ex will be dividing your time with your shared children (the allocation of parenting time). In other words, it addresses wide-ranging details, and the more precise you are with these details at the outset, the less likely problems are to arise. 

Pay Attention to the Details

Your parenting plan is intended to keep you and your ex on track when it comes to your parental responsibilities. Because life has a way of throwing us curveballs, your parenting plan needs to be nimble, and the more careful you are in its creation, the better prepared you’ll be to take on whatever comes your way. You have 120 days from the date of requesting parental responsibility (child custody arrangements) to file your parenting plan. 

If you and your children’s other parent can hammer out details that you are both willing to sign off on, the court will very likely make your mutually agreed-upon parenting plan binding. If not, however, the court will take your filed parenting plan along with your soon-to-be-ex’s (if he or she filed one) and will create a parenting plan deemed to be in the best interests of your children. While the judge in your case is not required to adhere to the parenting play you submit, he or she cannot take your thoughts and concerns on the matter into consideration if they are not available to him or her. 

What to Include

In an effort to be as thorough as possible in the creation of your parenting plan, it’s important to keep all of the following details in mind:

• Your work and weekend schedules
• Your plans for the transportation of your children back and forth between you and their other parent
• Childcare determinations
• How the children will communicate with the parent they aren’t with at the time
• Who will be making primary parenting decisions, including those about health care and vaccinations
• Curfews for your children
• Expectations regarding your children’s school efforts and grades
• Guidelines related to your children’s internet and smartphone usage
• The allocation of legal and physical custody (parental responsibilities) overall
• Any third-party visitation
• Your vacation plans moving forward
• Your holiday schedules
• Your plans for birthdays

Reach out to an Experienced Family Law Attorney for the Legal Guidance You Need

The seasoned Illinois family law attorneys at SLG Family Law have the keen legal insight to help you advantageously resolve your parenting time concerns. Please don’t wait to contact us for more information today.