Tips for Personalizing Your Parenting Plan After an Illinois Divorce

 Posted on July 31, 2020 in Divorce

For many parents, the most difficult part of the divorce is the children. How will they react to the news of the divorce? How much time will I get to spend with them each day? Who will pay child support to whom? These are some of the things that may be running through your mind as you go through a divorce as a parent. The good news is that many, if not most of your questions will be answered once you and your spouse come to an agreement on a parenting plan for your children. In Illinois, you are required to file a parenting plan that outlines certain issues before you can finalize your divorce. Your parenting plan can also be a valuable tool to utilize when you set out to co-parent with your spouse after the divorce.

Provisions to Consider Adding

Co-parenting is never easy, even when you are doing it with your spouse when you are married. Co-parenting with an ex can be especially stressful and emotionally taxing, but a clear-cut parenting plan can help take some of the uncertainty out of what the expectations of each parent are. Illinois courts require certain elements to be present in a parenting plan for it to be valid, such as a parenting time schedule and an allocation of parental responsibilities. You may want to consider adding other provisions such as:

• How to settle conflicts: Illinois requires you to include in your parenting plan provisions for how you and your spouse will settle disputes over parenting time or parental responsibilities, but there are no requirements about other types of disputes. Including a provision on how you and your ex will settle disputes over anything can be useful. For example, you and your ex can agree that if the disagreement escalates enough, you will both go to a third-party mediator to work things out.

• Rules between homes: You can also include a provision for rules between you and your ex’s home. Children do well with consistency, so having the same rules and expectations of your child in each home is good. Including a provision in your parenting plan that requires the household rules to remain similar helps to maintain a consistent environment.

• Discipline methods: Finally, it can also be helpful to include a section on how you and your ex agree to discipline your child. There are various forms of discipline and many times, parents can disagree on which form of discipline is the most effective. However, including a plan for disciplining your child in your parenting plan can be helpful because this also helps maintain consistency for your child.

Contact a Kane County Divorce Attorney

Even though you are required by law to have a parenting plan in place before you can finalize your divorce, you can add things to your parenting plan to help co-parenting with your spouse a little easier. At the Law Office of Matthew M. Williams, P.C, we can help you create an arrangement that encompasses everything you need to address. To schedule a confidential consultation with our North Aurora parenting plan lawyer, call our office today at 630-409-8184.

Sources:

https://www.ourfamilywizard.com/blog/including-provisions-your-parenting-plan

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=075000050HPt%2E+VI&ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&SeqStart=8350000&SeqEnd=10200000