Divorcing parents have many different options for raising their children as divorced co-parents. For some divorcing spouses, it makes sense for one parent to take most or all the parenting responsibilities and parenting time. For example, if one parent works in another state, frequently travels outside the country, is incarcerated, or cannot provide a safe home for the children, sole custody may be in the child’s best interests.
In other cases, parents want to share responsibility for their child and ensure they both spend enough time with the child. Illinois law used to refer to this type of arrangement as joint custody. However, the language used in Illinois child custody laws has since been updated. A custody arrangement in which both parents have a relatively equal amount of parenting time is called shared parenting time.
How Does a Shared Parenting Arrangement Work?
When parents get divorced in Illinois, they fill out a document called a parenting plan. This plan will address multiple crucial issues, including how the parents will make significant decisions about their child, such as where the child will go to school. The parenting plan while also describe the parenting time schedule, which is the schedule for when the child will live with each parent. In a shared parenting arrangement, the child spends at least 146 days a year with each parent.
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