How do I get a visitation order in Illinois?
Asked in Chicago, IL on April 22, 2019 Last answered on May 29, 20263 answers
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2005 Obtaining a court-ordered visitation schedule in Illinois is critically important to protect your rights to see your children. Without a court order setting forth a specific visitation schedule, parenting time or custody, there may be little one parent can do to prevent the other from making unilateral decisions that impair and harm the time you spend with your own children. Thus, it is crucial for you to work with an experienced family law attorney to safeguard your parental rights.
The best way to secure your visitation rights is to have an Illinois divorce attorney petition the court for a “court-ordered visitation schedule.” It is important that the resulting visitation arrangement specify when visitation is to begin and end, and where it is to take place. This needs to be done so that the order will have teeth and be enforceable. The more ambiguous the court-ordered visitation rights, the less likely they will be enforced by a judge.
In Illinois, once you have a court-ordered visitation schedule you will have two possible courses of action to enforce your visitation rights and protect your visitation rights. One is criminal in nature, and the other is civil. The strategic choice about which legal option makes the most sense would be made on a case-by-case basis. Interference with visitation rights can be a crime under Illinois law, which is punishable by up to one year in jail upon the third conviction. You can alternatively pursue the matter civilly by filing a petition for rule to show cause (contempt) against the custodial parent.
For more information about Illinois visitation orders, please visit me at www.dadsrights.com.
Free Consultation you need to file a motion first and get the order approved by a judge.
Free Consultation To get a visitation order in Illinois, you must first establish that you are the child's parent.
If you were married to the child's mother, you will be presumed to be the child's parent.
If you were not married to the child's mother, you can ask the court to declare you the parent and that you be granted visitation with the child via a Petition for Parentage and Parenting Time.
An Illinois court must grant some kind of overnight visitation unless the court finds "[a]fter a hearing, if the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that a parent engaged in any conduct that seriously endangered the child’s mental, moral, or physical health or that significantly impaired the child’s emotional development" 750 ILCS 5/603.10
Initial visitation orders are likely to be limited in time and build up to a permanent parenting time order once the child, the other parent and the court are comfortable with your capacity to provide long-term care for the child.
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