Understanding Shared Parenting Time in a DuPage County Divorce

 Posted on May 26, 2023 in Family Law

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.

How Does Child Support Work in a Shared Parenting Arrangement?

Child support laws changed in 2017. Instead of child support obligations being based solely on the paying parent’s net income, both parents’ incomes are now used to calculate the child support payment amount. The parent with less parenting time owes child support to the parent with more parenting time.

In a child custody arrangement where one parent has the child most of the time, the amount of support the obligor pays is based solely on financial factors. The exact amount of parenting time each parent is responsible for is not factored into the equation.

In a shared parenting time situation, formerly called joint custody, the amount of parenting time each parent has is factored into the support calculation. The more parenting time the obligor has, the lesser his or her support obligation.

Contact our DuPage County Child Support Lawyer

If you are a parent planning to divorce, let our skilled Wheaton divorce attorneys help you with child custody, parenting plans, child support, and other child-related legal matters. Call our office at 630-364-4046 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=075000050K602.7