Joint Custody
The Residential Parent (who for the pure sake of ease in writing we will call Mom), thinks that she has won something and the Alternate Residential Parent (who for the pure sake of ease in writing we will call Dad) thinks that he has lost something. Unfortunately both are wrong and their personal view is faulty. The children did not cause the divorce, you did. The children should have a reasonable expectation that, except for visitation and overnights with Dad they really “should” continue on as they would have if both parents were living together and giving the children the support and nurturing they deserve. First, permit me a word about “JOINT CUSTODY” and “SOLE CUSTODY”: CUSTODY either sole or joint has been around informally since the time married people began to separate and eventually get divorced. Some years ago, Judges and the Legislature with help from the Bar Association, decided that the whole concept of winner/loser was creating too many problems so that the label “Joint” came into being. Joint Custody is the product of a “Joint Custody Agreement” or “Order of Joint Custody” A look at our statute is helpful: THE ILLINOIS MARRIAGE & DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE ACT which we will refer to as simply IMDMA (750 ILCS 5/ 1 et seq, which is the citation to the statutes) provides in Section 602.1 (b) the following:
131 views • 6 slides