The Wolkowitz Law Office

Tag: child custody jurisdiction

  • Child custody in Illinois: evidence basics

    As a Chicago divorce lawyer, I tell clients that in a child custody case, most decisions will be made according to the child’s “best interests,” pursuant to Section 601 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (the “IMDMA”). Therefore, in a child custody matter, a parent’s lawyer needs to apply the law to the sometimes confusing facts of a case.

    Evidence in a child custody case in Illinois

    Parents in a child custody case can be overwhelmed with evidence, or potential evidence. Part of the challenge is to determine what evidence is relevant, and what is not. It’s not productive to spend time on worrying about gathering evidence that would not be meaningful to a judge. Also, as I wrote in my article “Illinois child custody: Liars common, but not invincible,” lying in child custody cases is commonplace – proper evidence can be effective in defeating lies.

    Evidence in a child custody case may include:

    • testimony from parents and others
    • social media websites (Facebook, etc)
    • photographs
    • videos
    • emails
    • text messages
    • psychological reports

    Getting organized

    Parents in a child custody case are rightfully concerned about the cost of the case. To minimize costs, it is important to use a lawyer efficiently.

    When I help a parent gather evidence for an Illinois child custody case, I like to help the parent understand how to organize the evidence, and how to communicate its relevance. As a Chicago child custody lawyer, I know that my clients benefit when I spend less time sorting through mounds of evidence, and more time determining how to best utilize that evidence.

    Keeping the goal in mind

    In a child custody case, the major topics of disagreement are legal custody and parenting time. You will want to gather evidence that is useful for the goal you are trying to achieve.

    Legal custody: Legal custody requires a determination of whether parents will have joint legal custody, or if one will have sole legal custody. Whether a parent has joint or sole custody does not determine how much time the child spends with each parent.

    Parenting time (visitation): One parent may have sole legal custody, but a child still might spend equal time with both parents. Or, parents might share joint legal custody, but the child may spend 80% of his or her time with one parent.

     

  • Child custody emergencies: act quickly

    If you have an Illinois child custody emergency, you may need to act quickly.

    Consider the situation encountered by one of my colleagues. He received a very distressing telephone call from a mother in child custody dispute.  She was in an absolute panic. “They’re going to take away my two girls,”  she said.

    She felt there was clear evidence that the father was abusing the children, but she couldn’t make her case in court.

    She tried her best to explain her situation between bursts of tears. The father had hired an attorney and the mother did not.  She said there was a court hearing in only a half hour, and it was about whether the mother would be jailed for disobeying a court order by keeping her children from their father. According to the mother, she had good reason to keep the girls away from their father. But now, she was in hot water – even though she wanted to protect her children.

    She needed a lawyer to help her make her case to the judge that she was justified in disobeying the court order. But by the time she realized she needed help, it was too late.

    If you are in an Illinois child custody dispute, it may very well be in your best interest to consult a Chicago divorce lawyer. While you understandably don’t want to waste money on at attorney, as the case just described shows, you could be setting yourself up for a major problem.

    If you have an Illinois child custody emergency, please contact me, Chicago, Evanston and Schaumburg family law attorney David Wolkowitz; I may be able to help.

     

  • Kim Kardashian: domestic violence on display before divorce

    Kim Kardashian’s marriage is a hot topic these days. She’s filed for divorce – no surprise there. But the domestic violence she committed against husband Kris Humphries is serious.

    In the context of Illinois marriage, child custody, and divorce, domestic violence is usually viewed as something men commit against women. But it can go both ways, as Kim Kardashian demonstrated while the cameras rolled during the season premier of “Kourtney & Kim Take Manhattan.” Kim seemed to put her full force into hitting her monstrous husband during an argument.Kim Kardashian divorce domestic violence

    Dr. Drew Pinskey said “What you are seeing there is domestic violence . . . A lot of people watching this may not understand this. And I get that. It looks playful. What’s the big deal? But it’s a massive deal … This is an incontrovertible piece of evidence of someone engaged in a domestic violence relationship.”

    Luckily for all Earth’s creatures, the two brainiacs involved in the domestic spat have not produced a child.

    But if they did, and they lived in Illinois, their divorce and child custody case might be complicated by Kim Kardashian’s domestic violence.

    As I discussed in my post titled “Illinois Child Custody Factors,” the presence of domestic violence in a relationship is factor courts may use in determining child custody.  In the context of an Illinois child custody dispute, domestic violence is defined by Section 103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 19 (750 ILCS 60/103) as “physical abuse, harassment, intimidation of a dependent, interference with personal liberty or willful deprivation but does not include reasonable direction of a minor child by a parent or person [acting in the place of a parent].”

    Here are some things to keep in mind about domestic violence as it relates to child custody disputes:

    • The perpetrator of domestic violence need not be male.
    • The victim need not be heart for domestic violence to be present and used by a judge as a factor to determine child custody.
    • Domestic violence is not limited to physical violence
    People need to use common sense when in a child custody dispute. As a Chicago divorce lawyer, there are few things that bother me more than a person making false allegations of abuse against the other parent. Simply because someone is “mean” or a “jerk” does not mean that domestic violence is present.
    However, if you are truly a victim of domestic violence, then you should consider taking action before your problem gets worse. Please contact me, Chicago, Evanston and Schaumburg family law attorney David Wolkowitz; I may be able to help.

     

     

  • FAQ: UCCJEA judicial communication in interstate child custody cases

    FAQ: UCCJEA judicial communication in interstate child custody cases

    If you are involved in an interstate child custody dispute, the you need to know about the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, or UCCJEA. When a child custody case spans two states, such as Illinois and Michigan (for example), the UCCJEA provides guidance on judicial communication. Judicial communication, often referred to as a “judicial teleconference,” plays a crucial role in determining the trajectory of the reminder of a UCCJEA case. As a renowned UCCJEA lawyer in Illinois, I’ve put together some information I think is crucial in helping people prepare fort the beginning stages of a UCCJEA case.

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