When two people are going through a divorce, one of the first things courts consider is whether the marriage itself was VALID. Albeit rare, under Illinois law, parties can assert a ground for dissolution of the marriage alleging that the marriage itself was not valid. Here are a few of the possible reasons: a party lacked property capacity to consent to …
Illinois Family Law: Common Law Marriage
Interestingly, Illinois does not recognize common law marriage (i.e., when two people cohabitate and hold the other out as a spouse for a certain period of time); however, Illinois WILL recognize a common law marriage in other state if that couple then moves to Illinois and then wants a divorce. Importantly, this doesn’t affect child support if there are kidlets …
New York Child Custody and Visitation Agreements – Think About Traveling with Children
The Courts have found travel to be in the best interest of the child. Consequently, a parent should not unreasonably withhold consent for the child to travel with the other parent. If the non-traveling parent unreasonably withholds consent then the court can override the non-traveling parent’s objection to the travel. See Matter of Arroyo v. Agosta, 2010 NY Slip Op …
New York Child Custody and Visitation Law: Agreements to “Electronic Visitation” or Parental Access
In this electronic age, parents can craft an agreement allowing the parent to have meaningful communication with the child(ren) using electronic methods (i.e., Parenting 2.0!) including: • Telephone (e.g., to the other parent’s phone or the child’s phone) • Video-conferencing (e.g., FaceTime, Skype) • Text messaging (e.g., WhatsApp, Viber) • Social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat) • Electronic mail …
New York Child Custody and Visitation Law: Sibling Visitation
Siblings have a statutory right to visitation with each other. This is true whether the relationship be of full-blood siblings or half-blood siblings. There is a two-part analysis for evaluating sibling visitation. First, standing – or the right to be heard – has to be established. Second, the court must determine whether the visitation is in the best interest of …
Ask Cari: Common Mistakes in a Divorce
Here is a question that I recently received: “Hey Cari, What do people often do “wrong” when they’re about to file for divorce or in the midst of a divorce?” My response: People going through divorce sometimes believe that going to court immediately is the way to resolve things. To the contrary, mediation or the collaborative divorce process would be the …
New York Child Custody and Visitation Law: Grandparent Visitation
Grandparent visitation is not automatic in New York. There is an assumption that the grandparent will have visitation with their grandchild through the grandchild’s parent. There is also a presumption that a fit parents acts in the best interest of their child. This means the courts will give great weight to the parent’s decision about their child’s visitation and access …
New York Child Custody and Visitation Law: What About Supervised Visitation?
The New York Court of Appeals has held that absent any threat to the child’s wellbeing, those people who have visitation rights have the right to unsupervised visitation with his or her child. Weiss v. Weiss, 52 N.Y.2d 170 (1981); Nancy M. v. Brian M., 227 A.D.2d 404 (1996); Twersky v. Twersky, 103 A.D.2d 775 (1984). For the court to …
Child Custody and Visitation Law: Getting a Parenting Plan for School Breaks and Summer Vacation
School Breaks Schools in New York typically have four (4) school breaks: Thanksgiving/Fall Break, Christmas/Winter Break, President’s Day/Mid-Winter Break, and Easter/Spring Break. When drafting a parenting plan, parents should be cognizant on what was agreed to with the holiday schedule. Here is an example schedule (for illustrative purposes): School Break Time Even Years Odd Years Mid-Winter Recess (President’s Day Week) …
Child Custody and Visitation: Getting a Holiday Schedule in Place
After deciding the “basic parenting time schedule”, parents should then decide how they want to handle holidays. Holidays include the following: School holidays/ National holidays (e.g., Columbus Day, Memorial Day) Religious holidays (e.g., Easter) Other holidays (e.g., Halloween) Birthdays (parents and children) Father’s Day and Mother’s Day Parents should make a list of all applicable holidays in which the parents …
Child Custody and Visitation: Getting the Basic Parenting Schedule in Place
Parents should decide on a “basic parenting time schedule” that the parents will conduct in a regular week. Parents should consider what is reasonable taking into consideration the location of the parent’s home, the parent’s schedule and the child’s schedule. If the parents do not live near each other, the parenting schedule deviates from regular short-term access such as every …
Additional Considerations with Child Custody and Visitation Agreements – Think About Communication
Information Sharing Most parenting plans include a provision requiring the parents to share information about the child(ren) with such information as: medical records psychological records law enforcement records school report cards school progress reports school event calendar (e.g., school play, parent-teacher conferences) extra-curricular activities calendar (e.g., baseball game schedule or dance recitals). Some parents decide to keep a shared calendar …