Due to a recent change in Illinois law, it is now more appropriate to talk about commonly known family law concepts such as “custody” and “parenting time” as an “allocation of parental responsibilities.” Parental responsibilities include not only seeing one’s child, but also how Illinois parents will make decisions on big issues like healthcare, religion and education.

In short, what was once thought of as joint custody is now just a subset of “parental responsibilities” that a court, or the two parents, must cover as part of a comprehensive parenting plan, which is supposed to lay down ground rules for a couple going through a divorce or other child custody case.

Even with this change, however, it is still very important for fathers to fight for their right to make decisions on big issues that can affect their children even into adulthood. In fact, our Springfield, Illinois, law office is fully prepared to advocate for these rights despite the change in Illinois law, as we have experience with, and appreciate the benefits of, resolving parenting issues through one comprehensive court order instead of piecemeal.

Our approach is simple: while we believe that settling custody and visitation issues outside of court does help children lead healthier lives, we also recognize that settlement is not always possible. As such, we always stand ready to advocate for a dad’s rights in front of a judge.

Our office limits its practice to family law, which means we tackle difficult parenting issues on behalf of fathers almost every day. One of the issues we address when representing fathers, especially those who have a child out of wedlock, is the issue of a father’s right to have a say-so on how his child gets brought up with respect to matters of religion and education.