Fathers Can and Do Seek Child Custody in Peoria and Tazewell Counties
In Illinois, our child custody statute is gender neutral. This means that the father and mother have equal rights to request custody of children in a divorce proceeding.
We are a family law firm serving clients in Peoria and Tazewell counties in Central Illinois. We have handled numerous contested child custody disputes, including many fathers' rights cases where the father sought and was awarded sole custody of his children.
Helping You Preserve Parent-Child Relationships
Many divorcing fathers assume that they will see their children only every other weekend, and that they will be cut out of their children's lives after divorce.
Our advice to anyone who has those concerns is to be as proactive as possible in asserting your role as the child's parent. Don't wait for the soccer schedule to be mailed; contact the coach and get it yourself. Don't complain that your ex never tells you what grades the children receive; ask the school to send you your own copy directly. Don't worry that your ex seems to know more about the children's lives than you do; sign up to be the class dad, volunteer to chaperone a school trip, or coach your child's team.
When a father hires us to represent him in a divorce or parentage case, one of the first things we do is help that father assess his ability and interest when it comes to having child custody. Following this discussion, many fathers have told us that they truly believed their children would have a better life with dad having custody, but they didn't even think it was possible, so they were not even going to ask us about it! If you have the interest and ability, and if you truly believe your children's best interests are served by you having custody, then it would be irresponsible for you not to seek custody.
Joint Parenting
If your primary goal is to maintain your role as father, and to continue to have meaningful input into decisions affecting your children as they grow and mature, you may be interested in having a Joint Parenting Agreement. This approach to parenting for divorced parents allows them to maintain a working relationship when it comes to their children, and it can greatly enhance the children's ongoing sense of family after the divorce of their parents. Since joint custody is rarely ordered except where both parents agree to it, great care must be taken from the very start of your divorce or parentage case to create a proper framework for negotiating a Joint Parenting Agreement.
Fathers' Rights Consultation
To arrange a consultation with attorney Susan Butler or attorney Kelly Giraudo, call 309-938-4204 or complete the contact form on this site.
