Archived legal information

"Custody" Is Gone: New Laws in 2016

Originally published in 2016. Restored as an archive page.

Archive notice: Parker & Parker no longer handles custody, divorce, or family-law matters. This page remains online for historical reference and to preserve citations to an older article. It is not current legal advice and should not be read as an offer to represent clients in custody or divorce cases.

This archived article discussed a 2016 change in Illinois family-law terminology. For many years, parents and lawyers commonly used the words "custody" and "visitation." Beginning with the 2016 revisions to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, Illinois courts moved toward terms such as "allocation of parental responsibilities" and "parenting time."

The practical point of the original article was simple: the label changed, but court orders involving children still required careful attention to decision-making authority, parenting schedules, and the best interests of the child. The article was written at the time those statutory changes were new and many families were still learning the new vocabulary.

Why This Page Remains Online

Older law review materials, regional news references, and other third-party pages still cite this URL. Rather than leaving those citations at a dead page, Parker & Parker is preserving this archive page as a historical pointer. The firm does not want this page to suggest that it currently accepts custody or divorce matters.

Current Firm Focus

Parker & Parker currently focuses its public website on personal injury, car accident, nursing home injury, wrongful death, adoption, and related Central Illinois legal topics. Current readers can use the links below to reach active sections of the site.