If you have legitimate concerns about your child’s other parent sharing joint custody in Illinois, you could request full child custody. You will have to provide evidence that proves the other parent is so unfit that it’s not in the child’s best interests for them to have joint custody.
Good faith
It’s important to know that Illinois will question whether a parent’s attempt to gain full child custody is in good faith or not. The other parent must factually be unfit. Your dislike of them or their parenting beliefs isn’t a legitimate reason for the court to grant you full child custody. If they are doing drugs, hanging out with dangerous people, abusing you or your child or neglecting your child, then these are valid reasons to bring up to the court.
Capability
Some parents may not have the emotional or physical capacity to take care of their children. In this situation, you might receive sole custody.
Proof
Examples of evidence that you could gather to prove that the other parent is unfit are employment records, pictures of the living conditions at their house, police reports and email and text message records. Employment records could show that they have trouble maintaining employment and being responsible. This alone, however, might not be enough for a judge to give you sole custody. Their irresponsibility would have to be to the extent it negatively affects your child.
Stay respectful
You should avoid fighting with your ex-spouse as well as ranting about them to others or on your social media accounts. If you need an outlet for your frustration, it’s better to use a private journal or another healthy method of releasing emotions. When you rant about your ex-spouse to others or on social media, it indicates to the judge that you could be acting in bad faith. It’s also not good for children because they feel pressured to pick a side or guilty for loving both of their parents.
In a child custody battle, it’s the court’s responsibility to do what’s in the best interests of the children. This usually means that the judge chooses joint custody, unless there’s a good reason for one parent to have sole custody.
