Cornered: Out of Court

Cornered: Nrupa Patel Answers Family Law Questions About Child Visitation, Support, and More

• IICLE® • Season 1 • Episode 1

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Everyone has a family, and sometimes legal issues arise in families for which a lawyer's expertise is necessary -- especially these days with the prevalence of blended families, different types of marriages and civil unions, and opportunities for adoption, fostering, and assisted reproductive technologies. In this episode, we corner Nrupa Patel of Bolen Robinson & Ellis LLP in Decatur to hear her thoughts on some common family law questions.

IICLE® is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit based in Springfield, Illinois. We produce a wide range of practice guidance for Illinois attorneys and other legal professionals in all areas of law with the generous contributions of time and expertise from volunteer attorneys, judges, and other legal professionals.

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Oh, you're an attorney. I have a friend who...
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I've been meaning to update my will, but I just bought a
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new house. So I was wondering...
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I want to start a business...
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My brother was fired...
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My friend got divorced awhile back. I just don't understand how her ex...
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You've been there at a social function, meeting friends of friends. Word gets out that you're an attorney, and suddenly your night is filled with partygoers.
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asking you "simple legal questions." The questions are seldom in your area. Some of the stuff you haven't thought about since law
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school.
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You're being cornered out of court.
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In the cornered out of court podcast from IICLE, you'll hear from fellow attorneys about the questions they get and the responses they give to escape being cornered. Everyone has a family and sometimes legal issues arise in families for which a lawyer's expertise is necessary.
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Especially these days with the prevalence of blended families, different types of marriages and civil unions and opportunities for adoption, fostering and assisted reproductive technology.
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In this episode, we cornered Nrupa Patel to hear her thoughts about some common family law questions.
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Hi my name is Nrupa Patel. I'm a partner at the law firm of Bolen, Robinson and Ellis in Decatur, IL. I am a family law practitioner. I practice mostly family law. I also do some DCFS appeals orders of protection and criminal defense as well.
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1st is Illinois, a father's rights state?
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So Illinois, is that a father's right state. But Illinois also is not a mother's right state either. There are several factors. The court looks at in determining what is in the.
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Child's best interest and some of the factors include things such as who has done most of the caretaking, function of the child 24 months prior to the filing of any petition.
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Means the how well the child is adjusted to his or her school and community, and the child's wishes as well. Amongst other factors, the statute doesn't specifically state that the Court should rule in favor of a man or a woman.
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Next, how old does my child have to be before they can decide which parent they want?
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To live with.
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In Illinois, there is no age where a child can determine that. At this point, I want to live with Mom. I want to live with Dad. I see lots of things on social media. I see a lot of things on Facebook groups and comments from parents online where they say something to the effect of ohh you all your kids.
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Your teen or your child's 14? He can decide where he wants to live or if he wants to live with you. He's now old enough. We don't have that in Illinois.
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A factor the court can consider is where the child wants to live. That is a fact that the Court has to consider, but that's one of many factors and how old the child is is completely relevant, along with the reason for why the child was the specific parent.
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For example, if you have a 5 year old that says I want to live with my dad because my dad gives me candy and lets me eat Snickers bars and twits for dinner, that's probably not going to be a compelling reason for judge to place a child with dad.
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However, if you have a 15 year old that says I want to live with my dad because my dad is patient, he helps me with my homework. He takes me to my extracurriculars. He cooks a very nice dinner for us in the evening and at Moms House. She smokes indoors. She has a loser boyfriend that is always yelling at.
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Us and my mom is always late to dropping me off at practice. Those would be very good and valid reasons for a judge to consider.
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At the flip side, if if you have a 15 year old that says, well, I wouldn't live with Dad because with Dad I don't have curfew with Dad, I can drive this car even though I don't have a permit. That's not going to be a very good reason. So the aid of the child is a factor, but also the reason as to why the.
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Once live in specific parent is relevant as well, but we just don't have one cut off age.
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Where it's like this, is it this, this child's 1314 or older and he wants to with mom. And that's what's going to happen. We don't have that. It's just the fact that for for the court to consider.
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OK, how about this one? My child does not want to go with her dad for visitation. Can I deny?
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Visitation.
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If you have a court order on visitation, you have to.
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Abide by it.
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That is a court order, however, that being said, if a parent comes to pick up the child and the parent appears to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you can call law enforcement to get there and assess the situation if you have.
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A parent send a random person to pick up your child in visitation and you have no idea who this person is or child has no idea what this person is. Again, you can call law enforcement to assess the situation as well.
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A child simply saying I don't want to go with mom or I don't want to go with Dad is not a good reason enough to deny visitation. If there's anything more to it than that. If there are allegations being made of safety concerns, if they're allegations being made of domestic violence or drug usage.
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An appropriate thing to do would be to contact an attorney, file a petition for restrictions, possibly file for an order of protection, depending on the situation, and call law enforcement or DCFS.
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And lastly, the father of my child quit his job after child support was entered.
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You do.
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I get this question a lot in the hypothetical sense. Well, what if the father my child quits this job? Or what if my ex-husband quits his job? What to do then? Well, just from my own experience, it's very rare so that that happens. They have their own bills they have to pay, so it's very rare for someone to do that.
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But it does happen.
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So if you have a child support order and the father the child puts his job or or or vice versa with on a mom and mom puts her job then.
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In that situation, I would say the Child Support order is still enforceable. the Child Support order does not go away. The order does not become vacated because the parent simply puts working. If parent puts working then you can file a contempt petition and.
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They will have to prove to the court.
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That they the reason for not paying isn't vocal. 11 issue that I frequently also get is well, you know, they take a lower paying job. Again same thing they still have to pay child support now if.
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You have a parent that's acting in a very sinister manner, and they really did quit their job. Stop paying child support, and if you file a contempt petition and you can prove that their conduct is willful and contentious, then the judge can issue what's called a job search order, and the judge can order the parent to apply for.
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57 jobs a week and they'll have to come to court at a later date to prove that they've been.
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Applying for these.
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Jobs. If you have a situation where a parent, what's your job? Sorry that a parent is fired or is let go then.
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The same would apply. The judge could still order that parent to complete job search order. I had one case where.
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My client was let go after a child support order was entered, and of course Mom was like he did it on purpose. Child support was entered and then two weeks later he he quits his job well my clients like I didn't quit my job. I was laid off. I don't want to be laid off my bills to pay. So we had a hearing on this.
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And I had someone from his old job testify that. No, he didn't quit. We laid him off due to company cuts. It wasn't his fault he lost his job in that situation. My client paid as much as he could, but he was not held in contempt of court.
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Because the job losses in his fault. But he was ordered to apply for five jobs every week and come back to court to prove that he's applied.
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for jobs. Thanks for joining us, Nrupa! Nrupa Patel is a partner at Bolen, Robinson and Ellis in Decatur, IL. BRE law provides.
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Wide-ranging legal services in central Illinois through their offices in Decatur, Bloomington, Sullivan, and Lincoln.
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If you have an idea for a topic you would like to hear discussed on the cornered out of court podcast, we welcome your suggestions by e-mail. Our address is info@iicle.com. IICLE is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit based in Springfield, IL. We produce a wide range of practice.
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Guidance for Illinois attorneys and other legal professionals in all areas of the law with the generous contributions of time and expertise from volunteer attorneys, judges and other legal.
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Thank you for joining us for another edition of cornered out of court, brought to you by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education.