Family & Safety

Having parental responsibilities means making important decisions for a child and spending time with them. This used to be called "custody," but that term is no longer used in Illinois.

Illinois courts can give parental responsibilities when they have "home-state jurisdiction." This means that:

• The child has lived in Illinois for the past six months or since birth (if the child is under six months old) or
• The child lives in another state but moved from Illinois within the past six months and had resided in Illinois for at least six months prior to moving, and one of the parents still lives in Illinois.

If you have just moved from another state, you may not be able to pursue a parental responsibilities case in Illinois except in the following cases:

• No state has home-state jurisdiction, or the state with home-state jurisdiction will not hear the case;
• One of the parents or the child has an important connection to Illinois, and there is a lot of information about the child available in Illinois; or
• In emergencies, to protect the safety of a child.

If you are in the middle of a custody case in another state when you move to Illinois, you will usually need to finish the case in that state.