When parents decide to divorce, part of that divorce process involves establishing allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time. Even if parents were never legally married, they should still petition the court to legally establish custody if they decide to end their relationship.
Unfortunately, once the court has made its final custody determination, there are parents who will not be happy with the outcome. They may feel the child should be with them for longer periods of time than the court established and even take steps to interfere with the other parent’s parenting time.
There are also parents who will attempt to interfere with the other parent’s parenting time because of some other issue. They may be angry over the breakup or because the other parent has started to date again. Some parents will also interfere with parenting time if the other parent is not meeting their court-ordered child support obligations.
Regardless of why this parental interference is occurring, it is important for all parents to understand the civil – and even potentially criminal – penalties they could face for interfering with the court’s parenting time order.
Criminal Remedies
Abuse of allocated parenting time is considered a petty offense under Illinois law, similar to a traffic violation. In order to pursue criminal charges, the aggrieved parent would need to convince law enforcement that the other parent was interfering with their parenting time. Police would then issue a report to the State’s Attorney, who would prosecute the alleged guilty parent.
...