How Should I Raise My Child If My Ex Converts After Divorce?

 Posted on July 24, 2024 in Child Custody

Raising a child is known to be a challenging task, especially after divorce. Parents often have differing parenting styles and opinions about how to raise their children, and those opinions can be quite strong. During marriage, parents who disagree on how to raise their child typically work it out between themselves. In divorce, however, making decisions about the child without the other parent’s consent can have legal consequences.

Such decisions include raising the child according to a certain faith. Usually, one parent is approved by the court to be responsible for the child’s upbringing. But what if that parent converts to a different faith after the divorce?

The answer to that question comes down to how parental responsibilities are divided in the parenting plan. Speak to your Illinois parenting plan attorney about how to create or modify the best parenting plan for your child.

What Is a Parenting Plan?

Whenever two parents file for divorce, the court requires them to submit a parenting plan. This is a document that spells out how the parents are going to raise their child together while living apart. The parenting plan must be approved by the court. Once it is, it becomes legally binding.

Illinois law requires the parenting plan to contain provisions for:

• Schedules for parenting time, also known as physical custody

• How the child will be transported between the parents’ residences

• How each parent will communicate with the child during the other’s parenting time

• The right of first refusal, which is the right of a parent to take physical custody of the child if the other parent cannot

• How parental responsibilities are divided

What Are Parental Responsibilities?

These parental responsibilities, also called decision-making responsibilities, refer to three main areas:

• Health

• Education

• Religion

This means that the parenting plan specifies which parent will be in charge of the child’s religious upbringing. Therefore, when any questions or disagreements come up regarding the child’s faith and its practice, it is usually up to the parent named in the parenting plan who is in charge of making such decisions.

What If the Parent Converts After Divorce?

If a parent converts to a different faith after the divorce, it raises a legal concern. On the one hand, he or she is constitutionally allowed to follow any faith. On the other hand, it can be a source of confusion for the child and a departure from the provisions of the parenting plan. Therefore, you may be able to petition the court to change the parenting plan, which is called parenting plan modification. 

How Can I Get a Court to Modify the Parenting Plan?

It is not easy to convince a court to modify a parenting plan. If you want a judge to change the parenting plan so that you now have the responsibility of making decisions about the child’s religious upbringing, you need to convince the court that it would be in the child’s best interest. This is best done by an experienced attorney.

Contact a Naperville, IL Child Custody Attorney

If your co-parent converts to a different faith after divorce, it may justify a request to modify the parenting plan. At Pesce Law Group, P.C., we understand how courts may view such a change in circumstance and we are highly successful at achieving parenting plan modifications. Schedule a free consultation with an experienced DuPage County, IL parenting plan lawyer by calling 630-352-2240 today.