How to File for Custody in Illinois: Forms, Service, and Parenting Plan

To file for custody in Illinois, you submit a Petition for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities to the circuit court in the county where your child lives, pay the filing fee (for example, $388 in Cook County¹), and then arrange to have the other parent formally served with the papers. Illinois no longer uses the word “custody” in its statutes — the legal term is “allocation of parental responsibilities” — but the paperwork and steps below are what filers actually deal with.

Confirm Illinois Has Jurisdiction First

Before you spend anything on filing fees, make sure Illinois is the right state. Under the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, your child’s “home state” is where the child has lived with a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before you file.² For a child under six months old, the home state is wherever the child has lived since birth.

Illinois can also take jurisdiction when the child recently left the state but a parent still lives here, or when no other state qualifies. If your child moved to Illinois less than six months ago and the other parent still lives in the prior state, that other state most likely has jurisdiction. Filing in the wrong state gets your case dismissed or transferred.

Who Is Allowed to File

A parent files a standalone custody petition in the county where the child lives.³ If there is already an open case involving your child — a divorce or a parentage case — you generally ask for custody inside that case rather than starting a new one.

Non-parents can file only in narrow circumstances. Someone who is not the child’s parent can petition in the county where the child permanently lives, but only if the child is not currently in the physical custody of either parent. A step-parent can file when the parent who had the majority of parenting time has died or become disabled, provided the step-parent was already caring for the child and the child wants to live with them. Grandparents have standing in limited situations, generally when their own child has died and the surviving parent meets certain statutory criteria like incarceration or absence.³

Documents You Need to File

The core document is the Petition for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities. It asks for names, birthdates, and addresses of both parents and the child, information about any other court cases involving the child, and whether anyone else claims parental rights.⁴ Standardized forms are available on the Illinois Courts website or at your local courthouse.

You also file a Summons — the court’s formal notice telling the other parent they are being sued and must respond.⁵ Custody cases use the 30-Day Summons, which gives the other parent 30 days after service to respond.

The UCCJEA Affidavit

Every party in an Illinois custody case must submit a sworn affidavit disclosing the child’s residential history for the past five years: every address, the dates of each residence, and the people the child lived with.⁶ You must also disclose any other custody proceedings involving the child anywhere in the country, and whether anyone besides the parents claims custody or visitation rights. Skip this affidavit or leave gaps in it, and the court can freeze your case until you fix it.

Fee Waiver Application

If you cannot afford the filing fee, submit an Application for Waiver of Court Fees with your petition.⁷ It asks for your income, expenses, and assets so a judge can decide whether you qualify. People receiving public benefits may qualify automatically without a detailed financial breakdown.

Filing Your Petition

Illinois requires electronic filing for nearly all civil cases, custody included.⁸ You submit through a certified e-filing service provider, not at the clerk’s counter. The Illinois Courts website lists approved providers and has instructions for people filing without a lawyer.⁹

You can get an exemption from e-filing if you lack internet or a computer at home, do not have an email account, have trouble reading or writing in English, or tried to e-file and the technology failed with no help available. File a Certification for Exemption from E-Filing explaining the reason, and you can file on paper at the Circuit Clerk’s office.⁸

Fees vary by county. Cook County charges $388 for a new Petition for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities.¹ Smaller counties may charge less. Once the clerk accepts the filing, your case gets a case number and you receive stamped copies.

Serving the Other Parent

After filing, you must formally deliver copies of the petition and summons to the other parent. This is called service of process, and you cannot hand the papers over yourself.

The most common route is the county sheriff, whose deputy personally delivers the documents for a fee. If you received a fee waiver, some sheriff’s offices will serve at no charge. The alternative is a private process server, generally $20 to $150 depending on complexity and location. Private servers can be faster or more flexible if the other parent is hard to locate. Whoever serves the papers files a proof of service with the court confirming delivery.

One boundary worth knowing: if the other parent is on active military duty, federal law lets them pause the case for at least 90 days by submitting a letter explaining why they cannot appear along with a letter from their commanding officer. A court cannot base a custody decision solely on a parent’s deployment, and any temporary custody order tied to a deployment must end when the deployment ends.

The Parenting Plan and Its 120-Day Deadline

Both parents must file a proposed parenting plan, either jointly or separately, within 120 days after the petition is filed or served.¹⁰ The court can extend the deadline for good reason. If the other parent never files an appearance, no plan is required unless the court orders one.

The statute sets a minimum list of what your plan must cover:

Decision-making responsibilities for education, healthcare, religious upbringing, and extracurricular activities. Parents can split these by category or assign them all to one parent.
A specific parenting time schedule showing which days and times the child spends with each parent, including holidays and school breaks.
Transportation between homes and who handles pickup and drop-off.
How each parent stays in contact with the child during the other parent’s parenting time, including phone and video calls.
A requirement that either parent give at least 60 days’ written notice before moving, with the new address and intended move date.
If included, a right of first refusal that gives each parent the first chance to care for the child when the other needs a babysitter, specifying how long the absence must be, how much notice is required, and who handles transportation.
Each parent’s access to the child’s medical, dental, school, and extracurricular records.
A method for resolving future disagreements about the plan, typically mediation.

The plan also has to designate which parent has the majority of parenting time (this matters for child support) and list a residential address for school enrollment.¹⁰ Judges look for specifics. A plan that says “we’ll figure it out” will not fly.

What Happens After You File

The Other Parent’s Response

Once served, the other parent has 30 days to file an Appearance (a formal notice that they are participating) and a Response admitting or denying your allegations and setting out their own custody and parenting time requests.¹¹ If the other parent ignores the case, you can ask the court to proceed by default, though judges hesitate to enter custody orders without hearing from both sides.

Case Management Conference

The court schedules an initial case management conference within 90 days after the other parent is served.¹² The judge checks that required paperwork is filed, identifies disputed issues, and sets deadlines. No custody decisions get made at this hearing.

Mediation

Illinois law directs the court to order mediation in custody cases unless the court finds a reason it would be inappropriate, such as a history of domestic violence.¹⁰ A neutral mediator helps you and the other parent try to negotiate the plan. If mediation succeeds, you submit a joint plan for court approval. If it fails, the case heads toward trial, with a full case management conference held within 30 days after mediation ends.¹²

Parenting Education Class

Both parents have to attend an approved parenting education program of at least four hours covering how separation and custody disputes affect children and how to co-parent.¹³ Complete it as soon as possible, and no later than 60 days after the initial case management conference. The court can excuse the requirement for good cause. File your certificate of completion when you finish.

Getting a Temporary Order

If you need a custody arrangement now, you can ask the court for a temporary order. The court can allocate parenting time and decision-making on a temporary basis after a hearing, or without a hearing if the other parent agrees to a plan that meets the statutory requirements.¹⁴ The same best interest factors that govern a final order apply.

A temporary order runs until the court enters a final custody judgment. If the case is dismissed, the temporary order is automatically vacated unless a parent moves to continue it.¹⁴ By statute, a temporary order cannot be used to prejudice either parent’s position in the final judgment; the judge should not treat the temporary setup as evidence that it should become permanent.

How the Court Decides When Parents Disagree

If you and the other parent cannot agree, the judge decides using the child’s best interests. Illinois law lists 17 factors, none of them controlling on its own.¹⁵ The ones that most often carry weight:

Each parent’s wishes and the child’s own wishes, considering the child’s maturity.
Caregiving history — how much time each parent spent caring for the child in the 24 months before the petition was filed. For children under two, the court looks at the period since birth.
The child’s relationships with parents, siblings, and other important people.
How well the child is settled in their current home, school, and community.
Mental and physical health of everyone involved.
Each parent’s willingness to encourage the child’s relationship with the other parent. Judges watch this one. A parent who badmouths the other or blocks contact is working against their own case.
Distance between the two homes and the practical difficulty of moving the child between them.
Any physical violence, threats, or abuse toward the child or a household member.
Whether a parent is a convicted sex offender or lives with one.

The court also considers any prior caregiving agreements and a catch-all factor covering anything else relevant to the child’s welfare.¹⁵ Illinois law presumes both parents are fit, and a judge cannot restrict a parent’s time unless the evidence shows parenting time would seriously endanger the child.

When the Court Appoints Someone to Represent the Child

In contested cases, the court may appoint an independent voice for the child. Illinois recognizes three distinct roles.¹⁶

A guardian ad litem investigates the facts, interviews the child and other important people, and submits a written report with custody recommendations at least 30 days before trial. The report goes in as evidence, and either parent can cross-examine the guardian ad litem about it.
A child representative advocates for what they believe is in the child’s best interests. They do not file a report or testify; they participate like any attorney, presenting evidence and arguments.
An attorney for the child represents the child the way a lawyer represents any client, following the child’s stated wishes rather than making an independent best-interests judgment.

Either parent can request an appointment, or the judge can order one. Fees for a guardian ad litem or child representative are split between the parents as the court directs, and they can add meaningfully to the cost of a contested case.¹⁶

1
Circuit Court of Cook County Clerk of the Court. Domestic Relations Division Fee Schedule
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 36 – Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act
3
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/601.2 – Commencement of Proceeding
4
Illinois Legal Aid Online. Petition for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities
5
State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts. Summons
6
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 36/209 – Information To Be Submitted to Court
7
State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts. Fee Waiver for Civil Cases
8
Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 9 – Electronic Filing of Documents
9
State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts. Information for Filers Without Lawyers
10
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/602.10 – Parenting Plan
11
Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 101
12
Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 923 – Case Management Conferences
13
Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 924 – Parenting Education Requirement
14
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/603.5 – Temporary Orders
15
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/602.7 – Allocation of Parental Responsibilities Parenting Time
16
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/506 – Representation of Child