If there is no court case involving your child

You can move with your child if there is no court case involving your child and:

• You and the other parent are married or are in a civil union; or 
• You are the natural mother and the child has lived with you for more than six months

If you move out of state, and the other parent files a parental responsibilities case in Illinois within six months, you will probably have to come back to Illinois to participate in the case. You may even have to return your child to Illinois.

If there is a court case involving your child

If there is already a court case involving your child, there are special rules about when you can move with your child. You should talk to a lawyer about how the rules apply to your case.

Moving, but not relocating

If you already have a court order about parental responsibilities, and you have the most parenting time, you can move the child without asking the court or the other parent, if the move is not a "relocation." 

Relocating

You are "relocating" if you:

• Move more than 25 miles from the child's original home if it is in Cook, DuPage, McHenry, Kane, Lake, or Will Counties or the new home is out of state; or
• Move more than 50 miles away from the original home within Illinois if it is not in Cook County, DuPage, McHenry, Kane, Lake, or Will Counties.

If you are relocating with your child, you must follow these steps:

• File a Notice of Relocation, and give a copy to the other parent at least 60 days before your planned relocation or as much notice as you can based on the circumstances.
• If the other parent agrees and signs your notice, you can file the signed notice with the court and move without scheduling any court dates or appearing in front of a judge. The court will also change your parenting plan/parental responsibilities order to allow the move and make any other agreed changes that result from the move, such as a change to a parenting time schedule.
• If the other parent doesn't agree or doesn't sign the notice, then you must ask the court for permission to relocate. You do this by filing a Petition to Relocate.

After you ask the court for permission to relocate, you must go to a hearing where the court will decide if relocating is in the child's best interests. The court will look at:

• The quality of each parent's relationship with the child,
• The reasons for relocating,
• Educational opportunities available in each location,
• The arrangements for parental responsibilities,
• Extended family in both locations,
• Impact on the child, and
• The wishes of the child.

If a judge denies your petition but you still feel you need to move, you can work with the other parent to possibly modify the parenting time schedule to address your concerns.