Hope for High Conflict Parents

The Illinois Supreme Court has made it easier for co-parents suffering high conflict relationships.

With the adoption of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 909, courts can now require parents to use a parenting coordinator to resolve ongoing parenting disagreements.

Rule 909 defines “parenting coordination” as “a child-focused alternative dispute resolution process conducted by a licensed mental health or family law professional, which combines assessment, education, case management, conflict management, dispute resolution, and decision-making functions. Parenting coordination is for co-parents who are unable or unwilling to cooperate in making parenting decisions, communicate effectively with regard to issues involving their children, implementing comply with parenting agreements and orders, or shield their children from the impact of parental conflict.”

In practice, when the court appoints a parenting coordinator, the parents can present any parenting disputes to the coordinator, who makes binding recommendations to resolve the dispute. While either parent could appeal to the court to override the parenting coordinator’s recommendation, courts will ordinarily defer to the parenting coordinator assuming normal protocol is followed.

While the new Supreme Court Rule allows a court to order a parenting coordinator over the objection of one of the parties, our firm has used parenting coordinators with some regularity by agreement. We find parenting coordination to be a pragmatic resource to manage high conflict relationships and keep people out of court.

Here is a link to Supreme Court Rule 909 which became effective May 24, 2023: Illinois Supreme Court Rule 909

If you have any questions about using a parenting coordinator, or managing high conflict parenting relationship, please call Peskind law firm at 630-444-0701 or go to our website for more information.