What is a child care right of first refusal?

It is common for situations to arise in which a divorced parent, during their assigned parenting time, needs child care for their kids. In such situations, the divorced parent’s ex may be interested in being the one who provides such child care. Depending on the terms of the custody order/agreement regarding their kids, a divorced parent’s ex may be the first person the divorced parent is required to ask when they are looking for someone to provide child care for the kids.

Under Illinois law, one of the terms that can be included in child custody/visitation orders or agreements is a right of first refusal when it comes to child care. When a parent is granted this right in an order/agreement, if the other parent has child care needs regarding the kids that meet or exceed a certain amount of time, the other parent is required to ask the parent granted the right of first refusal if they would like to provide the child care before asking anyone else to provide such care. What amount of time of needed child care triggers a right of first refusal generally depends on the specific terms of the given right of first refusal.

Thus, whether or not a child custody or visitation order/agreement contains such a right of first refusal can have major impacts when it comes to child care matters for divorced parents.

This underscores how child custody/visitation orders and agreements can contain terms regarding all sorts of different issues regarding a divorcing couple’s kids. Parents with questions about right of first refusal terms or other terms that child custody orders/agreements can contain should consider presenting their questions to an experienced child custody attorney.