Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

I gained temporary custody of my 9 year old son in October of 2009. At the time he was living with his mother in Illinois and I am in Virginia. I gained temporary custody because she tried to commit suicide in front of him and a couple of his friends and had to be committed to the hospital for a little over a week. She is diagnosed with bi-polar disorder but does not attend counseling. After getting out of the hospital, she was kicked out of her house (actually the landlord had to bring her to court to get her out of the house) and she moved into a 1 bedroom apartment that is part of a half-way house (pays reduced rent and can stay for 2 years). She works at a restaurant as a waitress but at times she will not go to work for a few days because she is having an "episode" and does not want to have any contact with anyone.

I have to go to court at the end June and I am going to try and get sole custody of my son. I am in the Navy (12 years) and am remarried (5 years) and we have a 6 month old baby. I own my house and we also are going to graduate school to obtain our master's degrees. We are active in the community, I coach his machine pitch baseball team. We have also enrolled him in counseling since December so he can discuss any issues or problems he is having. In his short time here in Virginia he has been given a safe and stable household.

My question is because of the suicidal gestures and bi-polar disorder and because of her current living arrangement, what do I need to do to improve my chances of gaining sole custody. I have a lawyer (which I used to get temporary custody) and plan to use him for the sole custody case. Any advice or direction to other cases where these circumstances were along the same lines would be appreciative.


Asked on 5/20/10, 11:29 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Jonathan Shimberg Shimberg and Crohn, P.C.

You seem to be doing just fine.

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Answered on 5/31/10, 6:05 am


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