Separation of Siblings

A court will generally prefer to keep siblings together in one household as opposed to splitting custody of children between parties.

In re Marriage of Ford, 91 Ill.App.3d 1066, 415 N.E.2d 546, 551, 47 Ill.Dec. 541 (1st Dist. 1980), “there is much to commend the keeping together of the siblings of a family in order to preserve what remains of the family.

Separation of the children may occasionally be in the children’s best interest.  In re Marriage of Slavenas, 139 Ill.App.3d 581, 487 N.E.2d 739, 93 Ill.Dec. 914 (2nd Dist. 1985), the court awarded the 14 year old boy to the father and the 11 year old boy to the mother.  The Slavenas children failed to get along and the older boy had a strong preference for living with his father. 

In appropriate circumstances, the courts may order divided custody, giving one parent custody of one or more of the children and the other parent custody of one or more of the children.  In re Marriage of Werner, 14 Ill.App.3d 263, 493 N.E.2d 1199, 98 Ill.Dec. 178 (5th Dist. 1986), split custody was allowed.  The court considered the mother’s allowing the children to wear dirty clothes, emotional abuse of one daughter, and bizarre behavior, including sifting through garbage before allowing its disposal, locking food in the freezer, and locking clean clothes in the basement, as well as other factors as relevant to her poor relationship with most of the children and their poor relationship with her.   The court awarded five of the six minor children to the father and one minor child to the mother. 

In Brandt v. Brandt, 99 Ill.App.3d 1089, 425 N.E.2d 1251, 55 Ill.Dec. 78 (1 Dist. 1981), custody was split between the parents.  The 16 year old was awarded to the mother while the 14 year old was awarded to the father.  The fact that the mother cohabitated with a married man affected the preference of the 14 year old.

For additional information see Relocation of Children Back to the Tender Years Doctrine page