HB2588 Summary

• Amends the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act to define "visitation" to include electronic communication such as telephone, email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and other internet-based technologies between a parent and child when appropriate.

• Allows grandparents, great-grandparents, and siblings to petition for visitation rights and electronic communication with minor children one year old or older under specified circumstances including parental death, incarceration, incompetency, or divorce.

• Prohibits courts from using time spent in electronic communication to affect child support, custody, visitation determinations, or decisions regarding removal of a child from Illinois.

• Requires custodial parents to provide any new email address of the child to the non-custodial parent within 24 hours of a change.

• Establishes that electronic communication constitutes a form of visitation that courts may order under conditions and at times they determine appropriate.