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When a couple has a child and they are not married, it is important that the father of the child establishes paternity. Establishing paternity is different than creating a bond with a child—paternity creates an important legal relationship between a father and child.
When a father establishes paternity, he establishes the right to request visitation or child custody. Paternity also establishes a father's responsibilities such as child support or college contributions. Failing to establish paternity has grave legal consequences for a father. If you are deciding whether or not to establish paternity for a child, it is important to consider the implications under Illinois law.
Who Can Establish Paternity?
Not everyone can establish paternity. The right to establish paternity is limited to the natural mother, a man who believes he is the father of the child, or the child. In Illinois, a man is a child's legal father if:
The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act allows for legal separation. Legal separations are not very common, since the expense of a legal separation is similar to a divorce. However, it is possible that a couple may prefer legal separation over divorce.
If you and your spouse are considering a legal separation, then there are a few factors you may want to consider as you begin the separation process.
What Are the Requirements for a Legal Separation?
When you and your spouse decide to legally separate, you will still be married. Illinois law does not require either spouse to provide grounds for the separation. However, there are some requirements for filing. You and your spouse should not live in the same home. Illinois will not consider you separated if you and your spouse live under the same roof.
Why Should We File for a Separation Instead of a Divorce?
New changes to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act will go into effect in January 2016. The Act establishes rules for marriage, separation, divorce, custody, and child support in Illinois. Changes in the marriage act will update the grounds for divorce, eliminate reconciliation requirements and reduce the period of time a divorcing couple is required to wait before seeking a divorce.
Couples are Limited to No-Fault Divorce
Senate Bill 57 will eliminate fault-based divorce. Couples seeking to divorce will no longer need grounds for filing for divorce. Currently, a couple may file for a divorce on accusatory grounds. The grounds for divorce include:
Through a stepparent adoption, the natural child of one spouse becomes the legal child of the other spouse. Once a child is adopted, there are no legal differences between the natural children and children from another marriage. If you are considering adopting your stepchild, there are a few factors to consider to help your family through the process.
Consent is Key to Stepparent Adoption
A stepparent adoption is a form of related adoption. However, in this type of related adoption, the other parent must provide consent for the adoption. Sometimes, the other birth parent may agree that stepparent adoption is in the best interests of the child. In these cases, it may not be difficult to obtain consent. The adoption will be more complex if the child’s other biological parent does not provide consent.
It is possible to terminate the other biological parent’s rights and eliminate the need to obtain his or her consent. You may terminate the other parent’s rights if you can demonstrate that the parent is unfit. Under the Illinois Adoption Act, a parent can be found unfit if he or she:
Making decisions about child custody during a divorce can be difficult. Making these decisions is even more complex when domestic violence is involved. While an abusive relationship may be limited to the relationship between two adults, there is no way to know the effect domestic violence may have on your child.
As you begin to separate from an abusive spouse you may wonder how to limit the impact of abuse on your children. It is important that you understand how the court may address the abuse issue when making decisions regarding child visitation.
Will My Abusive Spouse be Given Visitation?
Under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act, courts presume that it is in the best interest of the child to not live in an abusive environment or have visitation with an abusive parent. If you are separating from a spouse who is abusive, one of your first steps will be to provide the court with any information related to the domestic violence (e.g. protective orders, police reports) so that the court knows about the abuse.
When a couple decides to divorce or separate, they have to figure out issues regarding their children. Of course, a child’s primary residency and child support payments are both critical issues. The dissolution of a marriage creates a new family dynamic for the parents and their child. These dynamics will continue to change over time. It is possible that the parent responsible for paying child support may need to request a modification to child support. As family dynamics change, parents should understand how a court will examine a request to modify a child support order.
Determining Child Support
When a divorce is finalized and a support order is appropriate, then a court will follow guidelines provided by Illinois law to determine how much child support a parent should pay. Typically, the non-custodial parent will pay support. The amount of support will be based on his or her net income, the number of children supported, and other factors the court finds relevant.
This fall, important aspects of Illinois family law will change. SB57 is Illinois' effort to change the way family law is practiced in Illinois.
Illinois law now rejects determinations of fault in divorce and seeks to remove the stigma of being a non-custodial parent. The new provisions accept the fact that marriages do not always work out and seeks to ensure that a child's needs are met.
Understanding these these changes will be critical for couples seeking divorce and creating custody agreements in the near future. It is important to consider these changes to Illinois family law that may affect you in the future:
Divorce Processes
Today, it is very common for children to live with grandparents, aunts, uncles, or even adult siblings. This often happens when a child’s biological parents are not present in his or her life. Most times, these circumstances start as a temporary option; however, they often grow into permanent arrangements. In situations like this, the biological parents maintain their parental right unless legal action is taken to gain custody of the child.
Establishing a Legal Arrangement as a Non-Parent
When a living arrangement moves from being temporary to permanent, a caretaker would be wise to begin to consider options for legalizing the relationship. Establishing a legal relationship will allow the caretaker to be able to provide health insurance, enroll the child in school, and have authority to make decisions for the child in the absence of a parent. Before moving forward to legalize the relationship, it is important to remember that the law strongly protects the rights of the biological parents. However, there are certain conditions under which a non-parent would be able to establish a permanent legal relationship with a child.
Prenuptial agreements, also known as prenups, constitute a special type of contract between prospective spouses. Prenups are different than other types of contracts, which are legal if there was a “meeting of the minds” when the contract was formed; specifically, prenups allow both parties to take a second look at the terms of the agreement. Yet what does this mean if you are considering signing a prenup? It means that your prenup has to be fair and reasonable at the time you need to use it—when you divorce. It is possible that at the time of enforcement a court could find an agreement to be invalid, even if the parties entered the agreement with full knowledge and consulted counsel. If you are divorcing and have a prenuptial agreement, it is important to consider the circumstances under which a court may find a prenuptial agreement invalid.
UPAA and Prenuptial Agreements in Illinois
Illinois’ Grandparent Visitation Act provides grandparents with a limited right to request visitation with their grandchild. Unlike visitation granted to a parent, the law makes it clear that grandparent visitation is a privilege, not a right.
Under the law, grandparents, great-grandparents, and siblings have the right to ask a court for visitation; however, the court may refuse visitation. Most times, grandparents receive less visitation than parents. For this reason, it worth trying to discuss visitation with the custodial parent. However, it may not always be possible to come to an agreement. If you are a grandparent considering a request for visitation, then it is important that you understand how the court will analyze your request.
Steps to Take When Pursuing Visitation
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