Free Initial Consultations
630-580-6373With offices in Naperville, Joliet, Wheaton, Plainfield & Chicago
630-580-6373630-580-6373
Paternity refers to the relationship between a child and his or her legal father. A father, mother, and child can all benefit from establishing paternity, which gives a legal father rights and responsibilities regarding a child. It is important to note that the legal father of a child does not need to be the biological father, and Illinois law provides for many different ways that a mother or potential father can establish paternity.
Benefits of Establishing Paternity
There are several benefits to establishing paternity for both parents involved and the child. From a father’s perspective, he can create and nurture a relationship with his child. He can also pass on his family name, culture, and anything else that is important to him. The mother of a child also benefits from establishing paternity. She can apply for support from the father if they are not married and have another adult present to support the emotional development of the child.
As part of any divorce settlement where children are involved, a child visitation schedule details when a child should spend time with each parent. However, sometimes one parent does not wish for their child to see the other parent and will deny him or her the right to see the child. Known as visitation abuse, a parent cannot be legally kept from their child when a custody schedule is set by the court, and there are legal remedies available to help.
Illinois Visitation Abuse Law
Visitation abuse is considered a civil concept in Illinois. Defined in 750 ILCS 5.607.1, visitation abuse occurs when a parent denies another parent visitation as decided by the court or exercises his or her visitation rights in a manner that is harmful to a child or a child's custodian.
In our society, parental rights are fundamental rights, meaning they are the type of rights that are guaranteed to citizens of the United States by virtue of the Constitution. Because of this fact, to terminate parental rights, the government needs to prove that there has been some behavior or misconduct so bad that it causes harm or a threat of harm to the well-being of a child, and therefore the government has the right to intervene on the child(ren)’s behalf.
Misconduct, Neglect, and Abuse of Children
When we think about misconduct or behavior that is considered neglectful or abusive, generally we think about actions taken by parents to injure or hurt a child from infancy until the child is no longer a minor. However, Illinois law (among other jurisdictions in the United States) has found that misconduct while a fetus is still in utero may trigger termination of parental rights once the child has left the womb. Under our law, how can the government enforce the termination of parental rights for neonatal abuse?
Reasons for Premarital Agreements
A premarital agreement is a contract made between two potential spouses regarding any and all aspects of a marriage. There are several different reasons why couples agree to sign a premarital agreement before marriage. One person may be wealthier than the other and may want to protect that wealth in the case of a divorce. Additionally, if one party comes into a marriage with an existing business, a premarital agreement can protect those interests.
A prenuptial agreement can also be made to ensure predictability, to plan for the future, and to provide security for both parties involved. It can guarantee future life insurance, pension, or military benefits even in the case of divorce. It can also limit future support, to an extent, so that in the case of divorce both people feel like they are exiting the marriage with some level of support.
Spousal support is one of the biggest issues in a divorce. Also referred to as alimony or maintenance, spousal support requires that one former spouse continues to financially support the other former spouse for a period of time or permanently. There are several different types of maintenance that can be agreed upon or ordered by court. However, it must first be determined whether either spouse is entitled to receive support from the other.
Temporary Spousal Support
During the course of divorce proceedings, one spouse can receive temporary maintenance from the other. This temporary alimony has no effect on whether permanent spousal support will be awarded at the end of the divorce, but it can serve to help provide for the lesser earning spouse while the divorce is ongoing. Typically, temporary alimony begins when one spouse files for divorce and it ends when the divorce is finalized.
Taxes affect nearly every aspect of our lives, and divorce is no exception. It is important that you consider the tax implications to all of the decisions that go into your divorce, especially if there are children involved. Child support, custody, and other issues surrounding the children can have a major impact on your future taxes.
Child Support and Dependency Exemptions
Child support has no effect on your taxes. The parent sending child support cannot deduct payments and the parent receiving the support does not count it as income. However, a child can be claimed as a $3,100 dependency exemption that can be worth as much as $1,000 to taxpayers in the upper tax brackets.
Typically, the custodial parent is allowed to claim the child as a dependency exemption. However, if the custody is split then both parents may claim the child as a dependent so long as the final divorce decree claims them both as custodial parents. If the child is part of a joint custody, then the parent who spends the most time with the child gets to claim them as a dependent for taxes. In addition, dependency exemptions can be transferred between the parents through agreement for any specified amount of time.
Petitioning the court for a divorce can be one of the most complicated and stressful times of your life. In Illinois, the court still requires that a person filing for divorce give a specific reason for why the marriage is ending, also known as giving grounds for the divorce. As such, Illinois is considered a “fault” state for divorce, but the law does also allow a “no fault” reason to end a marriage.
Fault Grounds for Divorce
Illinois statute 750 ILCS 5/401 states the reasons why a person may file for divorce in this state. In addition to giving grounds, the petitioning spouse must also meet the residency requirements of the law, which for Illinois requires the spouse to live in the state for at least 90 days prior to the filing. A spouse must prove that one of the following has occurred “without cause or provocation” before the court will allow a divorce:
The use of technology and social media to connect with others has been an increasing cause of divorce across the country, and the world, for a number of years as more spouses use social media websites. In fact, a new survey conducted by the company Censuswide shows that nearly one in every seven divorces occurs because of social media.
Example of Social Media Divorce
One woman in Chicago admitted to the survey researchers that her addiction to social media was a major contributing cause to her divorce. She spent nearly five hours every day on Facebook and other social media sites after she started to build her online presence for her event-planning business. She mentioned that the time spent on social media should have been used to cook dinner, read to her kids, or even watch a movie or talk with her spouse.
One of the biggest issues that arises during the divorce process is the distribution of property to each spouse. Who gets the house, cars, furniture, personal effects, and more must all be agreed upon by the spouses or the court in a divorce. Illinois decides issues of property through a process known as “equitable distribution.”
Equitable Distribution
The purpose behind an equitable distribution of property is to divide the property accumulated as a married couple in a fair and equitable way. It is important to note that fair does not always mean equal; therefore, one spouse may receive more in the distribution of property if a judge deems it to be fair.
The equitable distribution of property only applies to marital property. It does not apply to the non-marital property of each spouse. Illinois code section 750 ILCS 5/503 defines non-marital property, marital property, and how to convert one type of property to the other.
In Illinois, the state adoption agency is required to notify fathers if their children are being placed for adoption. All putative fathers, or men who might be a child’s father but were not married to the child’s mother at the time of birth, are encouraged to register in the Putative Father Registry in order to have a say in a potential adoption of their child.
The Putative Father Registry is also designed to serve families who want to adopt, for social workers and other professionals working on an adoption case, and for any other party who has an interest in finding out whether a child is ‘legally free’ for adoption. Moreover, the Registry is ultimately there to help children be placed with adoptive parents.
Asserting Your Rights as a Father
To ensure that your child is not adopted without your input, you should first register with the Putative Father Registry. However, this is only the first step in establishing and protecting your rights. You must also go through a legal process to establish your paternity, and you must begin this process within 30 days of registering.
2224 W. Ferry Road, Unit 113, | |
1776 S. Naperville Road, Building A, Suite 105, | |
321 N. Clark Street, Suite 900, | |
58 N. Chicago Street, Suite 102, | |
2407 West Lockport Street, Suite 201-H, |
The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.
I have read and understand the Disclaimer and Privacy Policy.
