The term paternity refers to the legal father-child relationship. “Parentage” is the gender-neutral term currently used in Illinois law to refer to the legal parent-child relationship. Paternity or parentage may be established in a variety of ways. In some situations, parentage is automatically established. In other cases, parents must complete certain steps to establish parentage. There are many benefits associated with establishing parentage, and parents who have not established parentage are limited with regard to their parental rights.

Do I Need to Do Something to Establish Parentage?

Parentage is assumed in certain situations. In Illinois, if a man is married to the mother of a child at the time of birth and his name appears on the birth record, parentage is automatically established. However, unmarried parents may need to take additional steps to establish parentage.

How Do You Set Up Parentage or Paternity?

In Illinois, parentage or paternity is established in one of three ways:

Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Peloton, and several other companies have announced massive layoffs in recent months. Many employees were let go from jobs with little to no warning, leaving them bewildered and unsure of what to do next.

If you were recently fired or laid off from your job, you know just how upsetting it can be. Many people in this situation have child support or spousal support obligations. Affording support payments after a job loss or income reduction can be extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible. Fortunately, you may be able to modify your divorce decree to reduce your financial obligations.

Changing Your Illinois Child Support Order

Child support payments are intended to help provide for the child. Consequently, Illinois courts consider child support a child’s right and modifications are only granted under certain circumstances. You can modify your child support order if there is a “substantial change in circumstances.” Typically, a significant change in the income of either parent justifies a child support modification. However, Illinois courts treat voluntary unemployment differently than involuntary unemployment. Parents who intentionally quit their job or take a lesser-paying job to reduce their child support obligation are not looked upon favorably and the court may deny a modification request in this situation.

Stepparent adoption refers to the adoption of the child of one's spouse. Stepparent adoptions are often done when the biological parent cannot be found or has abandoned the child, or if there is a need to change the legal relationship between the stepparent and stepchild. Although many stepparents are closer to their stepchildren than the child's biological parents, stepparents have very few legal rights. For example, if a stepfather helps raise a stepson and then he and the child's mother divorce, the stepfather has no right to parenting time with the child.

Fortunately, Illinois law offers a legal avenue for stepchild adoption. Once a stepparent adopts a child, he or she gains all of the rights and responsibilities associated with being a parent. If you are interested in adopting your stepchild, read on to learn more.

Illinois Stepparent Adoption Laws

To adopt your stepchild in Illinois, you must meet the following requirements:

If you are getting divorced, statistics show that financial problems likely played a role. Money problems are one of the most common reasons why marriages end, and they can be a massive source of stress during the divorce process.

To make matters worse, some spouses will try to spend as much money as possible before the divorce is final in an attempt to prevent their ex from getting a fair share. Other spouses spend money on a new boyfriend or girlfriend or on expensive gifts for themselves. This is known as dissipation of assets, and it can have a major impact on the division of property in a divorce.

What is Dissipation of Assets?

The word dissipation means to waste or to use up. In the context of divorce, dissipation of assets occurs when one spouse uses marital property for his or her own benefit and not for the benefit of the marriage. This can include spending money on a new relationship, buying expensive gifts, or going on lavish vacations. Dissipation is a common issue in divorce cases involving infidelity. For example, if a spouse bought an affair partner an expensive diamond necklace, this may be considered dissipation.

Almost no parent wants to be involved in a contested child custody case. When a case involving parenting time arrangements and the allocation of parental responsibilities must be decided by the court, rather than the parents, it is quite normal for the parents to feel nervous. The outcome of a child custody case is not always predictable. You may feel as if you have been left in a state of limbo, uncertain as to how your relationship with your child will continue in the future. 

If you learn that a guardian ad litem has been appointed to your case, you may not be certain exactly what a guardian ad litem does, or how the presence of one may affect your case. Fortunately, you can rest assured that bringing in a guardian ad litem is a very normal part of a child custody dispute. The role of the guardian ad litem is simply to conduct an independent investigation into what type of arrangement is likely to be in the child’s best interests and to report the results to the court and the parties. If you are involved in disputed custody proceedings, it is critical that you have strong legal representation.