PATERNITY LAW IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

Child Custody / Child Support / Dependency Deduction / Insurance / Visitation

In a paternity case it is very important that there be an award of custody of the child and that specific days and times for visitation are listed. You cannot find a person in contempt of court for failing to grant visitation to the non-custodial parent when the judgment indicates liberal and reasonable visitation. (The custodial parent may in her / his mind believe that it is reasonable for the other parent to only see his child once a year!)

Assuming that there is no acknowledgment of paternity and no prior order finding paternity, the alleged father should file a petition seeking DNA tests to make sure that he is the father of said child WHICH IS ALMOST ALWAYS GRANTED. There are so many cases that an attorney has handled where the alleged father was sure that he was the father only to find out at a later date (after he had signed an acknowledgment of paternity or entered into an agreed order finding that he was the father) that there is a substantial probability that he is not the father.

The attorney remembers a case where a woman came into his office and she had a child and was engaged to two men and having sexual intercourse with both men during the time that the child was conceived. The mother (knowing that both men would not seek DNA tests because they believed that she was faithful) was in a quandry whether to allege that the fiancee who was employed and earning union wages is the father or to allege that the other fiancee was the father who had just earned his bachelor's degree and might earn more income that the first fiancee.

Another woman came into the attorney's office and said that she had five children from five different men. The woman knew the child support guidelines and stated to the attorney that by having a child from five different men she could earn 20% of each man's net income (a total of 100%) and it would be stupid to have five children from one man because then she would be entitled to only 45% of that man's income. Assuming that each father earned an annual net income of $50,000 if the woman had one child from five different men she would be entitled to $50,000 per year in child support where if she had five children from one man she would be entitled to only $22,500 per year in child support. To some women child support is an non-taxable annuity and to have five children from just one man would have cost her $27,500 per year which would result in a net loss of non-taxable income of $495,000 over a period of 18 years.

This website does not provide legal advice but instead is meant to give general information and should not be relied upon without seeking competent legal advice relating to your specific situation. What generally may be true may not apply in your case depending upon the specific facts and circumstances involved. Nothing contained in this website is meant to create an attorney-client relationship and no attorney-client relationship is created until a written retainer agreement is executed by the attorney and client and a retainer fee is paid to the attorney.