Wendy R. Morgan

PATERNITY

Parentage or legal paternity cases in Illinois mainly encompass situations where children are born to couples who are not married when the child is born. Today, it is not uncommon for children to be born to unmarried couples living together or to single women in non-marital relationships who later claim their child resulted from those relationships. In some cases, the sexual partner claims to be the father of the child. In all these situations, the relationship has produced a child requiring support. In these cases, the Illinois Court must determine the custody rights of the parents, support for the minor child, a visitation and parenting time schedule, and other issues. A child born" out of wedlock" has the same legal rights as a child born to married couples under the Illinois Marriage and Marriage act.

The procedure by which a parent-child relationship is legally established by court ordered agreement of the parties or a DNA test. This is because when a child is born to parties during a marriage, under Illinois paternity law the child is presumed to be a child of the marriage. If the husband believes that he may not be the natural father of a child born to the parties during the marriage, he can pursue a DNA test in Illinois to rebut the presumption of paternity.

A paternity case may be brought in the event the parties are not married at the time the child is born and the father wishes to pursue a father-child relationship and is prevented from doing so by the mother. A paternity case may also be brought where the mother seeks child support and other financial rights of the child from the father.

Establishing paternity in Illinois is critical because it is the basis for the ability to obtain child support, visitation, custody, the establishment of inheritance rights and the like. If paternity is not properly established with the period of time required by Illinois paternity law, it can make it difficult or impossible to make a claim for custody and parenting time, and may permit adoption by a future step-parent.

When pursuing paternity it is necessary to have the assistance of knowledgeable and passionate attorneys. Our Illinois attorneys have been assisting parents establish the paternity of their children for over 30 years under Illinois paternity laws. The Law Firm of Wendy R. Morgan has competent, experienced paternity and family law attorneys to assist you in determining the legitimacy of Illinois paternity claims and in prosecuting and defending paternity claims, along with issues regarding the determination of child support, day care, maintenance of medical insurance, uncovered medical expenses, college education, custody, visitation, and other rights of the child and the parent.