Proving paternity can be a complex thing to do, and a difficult one to discuss with your spouse. However, it can also be important for your child's future. Before people had access to things like DNA testing, there were a variety of laws in place that created presumptions about who was a child's father. Many of these laws are still around, though they have been modified in recent years to account for the changing technology available to actually make determinations about paternity. The key question for paternity laws asks whether the parents of the child are married.

Married Parents

Married parents ordinarily present the simplest case for establishing paternity. If two people are married when the child is conceived or born, then the Illinois Parentage Act of 1984 creates a presumption that the husband is the child's father. However, the father can dispute this presumption.

Divorces are the most common way of legally ending a marriage in Illinois, but they can seem too final for some people. Sometimes, people in that situation may benefit from another option provided by Illinois law, legal separation. Unlike divorces, legal separations do not end a marriage. However, they do allow both parties to live separately with formal support agreements in place. These sorts of arrangements are seldom used in Illinois because they still require much of the same process as a divorce, but they can be a useful tool in certain circumstances.

Legal Separation vs. Divorce

Legal separations are very similar to divorce. If the two spouses are living apart, then one of them can file for a legal separation provided that they are not at fault for the separation. Examples of fault can include things like adultery or abandoning the other spouse. Then the couple determines things like child custody, visitation rights, child support, alimony, and property division, just like they would in a full divorce. Also like divorce, legal separations are permanent arrangements, unless the couple chooses to get back together. Although, at some point it will likely make sense for a couple who has been legally separated for a long time to convert that separation into a divorce.

American culture emphasizes the importance of spending time with one's family during the holidays. This can make the holidays a particularly difficult season after a divorce. It can often be made tougher by the long wait for them to roll around because statistically speaking, divorces are most common just after the start of the new year. This means that there can be a big gap between when the divorce starts and the next holiday season. Fortunately, there are many strategies people can use to make the holidays run more smoothly after a divorce.

Plan Ahead

Planning ahead for the holiday season can make everyone involved happier. Children are likely going to need to be shuttled between different celebrations for different parts of their extended families. That means that the two ex-spouses are going to need to work together to coordinate how pickups and drop offs work and who is going to be where and when. Alternatively, if the custody schedule creates holidays that alternate by year, then it is important to plan early for which parent is responsible for the kids during the holidays and to develop a system that works well for everyone involved. It can also be helpful to bring the kids themselves in on the planning. Accommodating their thoughts on how they want to spend the holidays, to the extent possible, can help improve everyone's mood during the season.

The American court system is set up to be adversarial in nature, which means that it pits the two parties in the courtroom against each other. Unfortunately, this is the same system that American courts use in divorce, which can lead to spouses getting involved in bitter fights as they try to assert their rights against each other. This setup often obscures the third party being affected by the divorce, the children. Children in a divorce have some rights too, though often limited ones, and it is important to understand these rights during the process. For instance, in some circumstances, Illinois law gives children the right to be represented by an attorney or a guardian ad litem, a lawyer who has their best interests in mind. Additionally, children have a right to be heard in child custody proceedings, although this right is often misunderstood.

Guardians ad Litem

Guardians ad litem, along with attorneys for the child and children's representatives, are lawyers who work to advocate for the best interests of the child. Each of these professionals has slightly different roles and powers. For instance, the guardian ad litem, which the court can appoint on its own or at the request of one of the parties, undertakes an investigation of the facts of the situation. They interview the children, the parents, and other important witnesses, and they gain a full understanding of the facts of the divorce. Then they prepare a written report for the court, making a variety of recommendations about child custody with the best interests of the child in mind. Children's representatives are similar except that rather than preparing a report, they undertake an investigation of the situation, and then make legal arguments to the court based on the evidence, acting more like the child's lawyer.

One of the central issues of any divorce is that of child custody. However, despite its importance to everyone involved, many people do not fully understand the different types and components of custody. For instance, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act allows for either joint or sole custody.

These two types of child custody relate to whether one or both parents have custody of the child, and they cover related issues like shared parenting time. Beyond this distinction, the law actually recognizes two different types of custody, physical custody and legal custody. Each of these two different types of child custody are important because each provide different rights with respect to the child.

Joint vs. Sole Custody