Does Illinois Protect Fathers’ Rights?

 Posted on December 30, 2024 in Child Custody

In the midst of a divorce or other pressing issues of family law, you may have concerns about your rights as a father. Certain questions might keep you awake at night, questions like Will I be able to see my children regularly? How can I be legally recognized as a father? How will the courts decide on custody?

If any of these worries resonate with you, it may be time to get in contact with a skilled Naperville, IL family law attorney who can inform you of your rights and represent you in court. Legislation around fatherhood is always changing, and knowing where your state stands on any particular issue can be immensely helpful. The attorneys at Pesce Law Group, P.C. are prepared to fight for you in and out of court, making sure your concerns do not go unheard.

Reasonable Parenting Time

In Illinois, both parents are entitled to reasonable time with their children, save for cases where "[the court] finds [...] that a parent's exercise of parenting time would seriously endanger the child's physical, mental, moral, or emotional health," which could result in restrictions on parenting time. When allocating parenting time (also commonly referred to as "visitation"), the court assumes that both parents are capable unless proven otherwise. The right to reasonable parenting time also extends to fathers who do not have decision-making responsibility, or legal custody.

If you believe your right to reasonable parenting time is being wrongly restricted, a divorce lawyer can hold you and your child’s other parent work out a more equitable schedule.

Parentage/Paternity

To enforce your rights as a father, you must first prove that you are the legal parent of your child, which can be done in different ways. In Illinois, there is a presumption of parentage if you are married to a mother at the time of the child’s birth. You are also assumed to be the father if you were married to a mother within 300 days of the child’s birth, but got divorced or otherwise legally separated in that time.

If neither of these cases applies to you, your next best option to establish paternity is to sign a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, or VAP. For this document to be considered valid, it must be signed by both you and the legal mother of the child. Though an acknowledgment of paternity is most often drafted at the time of the child’s birth, there is no time limit to sign a VAP.

Custody Rulings

In Illinois, mothers are not given preferential treatment over fathers in parenting time or decision-making responsibility. Instead, custody is determined with respect to the child’s best interests, which may factor in the following:

• The child’s wishes

• The child’s adjustment to his or her community, school, or nearby family

• The child’s needs

• Any history of domestic violence from either parent

• The willingness of both parents to cooperate in the child’s shared interests

Divorce courts in Illinois take the child’s best interests very seriously. In some cases, a judge may appoint a guardian ad litem (GAL) to represent the child in court, especially if there are questions about one or both parents’ ability to care for the child. 

Contact a Naperville, IL Family Law Attorney

In general, Illinois is fairly egalitarian when it comes to protecting fathers’ rights in law. However, this does not mean that unconscious biases do not play a role in custody battles. If you fear that your rights as a father are being infringed, a DuPage County, IL divorce lawyer at Pesce Law Group, P.C. can help set things right. Call our offices at 630-352-2240 for a free consultation.