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Major Changes to Illinois Family Law
With the recent passage of the “modern family” bill, Illinois family law will soon undergo drastic changes. The Bill amends the law in areas including child custody, the grounds for divorce and parental relocation. Senate Bill 57, signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, goes into effect January 1, 2016.
Child Custody
One major alteration to Illinois law is the abolishment of the concept of child custody. Instead, Judges will allocate parenting time and parental responsibilities between the parents. Each parent will be assigned specific childcare tasks that deal with different areas of upbringing. These tasks may include decision-making responsibility in areas, such as education, religion, nutrition, health care, the child's daily schedule, discipline, relationships with others and childcare.
Parental responsibility will be allocated, according to a child's best interests, dependent on the circumstances of each child's situation. To determine a child's best interests, Courts will examine factors including each parent's abilities and weaknesses, the child's relationship with each parent and the wishes of the parents and children.
New Child Support Bill Signed into Law
For children whose parents are separated, and for the parents who have custody over them, child support is key to financial stability. However, if parents fall behind in their child support payments, they can cause their children and co-parents economic distress.
However, a new Bill, recently signed into law, addresses these issues. The Bill is aimed at ensuring that children and their parents receive timely child support payments by studying the root causes of the failure to pay child support. Additionally, the Bill calls for policy recommendations on how to address these root causes and how to streamline the child support system.
The Bill
House Bill 2791, sponsored by State Rep. Camille Lilly, D-Chicago, requires the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to conduct a study researching the reasons why parents do not pay child support. Often, parents fall behind in their support payments because they are unable to pay, not because they do not care.
Rescinding Paternity
In Illinois, if parents are not married at the time of a child's birth, then the child's paternity must be established by other means. One way to establish paternity in Illinois is to voluntarily acknowledge one's paternity. To do this, both parents must agree that the man is the child's father.
However, sometimes, a mother or father later regrets the decision to acknowledge paternity. Perhaps one party was pressured into signing, or the father of the child was mistaken. Fortunately, there is a way to rescind the acknowledgment.
Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity
In Illinois, when the father of a child is not married to the child's mother, there are three ways in which a child's paternity may be established:
- A Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity form, signed by both parents;
- An administrative order from the Department of Public Aid; or
Types of Alimony in Illinois
When a couple divorces, one spouse is often left at an economic disadvantage in comparison to the other spouse. When this happens, the Court may award alimony (spousal support), known in Illinois as maintenance.
In Illinois, there are several types of spousal support designed to serve multiple purposes. The duration and the amount of maintenance awarded varies based on several factors and on the circumstances of the marriage.
Temporary Maintenance
Typically, Illinois Courts do not award permanent alimony until a divorce has been finalized. In the interim, the spouses may agree to an amount of support. However, if a couple cannot agree on a support amount, a Judge can order temporary maintenance. Usually, a temporary alimony order ends when the Court issues a final divorce decree.
Rehabilitative Maintenance
Calculating Spousal Support in Illinois
The calculation of spousal maintenance, or alimony, has become increasingly inconsistent in recent years due to the large amount of discretion given to individual judges in assigning awards. However, in 2014, the Illinois legislature passed an amendment to the state's alimony law. The new law works to limit individual judges' discretion in alimony awards by providing judges with a specific set of spousal maintenance guidelines to follow when making their rulings.
The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act
Prior to the passage of the amendments to the Marriage Act, Judges determined whether a spouse was entitled to alimony based on factors listed in the Illinois statutes. These factors included:
- Each couple's needs;
- The ability of each spouse to earn a living;
- The length of the marriage;
The Effects of Obergefell on Illinois Couples
With the recent historic Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriage is now legal everywhere in the United States. While legal in Illinois for over a year, the effect for couples who may want to move or travel out of Illinois is significant.
Same-Sex Marriage in Illinois
In 2013, the state legislature approved same-sex marriage in Illinois. Effective as of June 2014, the law allows for same-sex marriage while protecting religious liberties and provides that religious groups may choose which marriage ceremonies to perform; they may not be sued if they refuse to perform a same-sex marriage.
Churches, synagogues, mosques and other places used primarily for the practice, study or advancement of religion cannot be required to use their buildings for same-sex marriage events. Declining to provide a space based on religious beliefs provides immunity from civil and criminal liability.
How to Have a Successful Co-Parenting Relationship
A Florida mother, who violated the terms of a child custody agreement by refusing to turn her four-year-old son over to the father for an agreed upon circumcision, finally consented to having the procedure done at the end of May. During the court proceeding, the judge advised the parents that as they continue to raise their son, disagreements need to be worked out through communication, and not by taking the law into their own hands.
Advice, however, is sometimes easier to give than to take. When a relationship ends because the spouses cannot get along, how are they supposed to work together to raise their children?
While it may not be easy, successful co-parenting is possible after a relationship has ended.
Focus on Communication
Determining Jurisdiction in Illinois Child Custody Cases
Questions regarding jurisdiction in Palatine child custody cases are common. Based on the specific circumstances of each case, the answers to these questions can differ from person to person. However, several general questions have similar answers.
What is jurisdiction?
Jurisdiction gives a Court the authority to decide a case. In Illinois, a Court has jurisdiction to decide a child custody case if Illinois is the child's home state. Therefore, a child must live in Illinois for a six-month period immediately preceding the filing of a petition.
My spouse moved out of state. Can Illinois still decide my child custody case?
Yes. Jurisdiction is based solely on a child's home state, not where the parents live.
Legal Battle over Frozen Embryos
A well-known actress is currently at odds with her ex-fiancé regarding frozen embryos the couple created before parting ways. The ex-fiancé wants to implant the embryos in a surrogate. However, the actress, who is currently engaged, wants them frozen indefinitely.
If a petition is granted, what rights and responsibilities would the actress have regarding child custody and child support?
Illinois Law Regarding Embryos
The use of fertility treatments to aid couples who cannot conceive spontaneously is increasingly common. One popular method is in-vitro fertilization, a method where egg and sperm are joined in a lab and are then implanted into the woman. During in-vitro, many pre-embryos are created at one time; those that are not implanted are either destroyed, donated or frozen indefinitely.
Breaking a Stalemate in Palatine Child Custody Cases
A Florida mother recently filed suit in Federal Court to prevent her ex-husband from having their four-year-old son circumcised. However, a lower Court has ordered the woman to turn the boy over for surgery — she had previously agreed to allow the circumcision in a child custody agreement.
Illinois Joint Legal Custody
The default under Illinois law is to grant a child's parents joint legal custody — an arrangement that can be granted even if one parent has primary physical custody. Joint legal custody means both parents have a right to make decisions regarding all aspects of a child's life, including religious upbringing, education and medical care. Parents who share legal custody are therefore required to talk and come to an agreement on all issues, just as they would if they were still married.
Introducing The Law Office of Nicholas W. Richardson
Nicholas W. Richardson is an experienced divorce lawyer and mediator whose comprehensive legal knowledge, commitment to clients and reputation for results bring lasting solutions to your problems.
The Law Office of Nicholas W. Richardson, P.C. serves clients in Illinois cities such as Palatine, Schaumburg, Inverness, Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows, Glenview, Hoffman Estates, Bartlett, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Mt. Prospect, Niles, Prospect Heights, Skokie, Streamwood, Barrington, Buffalo Grove, Wheeling, and others throughout Cook County, DuPage County, McHenry County, and Kane County.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
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847-873-6741
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