Parentage or establishing paternity is the legal process of adjudicating whether a certain man is the father of a certain child. It is governed by the Illinois Parentage Act of 1984 (750 ILCS 45 et. Seq.) Once the man is adjudicated to be the father of the child, then a father child relationship can established and the issues of child support, custody and visitation can be resolved. In Illinois parentage or paternity can be established by three distinct mechanisms: (1) judicially ; (2) administratively and; (3) signing a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity.
To initiate a judicial case, a Petition to Establish a Parent Child Relationship is filed. Once filed, then petition must be served to meet the constitutional requirements of notice. Once served, the petition is likely answered, and a DNA test is likely ordered. Once the DNA test is complete and the results are positive, then an order for parentage is entered. The result, paternity has been established. Once paternity is established then the issues of custody, visitation and child support can be established. The advantage of proceeding judicially is that you are assigned to a judge. The judge has to be a lawyer. This judge makes the decisions regarding issues that are contested in your case and hears testimony based on the Illinois Rules of Evidence.
An Administrative case is initiated when the custodial parent makes a visit to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and requests that child support be established. This and the last mechanism for establishing paternity are the least advantageous methods of determining paternity. As with the judicial case, a petition has to be filed to establish paternity. The petition has to be served upon the non-custodial parent so that all constitutional requirements of notice are met. Once served, a date is set to complete a DNA test. Once the DNA test results are back and the results are positive an Order of Parentage is entered. However this process is different because at no time during this process have you stood before a judge in a black robe and plead your case. More than likely you have visited various stations and met with various employees who have handed your case off to other employees. These people are not judicial officers. They are not lawyers, in most cases. The are the pencil pushers of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. Another disadvantage of this process is that only the issues of paternity and child support can be resolved through the administrative process. So if you want to get custody of the child involved or have visitation rights, then you have to file a separate petition in court and have a judge, wearing a black robe, decide those issues. In addition, another disadvantage is that once an administrative case has begun you are stuck with the administrative process. This means that all subsequent modifications regarding child support will have to take place through the administrative process. The administrative process is difficult for litigants because of the complexities of the administrative code and the fact that you will not be talking to one person regarding your case, but in actuality many different people who may not have an understanding of the laws pertaining to family law.
The final method of establishing paternity involves sidestepping both the judicial and the administrative process. When a child is born at a hospital and the parties are not married, the hospital personnel provides a form for the parties to fill out called a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity. This form when filled out and signed by both mother and father, establishes paternity without a judge or without an administrative pencil pusher. Once this document is signed and you do not withdraw your signature within sixty days of signing this document, you are presumed the father of this child whether you like it or not. Essentially, if you sign this document you are certifying with absolute certainty that you are the father of the child and that there is no chance that this child is not yours. In addition, you are essentially waiving your right to seek a DNA test. I have represented many men who have signed this document and later found out that they were not the fathers of the children they signed for. It is an unfortunate situation that can be rectified. However, the standards set to rectify the situation are set very high, which makes it very difficult to get the correct result. Fortunately, the law was our side in some of these cases.
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