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How Can Unwed Fathers Protect Their Parental Rights?
No matter what kind of relationship you share with your child’s mother or what your living arrangements will be after your child is born, it is important to understand a father’s rights and how to avoid jeopardizing yours. If you wish to be involved and have a say over parental matters in the future, the first step is to be aware that in Illinois, you are only considered the legal father if you are married to--or have entered into a civil union with--the mother at the time of birth. This means that your relationship with your child from the moment he or she is born will greatly revolve around where you stand legally on paper.
Immediate Actions You Can Take to Protect Your Rights
There are some actions you can take to establish paternity in order to make sure your rights as a father are not violated. Below are some of the first steps in becoming legally recognized as the father of your child:
What Happens If I Die Without an Estate Plan?
The very idea of estate planning can be frightening for many people, as it is not easy to confront the realization that nobody lives forever. Drafting an estate plan that includes a will, trusts, and other documents requires you to look past the end of your own life. While the difficulties associated with estate planning are understandable, it is critical to have an estate plan. If you were to die without a will or other estate plans, most of your property would probably be subject to the intestate succession laws of Illinois.
What Does “Intestate” Mean?
A particular asset is deemed to be “intestate” if there is no direction specified for how the asset will be disposed of following the owner’s death. Jointly owned property is not usually intestate because the ownership of the joint property will generally transfer to the other owner or owners. Likewise, an investment account that has named beneficiaries or a transfer-on-death clause is not an intestate asset. The named beneficiaries will receive the funds in that account when you die. However, if you are the sole owner of an asset and you have not established legally enforceable instructions on handling the asset upon your death, the asset will be treated as intestate property.
Where Should I File My Petition for an Illinois Divorce?
If you are thinking about filing for a divorce from your spouse, you will eventually need to know how to do so. Even if you and your spouse are in total agreement that a divorce is necessary, you are likely to have many questions about the divorce process.
Depending your circumstances and the dynamic of your relationship, you and your spouse may very well have spent many months preparing for your divorce-both logistically and emotionally-but the divorce does not formally begin until one of your files a petition for dissolution of marriage with the court. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) provides rules regarding who is eligible to get divorced in the state and where to file your petition.
Illinois Residency
You qualify to have your divorce handled in the state of Illinois if you or your spouse have been a resident of the state for no less than 90 days prior to the filing. If you or your spouse were stationed in Illinois as part of your military service, your time in Illinois would count toward the residency requirement.
How Do I Establish Paternity in Illinois?
When a baby is born to a married couple, the mother’s husband is assumed to be the father of the child. Paternity is the legal definition of a father’s relationship with the child. When a father establishes that he is legally the father, he has rights to the child, such as parenting time. This is what legally differentiates him from anyone else, such as a family friend or other father figure. Establishing paternity not only strengthens the relationship between father and child, but the child will also benefit.
Ways to Confirm Parentage
The only way paternity is automatically established is through marriage. Even if the parents of a child live together, or are engaged to be married, paternity will need to be established another way. The only exception is if the mother was married, or in a civil union, at least 300 days before the birth. In these cases, her partner or former partner will be assumed to be the child’s father.
Why Your Family Should Be Involved in Your Estate Planning Decisions
While some people have the good fortune of being born into a family with significant wealth that was amassed several generations ago, most others work extremely hard to accumulate the assets and holdings that comprise their estate. As far as your estate is concerned, you have likely put in many hours and made responsible decisions to earn what you currently own. With this in mind, you have every right to decide what will be done with your property after your death.
It is important to remember that while you do have the right to make estate planning choices for yourself, decisions such as these will affect others. The choices you make in your estate plan will almost certainly impact your loved ones and close family members. That impact could be negative, positive, or neutral, depending on your unique circumstances and how you manage them.
Avoiding Unfounded Assumptions
A recent study conducted by Fidelity Investments found that an alarming number of aging individuals are not on the same page with their adult children when it comes to the topic of estate management. For example, Fidelity discovered that adult children tend to believe that their parents’ estates are worth far less than they actually-about $280,000 less on average. Additionally, the study found that nine out of ten parents plant to presume that one of their children will serve as executor of their estate. More than 25 percent of adult children, however, had no idea about their parents’ expectations.
Top Three Reasons People May Seek a Divorce in Illinois
The divorce rate is currently at its lowest in 40 years, and this decrease in divorces is widely attributed to younger generations delaying marriage. In fact, 15- to 24-year-olds have contributed the most to this average decrease, with a 43 percent drop in divorce rates for this age group. As societal norms change, younger people are waiting longer to get married. A lot of couples choose to live together for a number of years before entering into a legal union. Although the overall percentage of divorces has decreased recently, many couples still choose to end their marriage after careful consideration.
Issues That Can Destroy a Marriage
Most couples do not enter into marriage expecting to get divorced. However, it can happen due to various factors that cause the breakdown of the relationship, such as:
- Infidelity: For some, cheating is considered the ultimate betrayal of a partner’s trust and loyalty. Infidelity can be enough for a person to want a divorce, but it is also a sign that there may be underlying problems within the union. If a person decides to remain married and work on the relationship, there is no guarantee that their partner will not commit adultery again or that they even wish to remain committed to the marriage.
What Are My Options for Enforcing Child Support in My Illinois Divorce?
In a divorce, child-related issues can prove to be contentious, and disputes may arise over child support obligations. Whether raising a child with an absent parent or within an antagonistic relationship, single parents have long faced significant challenges when it comes to child support here in Illinois. While new state laws that went into effect in 2017 aimed to better protect the well-being of children in need, they also made support matters more complicated for many families, due to new calculations that the courts now use to determine financial responsibility. Regardless of the specific amount of support, the custodial parent relies on that money for expenses related to the upbringing of his or her child. In some cases, a parent may need to take legal action to collect the payments that are due.
Assistance for Obtaining Child Support Payments
If you currently find yourself in a situation where you are in need of child support but are not sure where to turn for answers, rest assured there is assistance available to help you. Here are a few examples of how an attorney can help secure the resources necessary to raise your child alone:
What Basic Rights Do Adoptive Parents Have in Illinois?
The decision and privilege to pursue adoption is an exciting, gratifying path when you desire to expand your family. More than ever before, today’s adoption services offer new parents opportunities to share their life with a child who is in need of a good home. However, adoption proceedings are complex and require serious preparation in order to navigate them successfully. For the sake of all parties involved, it is important to understand the legal aspects to make the adoption experience as seamless as possible.
Know Your Rights
It is not uncommon for new parents to feel instantly overwhelmed the moment they begin the adoption process. From selecting an agency to the application and paperwork, it can be difficult to know where to start. One of the most important ways you can get off on the right foot is to inform yourself of your basic rights as a new adoptive parent. What do you have a say over? What resources are available to you? Should you run into roadblocks, what rights do you have to protect your best interests?
Four Reasons to Have an Estate Plan That Are Not All About Money
When the average person thinks about the concept of estate planning, they tend to think about wills, trust funds, inheritances, and other methods for passing assets down to the next generation. While these images are not really incorrect, they do not tell the whole estate planning story. In fact, there are many good reasons to create an estate plan that have almost nothing to do with possessions or money. With this in mind, estate planning is an important consideration for any family, regardless of their wealth or overall net worth.
Reason 1: Privacy Considerations
Unless you plan ahead, Illinois law will likely require your estate to go through probate. Probate is the legal process through which an estate is settled when there are no alternative plans for doing so, and the process can be unpredictable, time-consuming, and cumbersome. You should also know that probate proceedings are usually matters of public record, which means that your affairs are available to be reviewed by the public at large. Through estate planning, you can minimize the effects of probate or even avoid it completely, thereby keeping your family’s personal matters private.
Will Divorce Affect How I File My Taxes in Illinois?
A person will likely experience many changes after getting a divorce. One spouse may move to a different city or state to get a fresh start. If children are involved, a parenting plan will be created to allocate parental responsibility and scheduled parenting time, among other things. Also, finances will be affected, since the spouses will no longer be sharing incomes. Another adjustment for a newly single person will be how he or she files taxes at the end of the year. An individual’s tax filing status will be different after a divorce, especially if children are involved.
Filing Status
Depending on when the divorce is finalized will determine how a couple can file. If the divorce is final before December 31 at 11:59 p.m., each party must file their own individual tax return for that year. However, if the couple remains married at this time, they may choose whether to file taxes jointly or individually. A single person often can only claim one allowance, but a married couple has access to several.
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