Being a single parent can be extremely difficult. Your child’s needs do not decrease just because they only have one parent to care for them and provide for them. In Illinois, children have the right to be supported financially by both of their parents. This typically takes the form of child support payments. One problem that many single mothers face is that the father of their child refuses to acknowledge that he is indeed the child’s other parent. This can create a roadblock, but with the help of a skilled attorney, it is often a very surmountable roadblock.

Even if the father refuses to acknowledge paternity voluntarily, Illinois state law provides a mechanism for establishing paternity involuntarily. If you are faced with this difficult situation, you should strongly consider speaking to an attorney about your options.

How Can Paternity be Established if My Child’s Father Will Not Cooperate?

Even if your child’s father refuses to accept or admit that he is the father, there are still ways to establish paternity. In many cases, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services will intervene and try to resolve the situation before involving the court. They may be able to conduct a paternity test or create a legal presumption of parentage if the father fails to show up.

Illinois law presumes that both a child’s parents are safe and capable of caring for their children. However, there are situations in which a parent’s rights may be limited or even eliminated. If there are concerns about a child’s safety with a parent, the court has the authority to impose certain restrictions on parenting time. If you are an unmarried or divorced parent, it is important to understand how and when parenting time restrictions are implemented.

Illinois Courts Impose Parenting Time Restrictions on a Case-by-Case Basis

Illinois law describes parenting duties in terms of “parental responsibilities,” meaning decision-making authority and “parenting time,” which used to be called visitation. The court assumes that it is best for a child to spend time with both of his or her parents unless there is ample evidence to the contrary. Consequently, the burden of proof is on the party requesting a parenting time restriction.

If a parent is worried about his or her child’s safety with the other parent, the parent may file a motion to limit parenting time or parental responsibilities. Many different issues may lead a parent to file a motion for restricted parenting time, including:

Domestic violence can happen to anyone. Domestic abuse reflects negatively only on the abuser, never the victim. You might feel trapped in your marriage or relationship because you share children with the abuser, or you are married to them, or even because they have taken steps to unlawfully restrict your liberty. Others feel they have to stay because they are financially dependent on the abuser. Whatever is keeping you trapped in your dangerous relationship, there is a way out. If you are one of the millions of people who will experience violence at home this year, there are steps a lawyer can take to help you get out safely. Whether you need a divorce or are concerned about the safety of your children, there are likely ways that a family law attorney can help.

How Does Illinois Family Law Protect Family Violence Victims?

When you are ready to safely exit your abusive relationship, here are some protections that may be available to you:

• Protection orders - A lot of people are afraid to exit their relationships because they have nowhere else to go. A protective order can force the abuser to immediately leave your home, no matter whose name it is in. These orders also prevent the abuser from interfering with your housing or utilities or contacting you. It can also give you temporary emergency custody of your children and order the abuser to pay child support.
• Domestic violence affects custody - If you have children in common with your abuser, you should know that a family law court will consider domestic violence when deciding on child custody concerns. Courts put the safety and wellbeing of the children first and foremost and will be reluctant to allow someone with a history of violence to spend unsupervised time with children.
• Public resources - There are community resources available to those who are fleeing domestic violence. A family law attorney can help connect you to these resources so that you and your children’s needs can be met in the abuser’s absence.
• Defining domestic violence - The legal definition of domestic violence in Illinois is not limited to simple physical abuse, although that is certainly included in the definition. If your partner threatens or harasses you, or interferes with your personal freedom - like by preventing you from leaving or blocking you from exiting the home - courts will look at these behaviors as a form of domestic violence.

Keep in mind that domestic violence almost never gets better - it only escalates. The sooner you are out, the better.

There are a variety of financial issues that will need to be addressed during a divorce, including determining how to divide the property a couple owns between the two spouses. However, during the property division process, a couple will also need to consider the debts they owe. Just like the assets a couple owns, the amounts that are owed to creditors will need to be allocated between the spouses. However, it is important to understand how different types of debts may be handled, as well as the factors that may complicate things during or after a divorce.

Division of Secured and Unsecured Debts

It is important to remember that assets and debts do not need to be divided exactly equally. Illinois law requires a “fair and equitable” distribution of marital property. Depending on the decisions made about certain types of assets, each spouse’s overall financial situation, and other factors, the final decisions on how to divide debts may vary. While they work to reach agreements on these issues, a couple will need to consider how different types of debts may be handled.

Balances on credit cards are some of the most common debts that couples will have. Any balances on a joint credit card will typically be considered marital debts, although even if a card was only in one spouse’s name, purchases made using this card while a couple was married will also usually need to be considered during the property division process. Credit card purchases that may not count as marital debts include those that may be considered asset dissipation, meaning that they were made by a spouse for their own sole benefit after the point at which their marriage had broken down beyond repair. Charges that occurred after a couple’s legal separation but before their divorce will also be considered separate property.

Many people are familiar with a prenuptial agreement as a way for couples entering marriage to keep certain assets separate. A postnuptial agreement is less well known, but if a married couple did not sign a prenuptial agreement, a postnuptial agreement could be an option to protect significant premarital wealth or business venture, or to protect one spouse from the other’s debt. It can be created at any time after the start of the marriage, in both good times and in bad. A postnuptial agreement should be something you mutually agree on. Like a prenuptial agreement, it is best to work with an attorney before signing any postnuptial agreement.

What Is Protected in an Illinois Postnuptial Agreement?

Postnuptial agreements can define each spouse’s financial rights and responsibilties, including property ownership, financial responsibilities, spousal maintenance obligations, and life insurance considerations. A postnuptial agreement may be useful if one spouse begins a new business venture during marriage and wants to insulate the other from any business debt incurred or doesn’t want to put the couple’s marital assets at risk if the business were to fail. It can also be used by couples who are not ready to divorce but want to safeguard certain assets; usually ones they individually brought into the marriage. 

A postnuptial agreement does not cover child custody and child support. This includes children brought into the marriage by one or both spouses. Arrangements for custody and child support are only decided during the divorce process.