When a child is born to two people who are married, in a civil union, or who were married or in a civil union within 300 days prior in the state of Illinois, those two people are legally presumed to be that child’s parents, even if that is not necessarily true. A child’s legal parents are required to provide for the child’s well-being, including providing for their financial needs. If the parents ever get divorced, the father has a legal right to decision-making responsibilities and parenting time, as well as an obligation to pay monthly child support. If the father finds out that he is not the father of the child, he can file to disprove the paternity of the child, which may relieve him of his parental responsibilities.
Disproving Paternity While Married
If the father is married when the child is born, the legal relationship is automatically established when the child is born. While this can be a convenience, it also means that the father is forced to take legal action to disprove the paternity of the child if the child is not his or her biological child. Genetic testing is used to determine whether or not a child is biologically related to an alleged father and is typically ordered by the court when a person files to have paternity disproven. Once the father becomes aware of the fact that he is not the child’s biological father, he must take immediate action, or the judge could deny his petition to disprove paternity.
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