Asserting your rights as a father in Illinois can be an emotionally charged and sometimes lengthy process, but it is worth it. It has been shown over and over that having a present and active father has an overwhelmingly positive impact on children. Whether you are interested in fighting for fathers’ rights because you are going through a divorce and need to make sure you can maintain your relationship with your children or because you were never married to your children’s mother, Reifman Law Offices can help.
Attorney Arkady Reifman has nearly 20 years of experience practicing family law and helping fathers assert their rights. Reifman Law Offices knows that the relationship between a father and his child is incredibly valuable, and we want to help you protect that relationship.
Illinois sees family law decisions regarding child custody (now called “parental responsibilities”) and visitation (now called “parenting time”) as being more about the rights of the child than the rights of the parents. In deciding parenting time, Illinois courts must primarily consider the best interests of the child. The good news is that Illinois family law strongly favors allowing a child to have a relationship and time spent with both parents.
Contrary to the past, where mothers were overwhelmingly favored in custody decisions, Illinois law now recognizes that fathers have equal rights to their children. Courts are instructed to allocate parenting time without putting one parent’s rights over the other’s, considering only the child’s best interests. It is assumed that it is in a child’s best interests to have both parents in her life where possible.
In cases where the father is awarded primary parental, he has the right to seek child support funds from the children’s mother because the child has the right to be supported by both parents. Raising a child can be an expensive endeavor, and fathers with custody of their children have every right to share the burden of childcare expenses with the child’s other parent.
Reifman Law Offices is committed to helping fathers eliminate barriers between them and their children. Although the law has changed and clearly disallows discrimination, fathers seeking parental rights may still encounter bias. The right legal representation matters. Reifman Law Offices sees the importance of fatherhood and will strive to help you get the parenting time you and your child deserve.
Unmarried fathers in Illinois have the same rights that married fathers do. The first step to seeking parental rights as an unmarried father is to establish parentage. There are several ways this can be done, the simplest of which is by signing a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity. In some cases, litigation may be necessary to compel a DNA test and establish that you are the father of your children. Even once paternity is established, court action may be needed to grant you the parenting time you are seeking.
We assist individuals and families in Cook, Lake, and DuPage counties.
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