Effective January 1, 2016, Illinois parentage laws had many changes.
Under the new law, a person is presumed to be a child’s parent if the child is born:
(1) While the person and the child’s mother are married or in a civil union or substantially similar legal relationship.
(2) Within 300 days after the end of a marriage, civil union, or substantially similar legal relationship between the person and the child’s mother
(3) During or within 300 days after the end of an invalid marriage, civil union, or substantially similar legal relationship, but the parties had to enter the relationship in apparent compliance with the law.
A fourth way for a person to be a presumptive parent is if he or she enters into a marriage, civil union, or substantially similar legal relationship with the child’s mother after the child’s birth, and the child’s birth certificate lists the person as a parent.
All of the above presumptions of paternity are rebuttable. None are absolutely conclusive.
The new law also specifically applies the divorce college expense statute to parentage cases. An article addressing the new college expense is also available.
Another major change to the law is about genetic testing to determine parentage. The court may deny a motion seeking DNA testing, based on the presumed parent’s conduct and if testing is or may not be in the child’s best interest. The court has ten factors to consider when deciding to allow genetic testing. Those factors include: the child’s age; the time elapsed from the child’s birth to when the presumed parent gave notice that he or she may not be the child’s parent; the length of time the presumed parent acted as the child’s parent; the nature of the relationships between the child and the presumed parent, and the child and the alleged parent; and harm that could result to the child if presumed parentage is disproved.
The new parentage law is gender-neutral. The previous law addressed a father and a mother. The new law recognizes that a child can have two parents without having a father and a mother, such as with civil unions, same-sex parent adoptions, and same-sex marriages.