Divorce, paternity, fathers & kids

Divorcing parents always feel insulted when I ask them: Who is the biological father? Did he sign the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity? Were you married when the child was born? Was the child conceived during the marriage?

Initially clients oblige and answer. However, after the third question they inevitably become annoyed. They sometimes ask me what I am “hinting.”

It is not my intent to insinuate anything. It’s just that the law does not recognize a father the same way we do as a society. For example, if the parents waited until the child was born to marry, the biological father may not necessarily be the legally recognized father.

Similarly, if a man signs a child’s Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity, then he may be the child’s legally recognized father but not the biological father. In fact – in Chicago – once a man has signed the Acknowledgment, he will likely be forever responsible for that child even if DNA tests later prove him not to be the biological father.

Some men go an entire lifetime without knowing that they are not the legally recognized father of their child. During a divorce proceeding, however, it is important to establish who is the legal father. In bitter divorces it is not unusual for the wife or husband to claim that the child is not the husband’s child.

The wife, for example, could try to deny visitation for the husband by claiming that he is not the child’s legal father. Similarly, a husband may attempt to get out of child support by claiming there is no legally recognized bond between him and the child.

Thus, it is very important at the beginning of a divorce to find out if paternity is clearly established.