When mothers choose to stay home to raise children, they typically rely on their spouse's income to make ends meet. Mothers who do not work outside the home, work limited hours, or volunteer are often put in a precarious situation during divorce. However, with the right planning, support, and legal guidance, divorcing stay-at-home moms can make a successful transition while protecting their financial interests.

Get Familiar with Your Financial Situation

For many stay-at-home mothers, the household and family responsibilities are divided. The mom focuses on taking care of the children while her spouse takes care of other responsibilities, such as paying bills and managing money. Before filing for divorce, it is important for a stay-at-home mother to familiarize herself with the family's financial situation. Developing an understanding of both assets and liabilities will help give her a clearer view of her financial future after the divorce is finalized.

Paternity refers to the legal father-child relationship. The gender-neutral term "parentage" is currently used in Illinois law. However, "paternity" is still used informally, and the terms will be used interchangeably throughout this blog. 

Whether you are a mother or father, or soon will be, it is very important that you understand what your rights are responsibilities are regarding paternity.

Do I Need to Take Steps to Establish Paternity?

In Illinois, the paternity of a child is presumed in certain situations, including when the mother of the child is married to the father. If paternity is presumed, the parents can sign the child’s birth certificate and do not need to take any additional steps to verify parentage. However, if the parents are not married, paternity must be established through one of several legal avenues. Paternity can be established through a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage form or an administrative or judicial proceeding.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate currently hovers around 3.5 percent. The reasons for unemployment are as varied as the people who make up this statistic. Some people are still struggling to find employment after the pandemic, while others have been affected by the recent layoffs in the technology industry. Some individuals also choose not to work. They may decide to forgo employment in favor of child-raising or domestic duties, or for personal reasons.

Whatever the cause, unemployment can significantly impact a parent's ability to provide financial support to their child in the form of child support. If you are the payer or recipient of child support in Illinois, it is important to understand how unemployment can affect your child support order.

Intentional Unemployment

When it comes to child support, Illinois courts differentiate between intentional unemployment and unintentional unemployment. Intentional unemployment is when a parent voluntarily chooses to be unemployed or underemployed. Some parents do this solely in an effort to reduce their child support obligation. Intentional unemployment is frowned upon by Illinois courts, and if a court finds that a parent is intentionally unemployed or underemployed, they may impute or estimate the parent's income for the purpose of child support calculations. For example, if a parent used to make $100,000 a year and is now voluntarily unemployed, the court may use his or her previous income in the Income Shares calculation to determine his or her child support order.

Adopting a child can be a beautiful way to expand your family. However, it is also a big decision with many factors to consider, including whether or not you should have an open adoption. Open adoptions allow adopted children to stay in contact with their birth families and foster a meaningful relationship throughout their lives. Open adoptions can be greatly beneficial to the parents and the adopted child, but they can also bring up complex emotions for everyone involved.

Evaluating the Pros and Cons of an Open Adoption

When you bring an adopted child into your family, there are seemingly countless personal, emotional, legal, and financial matters to contend with. Will my child fit in with our family? How do I handle the legal process of adoption? How can I make my child feel safe and secure? Should we have an open adoption?

There are many pros and cons associated with an open adoption. Having ongoing contact with their birth family gives the adopted child an important opportunity to remain involved in his or her birth parent(s) lives. The child gains additional resources including emotional guidance, cultural insight, and medical information if needed. Keeping the birth family in the picture also allows the adoptive parents to maintain a healthy relationship with the birth parents. This helps create a stronger bond between the families, which leads to more stability for the adopted child.

Paternity is the legal recognition of a father-and-child relationship. In the case of a married couple, paternity is assumed, and no further action is needed to establish paternity. The husband of the child's mother is automatically considered the child's father. 

However, life can be complicated. Sometimes, a situation arises in which an alleged father denies that he is the child's father. If you are involved in a situation like this, it is important to understand your rights.

Paternity May Be Established Through Judicial or Administrative Action 

In Illinois, paternity may be established by a court action or an administrative process initiated either by the mother or the father.