Signing Away Rights As A Parent In Illinois

Parents often come to me and ask if the other parent can simply “sign away their rights” and essentially have no further responsibility or right to their child. I’m not sure why they think a signature is all it takes to terminate a parent-child relationship…because that’s definitely not how it works in Illinois. There are many different ways to relieve a parent of their obligations and rights to their children. Some of those ways are permanent, some of those ways are temporary. Signing Away Visitation Rights And Child Support In Illinois By far the simplest way to eliminate duties and visitation with a child is to simply sign an Allocation of Parental Responsibilities where one parent has no decision-making authority in regards to the child and has no time with the child. In addition, the parents can further sever the parent-child relationship by “reserving child support.” Both of these options are temporary in nature. The non-custodial parent can allege a substantial change in circumstances at any time claiming that it would be in the child’s best interests to begin or resume parenting time with the child. This won’t be granted automatically…but after a request for parenting time even the most absent parent will eventually have some kind of parenting time granted. Child support can be reserved by agreement only if the judge allows for it. Some judges are so concerned for the well-being of the child that they insist on setting child support. Those judges need to be reminded that while there is a “duty of child support” under the Illinois statute, it is not mandatory to set child support in Illinois. “[T]he court may order either or both parents owing a duty of support to a child of the marriage or civil union to pay an amount reasonable and necessary for support.” 750 ILCS 5/505(a) (emphasis is mine) Judges still must approve any reservation. You cannot just tell the judge, “This is our agreement. Stamp the order!” “[P]arents may create an enforceable agreement for modification of child support only by petitioning the court for support modification and then establishing, to the satisfaction of the court, that an agreement reached between the parents is in accord with the best interests of the children” Blisset v. Blisset, 526 NE 2d 125 – Ill: Supreme Court 1988 Something that is reserved can be quickly un-reserved by either party. If child support is […]

from Russell D. Knight | Family Lawyer Chicago https://rdklegal.com/signing-away-rights-as-a-parent-in-illinois/