Voting & Civil Rights

Under Illinois law, parents no longer get what used to be known as “custody” or “visitation.” Since 2016, divorcing parents with children must make an “allocation of parental responsibilities.” This also applies to same-sex marriages. Learn more about parental responsibilities, custody, and divorce.

Parental responsibilities include parenting time and responsibility for making significant decisions. Parenting time is the time during which a parent is responsible for caring for the child. Responsibility for making significant decisions means a parent decides issues of long-term importance for the child. The parent is also in charge of making smaller decisions.

You must be legally recognized as a parent to have any parental responsibilities. The Illinois Parentage Act decides who a parent is under Illinois law. In a divorce, the parents agree or a judge decides on a parenting plan, including division of parental responsibilities.

Couples including a child’s birthing parent

The law explains whether the spouse of a birthing parent can be the child's legal parent. A legal parent can have parental responsibilities and get parental rights in a divorce. 

The Illinois Parentage Act explains four ways someone other than the birthing parent can be a child’s legal parent. These explanations apply to both marriages and civil unions. A spouse's gender does not affect these rules.  

A person who has been married to or in a civil union with the birthing parent is presumed to be the child's parent if:

• The child is born while the spouses are married to or in a civil union with each other, or
• The child is born after the marriage or civil union is over, but within 300 days of the end. The marriage can end by divorce, death, invalidity, or legal separation. This rule applies to a child conceived during the marriage but born after it ends, or
• The child is born during the marriage or civil union, or within 300 days after it ends, and the marriage or civil union is declared invalid even though the couple tried to enter into a marriage or civil union under the law. This applies to couples who tried to marry but left out a required step, or
• After the child’s birth:
  • The person is named on the child's birth certificate,
  • The person and the birthing parent marry or enter into a civil union, and
  • The person gives written consent.

If another person is named as the non-birthing parent on the child's birth certificate, adoption is the next step in establishing a legal parental relationship. Learn more about adoption.
 

Couples without a birthing parent

The partner of a non-birthing parent does not have the same legal rights as the partner of a birthing parent, even if married or in a civil union:

• If neither partner gave birth to the child, and neither is already the child's established parent, both partners must adopt the child.
• If one non-birthing partner is already the child's established parent, the other must adopt the child to become a legally recognized parent.

Once the couple is established as the child's legal parents, each partner has parental rights. After a breakup, divorce, or the end of a civil union, the partners must agree on a parenting plan or ask a judge to decide.