Umarried couples in Illinois can take steps to safeguard their rights.
Couples living together sometimes face difficulties not found by their married contemporaries. Issues of parenting, property distribution, and adoption are some of the more common problems faced by unmarried couples. While there are definite differences between how the law treats married vs. unmarried people, unmarried couples in Illinois do have rights when it comes to these areas.
Parenting
Illinois law recognizes the rights of parents to determine how their children are raised (legal custody) and to maintain physical control of them (physical custody) as well. When an unmarried couple has a child, the law recognizes these rights regardless of whether or not the parties are married. In any parenting situation before the court, Illinois law imposes the "best interests" standard on custody decisions. This means the court will determine custody issues based on the child's needs, not necessarily what the parents want or even agree to between themselves. Courts can likewise impose child support orders in any case where minor children are involved.
Contracts
Unmarried couples in Illinois can enter into property agreements based on the freedom of contract. Unlike married couples, where the state has specific statutes covering distribution of property after a divorce, unmarried couples are afforded no statutory protections. However, unmarried couples do have the freedom to enter into a contract with one another. Analogous to pre-nuptial agreements, these contracts can be made to cover how property is distributed in the event of a break up. In addition to contractual property rights, unmarried couples can choose to own property jointly, grant one another powers of attorney for health care or name one another in their wills.
Adoption
Illinois allows unmarried couples to adopt a child in the same manner in which married couples do. Adoptive parents must seek individual adoptive rights, though they typically do so at the same time, and must be able to show their suitability to be adoptive parents as individuals, not just as a couple. Once a child is adopted in such a way, both parties are considered parents and are granted parenting rights. In any subsequent divorce or split, the courts can award parenting rights and enforce custody agreements as it would with married couples or biological parents. According to the law firm of Wolfe and Stec, Ltd., same sex couples can adopt a child through the same process as any other couples.
Tags: couples Illinois, married couples, unmarried couples, adopt child, couples adopt, couples adopt child, enter into