Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

I have been raising my 12 year old stepson from my previous marriage since he was 2. His father and I divorced 2 years ago and I have since remarried. Since he had been raised with mine and my ex's biological daughter most of his life (his biological mother is not really in the picture) when we divorced we made visitation arrangements so the kids could stay together. A year ago, both biological parents granted me guardianship and physical custody so that me and my current husband could raise my former stepson and he could live with us for school and medical reasons and visit his biological parents on weekends. The agreement that was made was that I would allow his father to have joint custody of sister without having to pay any child support for either child as long as I had primary custody of both children, they could stay together, and I could claim them on my taxes to make up some of the expenses. His father is now getting remarried and has decided that he now wants to end all of my rights to my son, end our agreement and has hired an attorney who filed a petition for relief from judgment. He has offered no support for his daughter however or asked to be more involved in her life at any point. Is there anything I can do to keep my children together? They are devastated, both are now in counseling over this in fact and my son does not want to go because he looks at me as his mother. And is there anyway I can get sole custody for my daughter because I have solely cared for her and supported her for 3 years and her father is obviously not concerned about her well being? We are in Illinois and I don't know what the law is here for children being able to vocalize where they want to live or if in my case its even possible...


Asked on 5/09/12, 9:40 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sue Roberts-Kurpis, Esq. Law Office of Sue Roberts-Kurpis

You are not without some rights to your stepson given that you have raised him for most of his life and have even had legal custody of him for the last several years but you need to hire an attorney immediately to represent you in your jurisdiction. The court will appoint another attorney to represent the children's interests. Depending on how much your ex is committed to this fight, this can be very expensive but based upon what you have written, it seems to me that you have a strong case on all counts but you need professional representation. It sounds like your divorce lawyer may have done a good job for you. I would start there.

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Answered on 5/10/12, 4:31 am


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