Monday, May 15, 2017

[USA - Illinois] "How does custody work in gay marriages?" by John Roska

"Q: With gay marriage, how does child custody get decided? Do both spouses have parental rights, or only the birth mother? What about for male same-sex spouses?

A: It's different for someone married to a child's birth mother. The law specifically spells out how the birth mother's spouse can be the legal parent of the child.

For two men who are married to each other, it appears that adoption is the route to parentage. The spouse of the biological father of a child cannot become the child's parent in the same way the spouse of the birth mother can.

Parents no longer get custody or visitation. Since 2016, instead of dividing up "custody" and "visitation," divorcing parents make an "allocation of parental responsibilities." Under the revised Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, only nonparents get visitation.

Somewhat obviously, you must be a parent to have any parental responsibilities that can be allocated."

Continue Reading at The News Gazette.

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