General Provisions

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(750 ILCS 46/Art. 1 heading)

ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

(750 ILCS 46/101)

Sec. 101. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Illinois Parentage Act of 2015.

(Source: P.A. 99-85, eff. 1-1-16.)

 

(750 ILCS 46/102)

Sec. 102. Public policy. Illinois recognizes the right of every child to the physical, mental, emotional, and financial support of his or her parents. The parent-child relationship, including support obligations, extends equally to every child and to his or her parent or to each of his or her 2 parents, regardless of the legal relationship of the parents, and regardless of whether a parent is a minor.

(Source: P.A. 99-85, eff. 1-1-16.)

 

(750 ILCS 46/103)

Sec. 103. Definitions. In this Act:

(a) "Acknowledged father" means a man who has established a father-child relationship under Article 3.

(b) "Adjudicated father" means a man who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction, or as authorized under Article X of the Illinois Public Aid Code, to be the father of a child.

(c) "Alleged father" means a man who alleges himself to be, or is alleged to be, the biological father or a possible biological father of a child, but whose paternity has not been established. The term does not include:

  • (1) a presumed parent or acknowledged father; or
  • (2) a man whose parental rights have been terminated or declared not to exist.

(d) "Assisted reproduction" means a method of achieving a pregnancy through an artificial insemination or an embryo transfer and includes gamete and embryo donation. "Assisted reproduction" does not include any pregnancy achieved through sexual intercourse.

(e) "Child" means an individual of any age whose parentage may be established under this Act.

(f) "Combined paternity index" means the likelihood of paternity calculated by computing the ratio between:

  • (1) the likelihood that the tested man is the father, based on the genetic markers of the tested man, mother, and child, conditioned on the hypothesis that the tested man is the father of the child; and
  • (2) the likelihood that the tested man is not the father, based on the genetic markers of the tested man, mother, and child, conditioned on the hypothesis that the tested man is not the father of the child and that the father is of the same ethnic or racial group as the tested man.

(g) "Commence" means to file the initial pleading seeking an adjudication of parentage in the circuit court of this State.

(h) "Determination of parentage" means the establishment of the parent-child relationship by the signing of a voluntary acknowledgment under Article 3 of this Act or adjudication by the court or as authorized under Article X of the Illinois Public Aid Code.

(i) "Donor" means an individual who participates in an assisted reproductive technology arrangement by providing gametes and relinquishes all rights and responsibilities to the gametes so that another individual or individuals may become the legal parent or parents of any resulting child. "Donor" does not include a spouse in any assisted reproductive technology arrangement in which his or her spouse will parent any resulting child.

(j) "Ethnic or racial group" means, for purposes of genetic testing, a recognized group that an individual identifies as all or part of the individual's ancestry or that is so identified by other information.

(k) "Gamete" means either a sperm or an egg.

(l) "Genetic testing" means an analysis of genetic markers to exclude or identify a man as the father or a woman as the mother of a child as provided in Article 4 of this Act.

(l-5) "Gestational surrogacy" means the process by which a woman attempts to carry and give birth to a child created through in vitro fertilization in which the gestational surrogate has made no genetic contribution to any resulting child.

(m) "Gestational surrogate" means a woman who is not an intended parent and agrees to engage in a gestational surrogacy arrangement pursuant to the terms of a valid gestational surrogacy arrangement under the Gestational Surrogacy Act.

(m-5) "Intended parent" means a person who enters into an assisted reproductive technology arrangement, including a gestational surrogacy arrangement, under which he or she will be the legal parent of the resulting child.

(n) "Parent" means an individual who has established a parent-child relationship under Section 201 of this Act.

(o) "Parent-child relationship" means the legal relationship between a child and a parent of the child.

(p) "Presumed parent" means an individual who, by operation of law under Section 204 of this Act, is recognized as the parent of a child until that status is rebutted or confirmed in a judicial or administrative proceeding.

(q) "Probability of paternity" means the measure, for the ethnic or racial group to which the alleged father belongs, of the probability that the man in question is the father of the child, compared with a random, unrelated man of the same ethnic or racial group, expressed as a percentage incorporating the combined paternity index and a prior probability.

(r) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(s) "Signatory" means an individual who authenticates a record and is bound by its terms.

(t) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(u) "Substantially similar legal relationship" means a relationship recognized in this State under Section 60 of the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.

(v) "Support-enforcement agency" means a public official or agency authorized to seek:

  • (1) enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support;
  • (2) establishment or modification of child support;
  • (3) determination of parentage; or
  • (4) location of child-support obligors and their income and assets.

(Source: P.A. 99-85, eff. 1-1-16; 99-763, eff. 1-1-17; 99-769, eff. 1-1-17; 100-201, eff. 8-18-17.)

 

(750 ILCS 46/104)

Sec. 104. Scope of Act; choice of law; other legal rights and duties preserved.

(a) This Act applies to determination of parentage in this State.

(b) The court shall apply the law of this State to adjudicate the parent-child relationship. The applicable law does not depend on:

  • (1) the place of birth of the child; or
  • (2) the past or present residence of the child.

(c) This Act does not create, enlarge, abrogate, or diminish parental rights or duties under other laws of this State, including the common law.

(Source: P.A. 99-85, eff. 1-1-16.)

 

(750 ILCS 46/105)

Sec. 105. Authority to establish parentage. The circuit courts are authorized to establish parentage under this Act. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services may make administrative determinations of paternity and nonpaternity in accordance with Section 10-17.7 of the Illinois Public Aid Code. Such administrative determinations shall have the full force and effect of court judgments entered under this Act.

(Source: P.A. 99-85, eff. 1-1-16.)

 

(750 ILCS 46/106)

Sec. 106. Protection of participants. Proceedings under this Act are subject to other law of this State governing the health, safety, privacy, and liberty of a child or other individual who could be jeopardized by disclosure of identifying information, including address, telephone number, place of employment, social security number, and the child's day-care facility and school.

(Source: P.A. 99-85, eff. 1-1-16.)

 

(750 ILCS 46/107)

Sec. 107. Applicability. Insofar as practicable, the provisions of this Act applicable to the father and child relationship shall apply to the mother and child relationship including, but not limited to, the obligation to support.

(Source: P.A. 99-85, eff. 1-1-16.)


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