'The Dumbest Law In Illinois'

Article here. Excerpt:

'I’m no fan of “father’s rights” attorneys. I think that they are just marketers who prey on the fears of Dads (or in some case Moms) who are worried about losing their kids or not seeing them as much as they want.

Despite me cringing when I hear one of these Dad’s rights commercials, there is a law that really screws some fathers that needs to be changed.

In Illinois, if you sign the birth certificate to a child and don’t reverse that within 75 days of doing so, you are legally the Dad. That’s it. So if your wife sleeps with her boss and gets pregnant (as happened to a recent caller to my office), and you sign the birth certificate, you are on the hook for child support for that kid. If you get a paternity test later on that shows you aren’t the father, you are out of luck.

It could be worse. In some states, if you are married and your wife has a child you are automatically the Dad no matter what. But the law in Illinois is still awful. Unless you can prove a fraud (e.g. someone forged your name on the birth certificate) or the Mom agrees to let you off the hook, you are out of luck. In fact there almost never is a point in hiring a lawyer to go to court and fight this because it’s a lost cause.'