TAKING INTO ACCOUNT FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCES OF AN ADOPTION FOLLOWED BY A DIVORCE
ILLINOIS DIVORCE ATTORNEYS REPRESENTED AN INDIVIDUAL THAT FELL IN LOVE, MARRIED AND THEN ADOPTED HIS WIFE’S FOUR CHILDREN. THAT MEANT THE FOUR CHILDREN COULD INHERIT FROM THE ADOPTIVE FATHER.
WHAT THAT INDIVIDUAL DID NOT ANTICIPATE WAS THAT THE MARRIAGE TO HIS NEW WIFE WOULD NOT LAST. HIS WIFE FILED FOR DIVORCE AND, BECAUSE HE HAD PREVIOUSLY ADOPTED HER FOUR CHILDREN AFTER THE MARRIAGE THEY WERE CONSIDERED HIS CHILDREN, NOT SOLELY FOR PURPOSES FOR INHERITING, BUT ALSO FOR PURPOSES OF CHILD SUPPORT AND/OR RELATED RELIEF UNDER APPLICABLE STATUTES.
AS A RESULT, THE FORMER SPOUSE WAS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE, CHILD SUPPORT FOR FOUR (4) CHILDREN UNDER PREVAILING STATUTORY GUIDELINES. THE MISTAKE THE CLIENT MADE WAS IN ADOPTING THE FOUR (4) CHILDREN. THE GOOD FORTUNE OF THE SPOUSE, WHO DIVORCED HIM, WAS THAT HER HUSBAND ADOPTED HER FOUR CHILDREN.