Wilson v. Brummitt

95 F 2566 (Ill. Cir. Ct. Lake County Feb. 15, 1996) ; Clearinghouse Number: 51128

Description

Motion Denied to Dismiss Putative Father's Paternity Action for Failure to Register

Abstract

The court has denied respondent mother's motion to dismiss this paternity action. Petitioner believes that he is the father of respondent's child. Before the child's birth, petitioner and respondent contacted an adoption agency and selected a couple whom they felt might be appropriate adoptive parents. However, after the child's birth, petitioner told respondent that he could not go through with the adoption. Nonetheless, respondent gave the child to the prospective adoptive couple. When petitioner was served with legal documents in connection with the child's adoption, he filed a declaration of paternity, entered an appearance in the adoption action, and filed this action to establish his paternity under the state's parentage act. Respondent argued that petitioner's failure to file with the state's putative father registry within 30 days of the child's birth barred him from bringing suit to establish paternity. Petitioner claimed that barring him from establishing paternity for that reason would deprive him of due process and equal protection; his right to establish his parental interest in the child is a fundamental liberty interest and a property right protected by the due process clauses of both the federal and state constitutions; and the state's adoption act does not by its terms bar his paternity action for failing to register with the putative father registry. The court held that under a statutory construction analysis the adoption act provisions regarding the putative father registry do not apply to paternity actions brought under the parentage act.

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Petitioner represented by Marcia Pierce, Bernard Shapiro, Linda Rothnagel, Prairie State Legal Services, 415 W. Washington St., Suite 002, Waukegan, IL 60085, (708) 662-6925.
Docket Date
1970-01-01 06:00:00+00:00