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A father's rights are the same as the mother's once paternity has been established. To get the right to see your child and be a part of major decisions in their life, you must file for a child custody order because, in practice, fathers have no legal right to see the child without a court order.

The best way to secure your visitation rights is to have an Illinois divorce attorney petition the court for a ?court-ordered visitation schedule.? It is important that the resulting visitation arrangement specify when visitation is to begin and end, and where it is to take place.

Illinois statute allows grandparents and great-grandparents to petition the court for in-person and electronic visitation with grandchildren in certain narrowly defined circumstances.

Step 1: Open a case. Begin by opening a case with your local family court and filing a petition for allocation of parental responsibilities. ... Step 2: Serve the other parent. ... Step 3: Wait for a response. ... Step 4: File a parenting plan.

If both parents relinquish their parental rights, a grandparent may either obtain child custody or even adopt the child. The child's parents have been deemed unfit ? Grandparents can sue for custody over a grandchild if they can prove to the court that the child's parents are unfit.

In Illinois, as long as the parents are fit and have established custody over the children, it is completely in their discretion over whether or not to allow a grandparent to visit. The law still allows for non-parents to petition the court for visitation rights, but the burden of proof is high.