Fighting for Duped Man’s Freedom and Future

By Laura Reichel

A desperate Chicago man was facing a severe crisis after learning he had been burdened with crushing child support payments and arrearages for a child who was not even his own child.

Fearing losing everything, his license, his job, and his freedom, he reached out to attorney Jeffery Leving for help.

The Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving, Ltd. fought for him and won, ensuring that this distressed man wouldn’t lose everything dear to him.

Chicago based matrimonial attorney Jeffery Leving, President of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd. will talk about this important case victory and more on the Dads’ Rights Legal Hour, 9-10 a.m. CDT Saturday, September 27^th on Power 92.3 FM.

This show segment will be available for download on the Dads’ Rights Legal Hour Spotify page on dadsrights.com. You can listen to this radio show and keep hope alive by sharing this victory and connecting on Instagram @dadsrights.

When he was still in a relationship with the child’s mother, this man signed a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity (VAP) because he believed he was the father. After discovering that his relationship with the mother was not exclusive, he requested a DNA test with the mother and discovered that he was not, in fact, the father of the child. The child’s mother assured him she would fix the mistake—but she never did.

For nearly a decade, he believed the matter was behind him, until he received a Petition for Child Support and notice to appear in court for child support regarding the same minor child. Despite his best efforts, the court entered a judgment against him. He was ordered to pay child support, including a staggering amount in child support arrearages – something that he simply could not afford. Before long, his driver’s license was gone, his job was on the line, and he was staring down at the possibility of jail time.

Desperate this Chicago man turned to attorney Leving for help. Leving previously helped another similarly distressed man, who attended Leving’s lecture on this very subject at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Leving’s team helped both of these men and they won.

This Chicago case was not a simple court case. Vacating a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity after so many years is extraordinarily difficult under Illinois law, which allows it only on narrow grounds such as duress, fraud, or mutual mistake. But failure was not an option for the Leving legal team. They asserted to the court that the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity should be vacated on the grounds of mutual mistake, arguing that their client and the mother signed the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity because they mistakenly believed that he was the father. Thanks to their strategic arguments, the judge vacated the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity, vacated their client’s current child support order and all arrearages, and directed the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to adjust its records to show zero dollars in arrearages. A powerful victory for a duped man that restored his license, his job, and most importantly, protected his freedom.

This was an important court victory modified for publication that protected and safeguarded an innocent man’s future and freedom. Without the Leving legal team’s intervention, this man may have spent years paying for another man’s child, lost his livelihood, and ended up in jail. Instead, justice prevailed.

This case stands as a reminder that no father should be forced to carry the crushing weight of injustice. Attorney Jeffery M. Leving and his team fight every day to give fathers not just legal victories, but the chance to reclaim their lives, their dignity, and their freedom.

Matrimonial attorney Jeffery M. Leving is the recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from the President of the United States in recognition of 7,500 hours of service to this nation. In addition, the Illinois House of Representatives has honored Leving “for his work in safeguarding the rights of fathers and protecting the welfare of children and families in this State,” and the Illinois Senate issued a proclamation recognizing his efforts on behalf of fathers.

To learn more about Leving, law and fatherhood, visit dadsrights.com.

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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