2022 IL App (2d) 220258-U No. 2-22-0258 Order filed November 23, 2022 NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23(b) and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS SECOND DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ In re PARENTAGE OF DAELYN, O.-M., ) Appeal from the Circuit Court a Minor, ) of Kendall County. ) ) No. 22 FA 28 ) (Jessica Araceli O.-M., Petitioner- ) Honorable Appellant, v. Gabriel Espinoza-Ramos, ) Jody Patton Gleason, Deceased, Respondent-Appellee). ) Judge Presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE McLAREN delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Schostok and Birkett concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶1 Held: The trial court relied on an incorrect statutory provision in denying mother’s petition seeking allocation of parental responsibilities and request for factual findings on the basis of lack of venue. Reversed and remanded. ¶2 Petitioner, Jessica Araceli O.-M., appeals from the denial of her “Petition for the Allocation of Parental Responsibilities and Request for Factual Findings,” filed in the circuit court of Kendall County. 1 Jessica seeks the allocation of sole parental responsibility for her minor daughter, Daelyn, 1 On appeal, petitioner refers to the Kendall County circuit court as a “United States District Court” and to this court as the “United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.” We correct 2022 IL App (2d) 220258-U alleging that respondent, Gabriel Espinoza-Ramos, deceased, was Daelyn’s biological father. She also seeks factual findings to enable the minor to apply for classification as a Special Immigrant Juvenile under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)). The circuit court denied the petition pursuant to 750 ILCS 46/604 (West 2022), finding that proper venue for the matter lies where the deceased father’s estate could be, or has been, commenced, that is, in Mexico. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand for further proceedings. ¶3 I. BACKGROUND ¶4 We present the facts as drawn from Jessica’s affidavit and the circuit court’s records. Jessica was born in Mexico on August 4, 2000, and currently resides in Montgomery, Illinois. She was in an exclusive relationship with respondent, Gabriel Espinoza-Ramos, when her daughter, Daelyn O.-M., was conceived and has no doubt that Gabriel Espinoza-Ramos was her daughter’s father. She and Gabriel were not married. Gabriel was murdered on December 18, 2017. ¶5 Jessica fled Mexico after her brother was killed and she survived being shot in the head on March 31, 2021. For her own safety and that of her child, she does not want to reveal her current location to anyone in Mexico. ¶6 Jessica filed her petition for allocation of parental responsibility and request for factual findings in the Kendall County circuit court on February 17, 2022. On April 3, 2022, Jessica filed a memorandum of law in support of her request for predicate factual findings. After learning that the court intended to preemptively deny the petition on venue grounds under the Illinois Parentage Act of 2015 (750 ILCS 46/101 et seq (West 2022)) …
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