According to an appeals court ruling, a teenager from a southwest suburban family should be told that the man he believes is his biological father really isn't. However, this secret should be kept hidden due to a judge's ruling that both parents be barred from speaking about the situation to the boy. In two years, when the boy turns 18, this ruling will be dissolved.

Court records reveal that nearly two decades ago, the boy's married mother had an affair with a man who was also married. Two years after their son was born, their five-year affair dissolved.

Two months before the biological father filed a paternity case seeking visitation rights, the mother told her husband about the affair. The woman and her husband stuck with their marriage and decided to raise the boy together. The couple already had two other children.

Paternity was confirmed through DNA test. The mother's husband was found in contempt of court prior to that and was fined $100 for refusing to submit to court-ordered testing.

In December, an appeals court upheld a judge's decision denying visitation to the biological father of the boy. In his 2010 ruling, the judge ruled he believe the 16-year-old would be seriously endangered if he learned the truth about his father.

Source: Chicago Tribune, "In paternity dispute, family can withhold biological father's identity from teen, court rules," Steve Schmadeke, Jan. 2, 2012