How Child Support is Determined

 Posted on June 25, 2015 in Child Support

NOTE: A new law defining how child support is calculated in Illinois goes into effect in July 2017. For more information, please visit our Child Support page.

When a couple with a child divorces, they need to determine appropriate agreements for the child’s care after the divorce. This is accomplished with two agreements: one for child support and one for child custody. Child custody is the agreement about where the child will live and how the parents will make decisions about raising him or her while child support is the agreement for the noncustodial parent to regularly pay money to the custodial parent. These payments are to cover the costs associated with raising their child.

There are multiple factors that play into a couple’s child support agreement. These factors are discussed in the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Like the factors that the court uses to determine spousal maintenance agreements, there is no one factor that outweighs the others when the court makes child support determinations. Instead, the weight each factor carries depends on the individual couple’s circumstances and their child’s needs.

In most cases, child support continues until the child’s eighteenth birthday. However, it can be continued beyond this date in cases where the child has significant mental or physical handicaps that prevent him or her from becoming financially independent of his or her parents.

Factors Used to Determine Child Support Agreements

When determining an appropriate child support agreement, the court considers the following factors:

• The child’s personal needs;
• The child’s enrichment, educational, and medical needs;
• Each parent’s current income and assets;
• Each parent’s other financial obligations, such as spousal maintenance and child support for children from previous marriages; and
• The standard of living the child would have enjoyed if his or her parents had not divorced.

When a couple has one child, the noncustodial parent usually pays about 20 percent of his or her net income in child support. When the couple has more children, this percentage raises.

Modifying a Child Support Agreement

When a noncustodial parent cannot afford to make his or her child support agreements, he or she can petition to the court to have his or her agreement modified. Usually, parents who lose their jobs or otherwise experience financial hardship take this option.

Either parent can submit their request to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Division of Child Support Services to have their child support agreement reviewed and potentially modified. The division may request financial information from each parent to determine whether a modification is in the child’s best interest and if so, alter the couple’s agreement. Taking this route to change a child support agreement is always preferable to simply allowing oneself to become delinquent with payments. Failure to make one’s child support payments is a criminal offense and can result in penalties ranging from a driver’s license suspension to jail time.

Divorce Attorneys in Kane County

To learn more about child support and other divorce topics, Goostree Law Group is here to answer all of your questions and provide you with compassionate, knowledgeable legal advice. Contact our firm today on the web or at 630-584-4800 to schedule your free legal consultation with one of our skilled Kane County divorce attorneys. We proudly advocate for parents and families and will give your case the care and attention to detail it deserves.