Part 2: Miscellaneous Aspects of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act

 Posted on March 26, 2015 in Alimony / Maintenance

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act is a law that covers general family-law related topics within the state of Illinois. While many topics fall into specific realms, such as divorce, division of assets, and and child support, some aspects of the law do not fit neatly into a single category. In order to handle these topics, the state created a “Miscellaneous” category of family law issues. Here are five more examples of the resulting hodgepodge:

1. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services is responsible for supervising the state’s child support enforcement programs. Specific responsibilities include making advance payments to any county included in the program so that the county can enforce payments, and monitoring local programs to ensure that the payments are being enforced.
2. In some cases where child support payments are made directly to the clerk of the court, the clerk cannot locate the payee. When that happens the clerk may invest the payments in an interest-bearing account, but only until the payee has been located. Any interest or capital gains accrued do not go to the payee, however. That money goes to a special fund.
3. Employers, labor unions and telephone companies are sometimes required to provide information concerning putative fathers and noncustodial parents so that the state can establish a child’s paternity or establish, modify or enforce a child support order. This information includes the parent’s physical whereabouts, the parent’s place of employment, and the parent’s salary, wages and health insurance information. The request for information must come from a public office, and the request must receive a response within 15 days.
4. When a divorce judgment includes provisions for maintenance payments, the court may attach a lien to the obligor’s real estate to secure the payments. In other words, you cannot legally sell your property and give clear title to the buyer without staying current on your maintenance obligations. The court uses judgment liens to make sure that you make these payments on time.
5. If an obligor owes more than $10,000 in child support, is delinquent in payment of an amount equal to at least three months of support obligations, or fails to pay the child support annual fee for a three-year period, the court may order the clerk to make that information available to consumer reporting agencies. The court will also direct the clerk to publish the obligor’s name and address in a newspaper of general circulation in the area in which the obligor resides, if the obligor resides in the county in which the clerk holds office. However, the clerk must first provide the obligor with notice of intent to publish.

Our experienced Kane County divorce attorneys know the ins and outs of the state’s marriage and divorce laws. Contact us today for a consultation. We can assist those in the St. Charles area.