How Is Child Support Calculated in an Illinois Divorce?

 Posted on January 13, 2021 in Child Support

Any parent will tell you that raising children can be quite expensive. Between housing, educational and extracurricular fees, groceries, healthcare, and other costs, child-related costs can be a large part of a parent’s monthly bills. Child support can be a considerable source of financial support for a divorced parent with the majority of the parenting time. If you are planning to divorce, you may be asking yourself, “How much child support does an Illinois parent receive after divorce?”

Current Method for Determining Child Support

Illinois has adopted the “Income Shares” model for child support. According to this model, both parents’ net incomes are used to determine a support payment amount that is reasonably affordable while also providing the recipient parent with the financial support he or she needs to pay for child-related costs. If parents each care for their child 146 overnights or more every year, the parents are engaged in a “shared parenting” situation according to Illinois law. Because each parent has the child a good portion of the time, the amount of child support that the recipient parent receives is reduced. In shared parenting situations, the more parenting time that an obligor parent has, the less he or she pays in support. If parents do not have the children for 146 nights or more each year, they are not in a shared parenting situation and the obligor’s amount of parenting time does not change his or her child support obligation.

Child Support Calculations When a Parent Is Unemployed

You may be curious about how child support is calculated if a parent is not working. If you or your child’s other parent has been laid off due to COVID-19 or is otherwise out of work, you may wonder how this will affect child support calculations. Illinois courts differentiate between voluntary unemployment or underemployment and involuntary unemployment or underemployment. If a parent has been fired or laid off and makes genuine attempts to regain employment, his or her actual income will be used to calculate child support. However, if the parent quits his or her job or willingly makes less money than he or she could, his or her “potential income” may be used to determine child support. A parent’s potential income is determined using his or her past work history, education, job training, skills, and other factors.

Contact a Will County Child Support Lawyer

Divorce can be a complicated process, even after it is finalized. If you are a parent with additional questions or concerns about child support, contact a tenacious Joliet, IL family law attorney from the Law Offices of Tedone & Morton, P.C. Schedule your free, confidential consultation today. You can reach our Joliet office by calling us at 815-666-1285 and our Plainfield office at 815-733-5350.

Source:

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/075000050K505.htm