What Expenses Are Included in Child Support in Illinois?

 Posted on September 13, 2021 in Child Support

Parents are expected to financially support their children and provide for their needs. When parents are married or living together, they will usually combine their finances to cover all of their household expenses and any other costs involved in raising their children. However, the issue of financial support becomes more complicated when parents get divorced or split up. In these cases, child support orders will need to be established to ensure that both parents will contribute toward their children’s needs. Parents will want to understand what expenses are covered by child support and whether they will need to address any other costs related to raising their children.

Basic Child Support Obligations and Additional Expenses

In family law cases involving the custody of children, child support obligations will be calculated based on the total income earned by both parents. This is known as a “basic child support obligation,” and it is meant to represent the amount that a couple would have spent to cover their children’s needs if they were still married or living together. The total amount of this obligation will be allocated between the parents based on their individual income levels. In cases where parents divide parenting time equally or when children spend near-equal amounts of time in each parent’s home, additional calculations may be performed to ensure that the parents’ financial obligations address the percentage of time children live with each parent.

As the name implies, the basic child support obligation is meant to address children’s daily needs and cover expenses such as groceries, housing, utilities, and clothing. However, there are several other types of expenses that parents will usually need to address, and these expenses may be added to the parents’ child support obligations. These may include:

• Child care - Children may attend daycare while parents are working, or other forms of child care may be used, such as a nanny or babysitter. Any child care costs that are necessary due to a parent’s employment may be divided between the parents.

• Healthcare - Parents will generally be required to ensure that children are covered by health, dental, and vision insurance, and they will usually divide the costs of monthly health insurance premiums needed to maintain this coverage. Parents may also need to divide other medical expenses, including co-pays, medications, orthodontic care, therapy or psychological treatment, and any extraordinary needs for children with physical or mental disabilities.

• Educational expenses - Parents will usually be required to share the costs of school fees, private school tuition, tutoring, and any other expenses related to children’s education.

• Other expenses - Children may participate in activities such as sports, music lessons, dance classes, gymnastics, or scouting, and parents may divide the fees for these activities and the costs of equipment or transportation. Any regular expenses that do not fall into the categories described above may also need to be addressed, and parents may agree on how to share these costs.

Contact Our Will County Child Support Lawyers

During your divorce or child custody case, the Law Offices of Tedone & Morton, P.C. can help you make sure child support will be addressed correctly. We will advise you on what expenses you will need to consider, and we will help you make sure your child support order will fully address your children’s needs. To set up a free consultation, contact our Joliet child support attorneys at 815-666-1285.

Source:

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/075000050k505.htm