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Illinois Child Support Law

How to Get Child Support

To request child support through family law court, the parent with whom the child or children resides must file a Petition to Establish Paternity and another separate Petition requesting child support.  The first step is to have the court adjudicate the father as the biological parent of the child.  After paternity is established, the next step is to exchange financial documents.  Both parties’ incomes are then entered into the state formula, which results in the child support number.  If the court approves of the calculations, the judge will enter an order requiring one party to pay child support.  At that point, child support can be paid directly, or withheld directly from the paying parent’s pay checks.  

How is Child Support Calculated?

Child support in Illinois is calculated based on both parent’s incomes.  The formula used by the state was developed after performing economic studies to determine what parents at certain income levels would spend on a child’s basic needs if they lived in the same household.  A Child Support Calculator is has been provided by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to help parents estimate how much child support could be ordered by a court based on their respective incomes.  Click here for links to the estimator. Please note that this child support calculator only provides estimates, and the resulting calculations may differ from what is actually established by the court in a child support case.

Old Law

Previous Illinois law calculated child support by taking the payor’s net income (gross income, minus taxes and other deductions), and applying a certain percentage based on the number of minor children, for example:

One minor child: 20% of net income

Two minor children: 28% of net income

Three children: 32% of net income

Current Law

Under the current Illinois child support law, both parents incomes are considered when calculating support. That is, child support is calculated based on the combined net incomes of both parents.  Now, child support is calculated as follows:

1. Determine each parent’s “net income” by running their gross incomes through a gross to net conversion chart.
2. Combine both parents’ net incomes to determine the combined net income.
3. Determine what percentages of the combined net income is represented by each parent’s net incomes.
4. The combined net income from step 2 will be plugged into an income shares chart to determine the basic child support obligation.
5. Multiply the resulting number from step 4 with the percentages from step 3, for each parent.
6. The resulting numbers are each parent’s child support obligations. The number for the non-paying parent, typically the parent with the majority of parenting time, will be presumed to already be applied to the child. The number for the paying parent will be that parent’s child support obligation, and must be paid to the non-paying parent.

Here is a basic example of how the new process can work. In this example, the parties have one child, Mother has the majority of parenting time, and Father is paying the child support obligation:

1. Father’s gross income is $3,000 monthly, which applied through the gross to net conversion chart results in a net income of $2,384. Mother’s gross monthly income is $7,000, which when applied to the same chart results in a net income of $5,122.
2. Calculate the combined net income of both parents: $2,384 + $5,122 = $7,506.
3. Father’s percentage of the combined net income is 32%, Mother’s percentage of combined net income is 68%
4. The combined net income amount from step 2 ($7,506) is then plugged into the income shares chart, resulting in a basic child support obligation of $1,201, for one child.
5. The resulting number from the chart, $1,201, is then multiplied by 32% for Father, and by 68% for mother. This results in $384.32 for Father, and $816.68 for Mother.
6. In this example, Father will pay $384.32 per month to Mother. The resulting number above for Mother, $816.68, is assumed to be used by her in every day expenditures for the child.

*Please note that this is a basic example for illustration purposes only. The income levels used here will not necessarily result in the child support amount shown above. Other factors can be taken into consideration.

More about Illinois Child Support Law

• If a parent is currently paying court-ordered child support in a separate and unrelated case, the amount of child support being paid in that other case will be deducted from that parent’s income, for determining the support payments.
• If one parent is paying maintenance (“alimony”) to the other, the maintenance payment is subtracted from the paying parent’s income, and added to the receiving parent’s income, before calculating each parent’s net income and percentages.
• Health insurance premiums for the child will be added onto the child support calculation, and divided between the parents based on their respective percentages of the combined income.
• The parent with the majority of parenting time, will be entitled to claim the tax dependency exemption for the parties’ minor child, unless the parties otherwise agree, or unless a judge previously ruled otherwise.
• If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, child support may be calculated based on potential income. The court will consider the parent’s work history, available job opportunities, and earning levels in the community. If there is no work history to determine potential income, there will be a rebuttable presumption that the parent can earn 75% of the U.S. poverty guidelines, and the court can order a minimum child support amount of $40 per month per child, with a maximum total of $120 per month to be divided among all of that parent’s children.
• When parents have close to equal amounts of parenting time, the actual number of overnights that each parent has with the children will be taken into consideration when calculating child support.

The old “percentage model” had been the method of calculating child support in Illinois for over 30 years. However, it usually only considered the paying parent’s income, and did not fully consider both parents’ income. The current child support law attempts to provide for a level of support similar to what a child would have received if both parents had stayed together.   The current “income shares” model of calculation has become the national trend, and is used in the majority of states.

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Call to schedule an initial consultation

If you or someone you know is seeking professional legal representation in a child support case in Will County, Dupage County, or Kendall County, call (815) 207-9570 to schedule an initial consultation with an experienced family law attorney.

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