How Is Child Support Calculated in Illinois?

 Posted on June 29, 2021 in Divorce

For any parent, one of their primary concerns is ensuring that they can provide for their child’s needs. All parents are required to support their children financially, and when parents are not married or living together, child support orders will need to be established. In these situations, which may involve parents who are getting divorced or unmarried parents who are separated, parents will want to understand how child support obligations will be determined.

Illinois’ Child Support Laws

For many years, child support payments in Illinois were calculated by taking a straight percentage of the paying parent’s income. While this was a straightforward method, it did not address the income earned by the recipient of child support, which could sometimes put the paying parent at a financial disadvantage. To address this, Illinois revamped its method for calculating child support in 2017, and the state now uses an income-sharing process that bases child support on both parents’ incomes.

Under the income-sharing approach, an appropriate amount of child support is determined based on the monthly amount that a married couple who earns the same combined income level as a child’s parents would spend to provide for their child’s needs. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services maintains a table listing child support obligations for one to six children at different combined income ranges. This table is used to establish an appropriate amount that the parents will be required to pay for the number of children they share.

The amount that applies for a couple based on their combined net monthly income and the number of children they share is known as the “basic child support obligation.” This represents the amount that will be needed to provide for children’s basic needs (such as food, clothing, and a place to live) on a monthly basis. The basic child support obligation is then divided between the parents, with each parent being responsible for a percentage equal to the amount they contribute to their combined income. That is, if one parent earns 75% of the combined income, they will be allocated 75% of the basic child support obligation, and the other parent will be responsible for the other 25% of the total amount. In cases where parents have equal or nearly equal amounts of parenting time with their children, additional calculations may be performed to ensure that the basic child support obligation reflects the percentage of time children spend with each parent.

In addition to the basic child support obligation, parents will also be required to divide other costs related to their children. These include the costs of medical care, with the parents being required to obtain health insurance for their children, as well as the costs of daycare or child care needed while parents are working and expenses related to children’s extracurricular activities. These expenses will be divided between the parents based on each parent’s share of the parents’ combined income.

Contact Our Kane County Child Support Lawyers

Child support calculations can be complex, and there are a variety of factors that can play a role in these cases, including determining what types of deductions can be made to determine parents’ net incomes. If you are going through a divorce or need to establish a child support order to ensure that your children will have the financial resources they need, contact the Elgin family law attorneys at Ariano Hardy Ritt Nyuli Richmond Lytle & Goettel, P.C. Call our office at 847-695-2400 to arrange a free consultation today.

Source:

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=075000050K505