Child Support in Divorce
When dealing with divorce, if you have children, an agreement regarding child support needs to be made when discussing a settlement. A recent potential client I met with asked me a question about her particular situation. Although every case is different, and settlement terms must be dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each case, I realized that her question comes up frequently. If your case involves a similar issue, the following Q & A might give you very useful answers:
Question: “My spouse wants me to agree on an amount for child support that can never go above the statutory guideline. Can he insist that I accept support with a cap?”
Answer 1: In Illinois child support is based upon two primary factors: the payer’s net income (a term defined by statute) and the number of children you have. The guideline percentages are applied against the net income. If you have one child the guideline percentage is 20%, 28% for two, 32% for three, 40% for four, 45% for 5, and 50% for 5 or more. The court can deviate up or down from the guidelines, but if they do, they must state the reason in writing. Generally, courts do not deviate from the guidelines. However, in some cases such as where the payer spouse earns a high income, courts may determine that the guideline support is more than is needed to raise a child(ren), and order an amount below the guideline.
Child support is always modifiable, even if the parties agree that it isn’t. Either parent can ask a court to make child support higher or lower if they can prove there has been a substantial change in circumstances. Typical events that constitute substantial change of circumstances are a pay raise, a loss of employment or decrease in earnings, and increased expenses to raise the child. The increase or decrease must be obtained from the court and any change cannot be effective until you file a request. Thus, if the payer spouse gets a new job, with a big increase in salary, and you wait to request increased support for one year, your increase, if granted, will start the earliest from the time you filed your request. It is not always easy to know if an ex received a pay hike; therefore you may want to consider putting into your divorce agreement that the payer give you his tax returns and Form W-2 every year, or that you get notice of any pay raises.
Do you have any questions? Feel free to send them in to me via the link below.
Michael C. Craven is a well-known divorce attorney in Chicago, CPA and a partner of the law firm, Beermann Swerdlove, LLP (Formerly of Beermann, now a Partner at Harrison LLP) located in the Chicago area. He is highly respected among other divorce attorneys, judges and his clients. He also holds a Master of Tax Law Degree (LLM). For more information about his services, contact Michael at mcraven@harrisonheld.com or at Divorce Lawyers Chicago
