Child support is part of virtually every divorce agreement when there are minor children in the picture. Generally, an amount is calculated by the court while the divorce is being hammered out, but sometimes, spouses reach an agreement themselves. Either way, the amount and frequency of child support is not often changeable. When it is, you must fulfill all the requirements for the order to be accepted by the court.

“Significant Changes”

Illinois law dictates that support modifications can only be made once every three years or when a “significant change” has occurred within the family. There is some debate about what this specifically means. Generally speaking, a support order will not be modified by a court unless a parent can show a significant change or that at least a 20 percent differential will happen between the current amount of support and the amount that would result from a modification. However, the reason for that differential may vary.

Child and spousal support are a part of life for many Illinois residents. Hever, even if the agreement to provide one or both was signed in good faith at the time of a divorce, things change. Child support and spousal support payments may both be modified if you are able to show a substantial change in your circumstances, and while this may seem vague or confusing, the law is fairly clear as to the procedure that must be followed.

Why Is a Substantial Change Required?

For your child support payments to change, your income or living situation must change to the point where the current amount is no longer appropriate. For example, if you had formerly agreed—or been ordred—to pay $200 per month, but then took a substantial pay cut, it could be appropriate to lower your support payments since your income is correspondingly less. To keep payments high when you may no longer be able to afford them is inequitable at best, and at worst, can be devastating to the standard of living for the paying parent.

When you are ordered by the court to pay child support, you have a reasonable expectation of what the money will be used for--namely, meeting your children’s most basic needs. However, at least in Illinois, the law permits that additional expenses may be added on to the amount due if f they are shown to be in the child’s best interests.

Health Insurance

Health insurance is by far the most common “additional expense” that supporting parents are asked to help pay, and it is often tacked on after a divorce decree because the general cost of insurance is too difficult to accurately estimate in advance. The costs of health insurance premiums can change, as well as the method for obtaining insurance. In many cases, the supporting parent will be ordered to carry his or her children on an employer-sponsored health plan. However, if the employer in question does not offer insurance, the law states that the recipient parent may cover the children, and the paying parent should reimburse him or her for a percentage of the cost.

In this day and age, bankruptcy has become more common than it used to be, unfortunately, and as such, more and more people are encountering issues with other obligations that are directly related to bankruptcy. While many believe that a bankruptcy will essentially wipe out all their debt, what they do not know is that certain obligations are specifically exempted from this, and must still be paid regardless of any financial issues.

Spousal Maintenance

While it is not mandatory, a large number of divorce cases in Illinois assign maintenance rights to one spouse or the other. In Illinois, this obligation is specified to last a certain period of time, but if the obligor—the spouse who is paying support—must file for bankruptcy, it is reasonable to look into the possibility of modification. However, the key word is modification. Under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, maintenance or alimony obligations are not considered dischargeable. In other words, any debts that are of this nature will not be simply erased, as other debts might be in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

It is common to hear misleading stories about custodial parents using child support money to treat themselves to all manner of luxuries. However, while there are no hard and fast rules regarding what child support can be used for, parents who receive support do have some leeway, and trying to police or micromanage the support you pay may not end well for you.

Requirements Are Nonspecific

There is no law in Illinois that requires recipient parents to account for every penny of child support received. However, the state’s child support guidelines, which are used in most divorces, establish a baseline amount deemed appropriate to keep a child or children in a style comparable to the lifestyle enjoyed during the marriage, and the obligor should be able to estimate roughly what is necessary, and if the child or children are being neglected. Beyond that, it is simply not possible for most parents to account for every penny.