If you are going through divorce proceedings or have a child support agreement in place, you may be wondering about how you and your child's other parent will make decisions about paying for college expenses or post-high school training when your child reaches college age.

Even if your children are young, it is wise to plan ahead for the payment of college tuition and expenses so that both parents can begin saving towards their children's education, and to prevent disagreements about paying for college from adding to the stress of an already emotional and tumultuous time for families of students entering college.

Your DuPage County family law attorney can help you plan for your children's future by explaining the factors the courts will consider when assigning responsibility for paying college or post-high school expenses, and asking the court to consider relevant factors.

If you are subject to a child support order and your circumstances have changed, you may need to seek child support modification from the court. Whether you have become unemployed, changed jobs, or had another change in your circumstances that has made paying your child support obligation difficult, our experienced child support modification attorneys can help.

What Factors Do Courts Consider When Determining or Modifying Child Support Orders?

Child support modification requests can be addressed judicially - by the court - or administratively, by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), Division of Child Support Services. Your family law attorney will help you determine which process best protects your rights.

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) section on child support is deceptively simple. A parent without the majority of parental responsibilities must pay at least 20 percent of their net income toward the support of one child. That amount increases up to a maximum of 50 percent of net income if six or more children are involved.

In many cases, “net income” can simply be calculated based on how much someone makes from their job. However, the income that someone makes from their employment is not always an accurate reflection of how much they are actually earningg, and, in some situations, parents go to great lengths to hide and manipulate their income to avoid paying more in child support. Illinois courts frown on these tactics.

In Re Marriage of Rogers and Money from Family Members

 Child support in Illinois is one of those concepts that is both very simple and incredibly complicated. That applies to many areas of the law actually, but it is especially true here.

First, the simple part. Under Illinois law, as determined by the court, a supporting parent must pay a percentage of his or her net income to the other parent to assist in meeting the needs of the child. The parents need not have been married for one parent to be ordered to pay child support, though a court may require evidence of the father’s paternity.

Under 750 ILCS 5/505, the payor parent must pay 20 percent of his or her net income in child support. If the payor is paying child support for two children, the amount goes up to 28 percent of net income, and so on. If six or more children are involved, the amount of net income that goes to child support is capped at 50 percent. That is about as straightforward as a law can get.

Illinois law generally requires supporting parents to pay at least 20 percent of their net income toward the support of their children, and that percentage only increases if more children are involved. But for various reasons, many parents think they can avoid this duty to care for their children. It is a problem that both the Illinois legislature and domestic relations courts takes seriously, and as a recent $2.3 million award makes clear, courts are not afraid to send a message to those in the state who try to avoid child support obligations.

Cook County Child Support Award Could Be Highest in State History

To be sure, the facts in a recent  Cook County case, which was decided in April, are unusual. Despite what you may be thinking, the case does not involve a millionaire or lottery winner who skipped out a large number of child support payments.