When a couple getting divorced relied on one high-income breadwinner, it is often a priority for the other spouse to receive enough marital property to maintain the lifestyle they enjoyed during the marriage. Alternatively, spousal maintenance can help a divorced person continue to enjoy the same comforts they did during the marriage.

While divorce will affect their children’s lives, most Naperville parents would want to minimize the impact — both emotionally and economically. Child support is how divorced and unmarried parents in Illinois make sure that their children’s basic needs are met. But for high-income families, child support can also have the purpose of maintaining the children’s lifestyle after their parents split up.

Child support can be different for high earner parents

State law includes a formula for calculating child support based on several factors, including each parent’s income. But family court judges can deviate above the calculated level of support when the noncustodial parent’s income is high. Depending on that parent’s income and financial resources, the court might order them to pay thousands of dollars a month in child support. Besides the basics like food and shelter, the custodial parent can use this money to pay for things like sports, private tutors, designer clothes and vehicles.

Once children grow up and become legal adults, questions arise surrounding how much financial support do divorced parents need to provide. A ruling from the DuPage County Circuit Court May 2018 seemed to limit the financial responsibility that divorced parents may have when it comes to paying for college.

After more than a year of legal limbo, the Illinois Supreme Court has weighed in. In a unanimous decision, the court overruled that previous decision, thereby reaffirming an Illinois Supreme Court decision dating back to 1978.

What is Illinois’s Section 513 law?

For parents who do not have the majority of parenting time of their children, state law typically requires that child support payments are made to the parent having the majority parenting time. The amount of a child support payment is determined based on a state’s child support guidelines, and, once a child support order is issued by a court, must be paid on time and in full.

Those who have to pay child support often have questions about the system, including whether or not child support payments can be deducted from one’s taxes. Here’s what you need to know–

Child Support Payments Are Not Deductible

Understanding Illinois family laws, divorce laws, and child support laws while you are serving in the military and are deployed can feel overwhelming. Indeed, if you are abroad or plan to be abroad, knowing whether or not you need to pay child support, how that decision will be made, and how to modify your child support arrangement may feel burdensome and confusing. Our family law attorneys at the offices of Fay, Farrow & Associates, P.C. can help you to understand your child support obligations if you are deployed.

Do I Still Have to Pay Child Support?

Regardless of your station in the military and whether or not you are deployed, you must pay child support. All parents in Illinois have a duty to support their children financially. While you are obligated to pay support, precisely how that support is calculated and when you can request modification of a support order may vary if you are deployed or plan to be deployed in the future.

When kids are out of school for the summer, parents may have big plans for spending time together. From road trips to summer getaways, camping to family barbeques, the summer is the perfect time to get in quality time with your kids. But for parents who are divorced, the summertime can be stressful, as parents may have a number of questions about their visitation rights. Here’s a look into what you need to know about summer break visitation after divorce in Illinois:

1. Refer to Your Parenting Schedule

At the time that you got divorced, you and your ex-spouse likely submitted a parenting schedule to the court that outlined each of your responsibilities and rights regarding time spent with your child. There’s a strong chance that your parenting schedule not only addressed how time would be shared during the school year, but how custody during holidays and the summer break period would be shared as well. If your parenting schedule includes a strict schedule for the summertime, you are obligated to adhere to it. If you need to request a change, you can ask your ex-spouse to accommodate your needs, but they are not legally required to do so.