Issues related to child support payments
Both parents have an obligation to support the children following the dissolution of a marriage in Illinois. If one parent has custody or in most cases, residential custody, the law assumes that the residential parent is contributing to the children's needs, and directs the other parent to pay a percentage of his/her income to the custodial parent (for example: 20% of income after mandatory deductions if there is one child, 25% if there are two children, up to 50% or more if there are six or more children). Any deviations from these percentages are the exception.
Failure to maintain child support payments forces many children to live in households below the poverty level. In Illinois, the problem is serious with 490,000 parents owing more than one billion dollars in child support payments. However, timely payments can be enforced by law.
At the time a child support order is entered or if the parent obligated to pay child support falls behind in making payments, the court may request that the person's employer withhold the support directly from his or her paycheck. In order to do this, the custodial parent must obtain a court order by filing a form with the circuit court.
Employers are legally obligated to withhold support, and those who do not, are subject to legal penalties. If you prefer, you may also have the child support payments withheld and paid to the clerk of the court in your county and then sent to you.
An Illinois law allows the courts to suspend deadbeat parents' driver's licenses. This law applies to parents who are 90 days behind in court-ordered child support. If payments are late, the court will not hesitate to order the Secretary of State's office to suspend the offending parent's driver's license.
If you are not receiving the child support payments due you, of if they are late, you can contact the Illinois Department of Human Services, which offers free legal representation to enforce child support orders. Private attorneys also provide representation to compel support payments.
Note: This information was prepared as a public service by the Illinois State Bar Association and is a joint project with the Illinois Press Association. Its purpose is to inform citizens of their legal rights and obligations.
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If you have questions about the application of the law in a particular case, consult your lawyer. The law is constantly changing. Information on this site or any site to which we link does not constitute legal advice.