How is Child Support Calculated During a Divorce in Illinois?
Almost any issue that is discussed during divorce negotiations has the potential to become a contested issue. Even if you go into your negotiations with the goal of being cooperative, there is still a possibility that you and your spouse will not agree on certain things. When it comes to child-related issues such as parenting time and even child support, emotions and feelings can be at the forefront of these discussions. Both parents have the duty to provide financial support for a child, which is reflected in the child support formula that now takes into account multiple factors to calculate the parent’s payment. Before you discuss child support with your spouse, it can be beneficial to understand how the child support calculations are made
Determine Your Basic Support Obligation
Before you can determine who will pay support to who, you must first determine how much the state of Illinois thinks is an appropriate amount that both you and your spouse should spend on your child each month. This is called the basic support obligation. The basic support obligation is determined by adding together both parents’ net monthly incomes and then finding the matching basic support amount as shown in the schedule of basic child support obligations. This amount takes into account both parents’ incomes and the number of children between the parents. Then you will need to determine each parent’s percentage share of the basic support obligation. This is typically done by using the percentage of each parents’ share of the total household income.
For example, if Parent A has a net monthly income of $2,500 and Parent B has a net monthly income of $4,500, the net monthly household income is $7,000. If this couple has three children, this means that the basic support obligation between both parents is $2,035.
Determine Who Will Pay and the Amount of Support Payments
Once you have determined your basic support obligation, you must then determine who will pay the support payment to the other parent and how much that support payment will be. This is done by determining the percentage of the total household income that each parent contributes. This percentage is typically the percentage of the basic support obligation that the parent is responsible for. Though you can come to your own agreement with your spouse, the parent that the child does not regularly reside with is typically the parent who pays support to the other parent.
Continuing from the above example, Parent A’s income makes up 35.7 percent of the total household income, while Parent B’s income makes up around 64.3 percent of the total household income. If the children typically reside with Parent A a majority of the time, Parent B would pay Parent A $1,308.51, or 64.3 percent of the basic support obligation.
Sources:
https://ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=075000050K505
https://www.illinois.gov/hfs/ChildSupport/FormsBrochures/Pages/hfs1759.aspx
https://www.illinois.gov/hfs/SiteCollectionDocuments/IncomeSharesScheduleBasedonNetIncome.pdf
