When parents of children under 18 years old get divorced, child support payments are almost always involved. Under Illinois law, both parents are responsible for providing their children with reliable financial support and, using both parents’ incomes, Illinois has a formula to help determine roughly what child support payments will be.
However, many parents in Illinois have income levels that far exceed the parameters laid out by the Income Shares formula. When this happens, it can be much harder to predict child support payments. If you or your spouse is a high earner, here are three things to know about child support in Illinois.
The Court Must Approve Any Child Support Agreements
In a perfect world, divorcing parents would agree on everything and the divorce process would be smooth and uncontested. In the real world, this is rarely the case - especially when large amounts of money are at stake. Sometimes parents can agree on a child support payment amount. However, if they do so, they must get the child support arrangement approved by the court. Under Illinois law, a parent may not forfeit his or her right to child support from the other parent. Child support payments are for the child’s benefit. The court will want to ensure that the payment amount will reasonably meet the child’s financial needs.
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