Illinois child support payments are determined by the “income shares” method, meaning that each parent pays a portion of the child’s expenses based on their share of the parents’ combined net income.

When both spouses have stable annual salaries, this calculation is straightforward. But what if your or your spouse’s income fluctuates significantly from month to month or year to year? 

Income fluctuations may be due to:

If you have young children and are divorcing a spouse who abuses drugs or alcohol, Illinois law provides a process for restricting an individual’s parenting time and parental responsibilities. Illinois law 750 ILCS 5/603.10 calls for a court hearing at which attorneys from both sides may present evidence. 

In preparation for this hearing, you want to work with a skilled family lawyer to compile as much documentation as possible. Write down everything you remember about specific incidents that demonstrate your spouse’s issues. You may ask friends and family to write down their recollections of specific instances as well. If your spouse has ever been arrested for DUI, drug possession, or disorderly conduct, those police reports can be used to prove your case. Medical records showing stints in rehab or even bank records displaying frequent liquor store purchases could be helpful as well.

Illinois Court Orders to Protect Children 

If the court finds your spouse has “engaged in any conduct that seriously endangered the child’s mental, moral, or physical health or that significantly impaired the child’s emotional development,” the court may issue one or more orders that the judge deems necessary. In particular, the court will consider whether a parent has used “drugs, alcohol, or any other substance in a way that interferes with the parent’s ability to perform caretaking functions.”

No marriage is perfect, and marriages regularly end in divorce. Disagreements and anger about the end of a marriage can cause a spouse to lash out at their former partner in whatever ways they can. Divorces with an adversarial nature often seriously impact the lives of the spouses and any children involved. Occasionally, a parent may take the anger and resentment even further than normal and cause their child or children to experience parental alienation syndrome. 

What Is Parental Alienation Syndrome?

Parental alienation syndrome is a term created in the 1980s by the child psychiatrist Dr. Richard Gardner. Gardner used this term to describe what happens when a parent tries to make their children dislike the other parent. The parent who is attempting to alienate the child is often not happy about the divorce and wants their children to be on their side in order to influence child custody decisions. The alienation is accomplished by making negative comments about the other parent, constantly putting them down, blaming them for everything, and even making false accusations. It is also common to see a parent attempt to keep the children to themselves as much as possible and limit the other parent’s parenting time with the children. 

Addressing Parental Alienation

Parents who believe their significant other has alienated their children against them may wonder what they can do to stop the alienation and have a good relationship with their children again. One of the keys to helping your child come back from the alienation is to start talking to them about similarities and differences between family members. Discuss non-emotional topics such as favorite colors, music, and hobbies and how the child is alike or different from each parent. Then, once that has been established, move on to discussions of the emotions the child is feeling, such as anger. Discuss what makes the child angry and how that is the same or different from what makes the parents angry. Doing this exercise will encourage the child to think about individualized emotions and help them realize that they do not have to feel the same emotions as others. For example, they do not have to be angry at one parent just because the other parent is angry. 

Adopting a child is a great option for couples who would like children, but many people are surprised at how much it costs to actually adopt a child. The expenses can vary widely for many reasons, such as the number of legal fees, whether you are working with an agency or not, and the costs of obtaining all the necessary toys and childcare items. When the process is done, and you are finally able to go home with your child, it will all be worth it. However, you will likely want to try to alleviate the costs of adoption whenever possible. 

Costs of Domestic and International Adoption

International adoption refers to adopting a child from another country instead of within the home country of the adoptive parents. Travel expenses and the laws and regulations around adoptions can all make it difficult to adopt a child from another country. International adoption also costs much more in general than a domestic adoption due to the different processes and fees involved. For example, most countries will require the prospective parent to visit the country of the child they wish to adopt, and the prices of multiple international flights can add up. 

Domestic adoption is usually cheaper, but it still has many elements which will add to the total cost. Adopting through an adoption agency will increase the price as well, since adoption agencies will work with the parents to find a situation that is right for them, and they are usually involved in the process from start to finish. The agencies will also often offer counseling and support to the birth mother and adoptive parents. 

Every divorce needs to be treated differently due to the individual circumstances in each case. However, there are some common elements that will typically need to be taken care of during the divorce process, including child custody, division of assets, and spousal maintenance (alimony). Maintenance consists of financial support that one spouse pays to the other to make sure they are able to support themselves after the divorce. If you are close to retirement age and are considering initiating divorce proceedings, you may be wondering what will happen if you are ordered to pay maintenance and decide to retire soon after.

Possible Outcomes

If you decide to retire and are still paying maintenance to your ex-spouse, there are a few different outcomes that could occur. Illinois law states that you may be able to receive a reduction or stoppage of your maintenance obligation if you are able to show that you have had a “substantial change in circumstances” making you unable to pay the maintenance. The decision to retire is often not enough for a judge to order a complete termination of maintenance payments, but it may be enough for a reduction of the amount of payments. The decision will depend on how severe the reduction in the payer’s income is after retirement. Retirement is not the only factor that a judge will look at to determine if the maintenance payments should be changed, but it does fall under the “substantial change in circumstances” umbrella. 

Termination of maintenance is usually only granted if the person being paid gets married again or if the retirement of the payor reduces their income to the point where any payments towards maintenance would cause them to fall under the poverty line. Usually, a change such as reduction or termination is not granted immediately. Instead, the payments may be reduced for a year, and then reduced further during another period of time, after which they may stop. This method lets everyone plan for the changes in income ahead of time and make the arrangements necessary to ensure that their ongoing needs will be met.