It’s hard enough dealing with all the legal aspects of getting divorced, but determining child support can be confusing for most people. But just when you think you understand it, on July 1 the child support rules are going to change. If you need help understanding the effect of the new Illinois child support rules in 2017 our attorneys at O’Dekirk, Allred and Associates in Joliet can help you figure it all out and represent you as you go through this difficult process.
The passage of Public Act 99-764 will bring some significant changes in child support obligations for Illinois families. On August 12, 2016, Governor Rauner signed Illinois House Bill (HB) 3982, which amends the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA). Forty other states and now Illinois have adopted a new model for child support called income-shares. For Illinois, it will become effective on July 1, 2017.
The Income-Shares Model
Let’s take a look at how this new model determines how child support obligations will be decided. The new Illinois child support rules are based on the idea that both parents have a duty to support the children and that the children should receive the same amount of support they would otherwise enjoy if both parents lived in the same house.
The purpose of the new rules is to create a state-wide standard of support based on both parents’ ability to pay. The goals are to make awards more equitable, make the court process more efficient, encourage settlements between the parents, give both parents a responsibility to support the child based on the children’s needs, and decide physical care arrangements of the children in determining child support.
For a long time, Illinois-based child support on the noncustodial parent’s net (after tax) income. It was calculated by percentages based on the number of children: 20%, 28%, 32%, etc. But now, starting in July 2017, Illinois child support will be a function of both parents’ incomes, using the income-shares model of calculating it.
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (IDHS) will be developing worksheets to help in child support calculations. IDHS will create a table that shows the percentage of combined net income that parents living in the same household normally spend on their children. Using the benchmarks that IDHS will determine, each parent will be allocated a percentage of child support responsibility based on their portion of the combined net income.
There are three main factors that will be considered in the new income-shares model.
- Basic Child Support Obligation – As we said, this is based on a combined value of child support owed by both parents together. This is divided proportionally between the parents depending on their individual contribution to the combined household net income. It’s calculated based on state guidelines, the Illinois schedule.
- Additional Expenses – There may be other costs that the court factors in on top of the basic child support obligation. These might be child care costs, extracurricular activities and medical or health insurance expenses.
- Parenting Time – Parenting time for each parent is a part of the new model. This will decide which parent gets child support. But we know that shared parenting situations may lead to some variations when calculating child support based on the new income shares formula.
Child Support Calculations
IDHS is in the process of creating official schedules, worksheets, and formulas to calculate child support obligations. While the specific order of operations for calculating child support hasn’t been finalized yet, there is a general formula:
(Basic Child Support Obligation x Percent Contributed to Combined Net Income)
+
(Additional Expenses x Percent Contributed to Combined Net Income)
= Total Child Support Obligation Per Parent
Here’s an example using the income-shares formula.
- Let’s say the parents have combined net income of $30,000 per year.
- The father contributes $18,000 and the mother contributes $12,000.
- That means the father will likely be responsible for 60% of the basic child support obligation and the mother responsible for 40%.
Once the new law goes into effect, the Illinois schedule for basic child support obligation will be provided. At this point, we will be able to fully calculate the total child support obligation per parent, along with parenting time and additional expenses, at which point the parent with the greater responsibility pays the difference in support to the other parent.
Parenting Time
Another change to the child support statute that you may be interested in is the codification of parenting time as a consideration for determining child support. The current benchmark for shared custody is 146 nights or 40% of the time. If both parents have at least 146 nights, the court will now multiply the basic child support obligation by 1.5 and allocate it according to the percentage of overnights per parent.
This is a big difference in the way child support obligations will be determined. It’s possible this may add another layer to the child support tussle if parents try to negotiate parenting time as a way to get a more favorable child support obligation amount. This already happens and the new rules may make it even more of a factor in divorce proceedings when children are involved.
But there may be some unique situations that do not fit neatly into the formula. For example, how would the calculations work if one parent works days and the other parent works nights and they alternate caregiver functions to save child care costs? In that case, using overnights may not be an effective way to determine the calculations. How that would be handled is not clear.
What’s Next
There are obviously still a lot of unanswered questions. But we’ll have to wait to see what IDHS comes up with before we can fully know how it will affect you. For example, it is still unknown how other expenses for the children will be allocated, such as child care, health insurance, extra-curricular, and school expenses. And we are yet to see the new definitions and clarifications regarding gross and net incomes and determining incomes for self-employed individuals.
When the new rules are released, we can tell you with more detail how they will impact child support and parenting time cases. Understanding the effect of the new Illinois Child Support rules in 2017 will be important for families trying to navigate through the legal process of a divorce. If you need help, our attorneys at O’Dekirk, Allred and Associates in Joliet will fight on your behalf. Call for a free initial consultation about your case.