When parents are going through a divorce, one of the many issues that need to be worked out in the divorce settlement is child support. Married parents are free to manage their family finances in private. Once they get divorced, however, the court has the authority to mandate which parent needs to pay what amount and when. 

When there is a plan in place for child support payments, both parents can arrange their finances around this. They know how much money they can expect to pay or receive from the other and how regularly. If one parent decides to simply stop paying, it can leave the other parent scrambling to cover costs related to their child. If you are a divorced parent and your ex has stopped making their child support payments, you should speak with a Kane County, IL divorce lawyer to figure out how best to proceed.

How Can I Get My Ex to Pay Child Support Again?

If your ex has stopped making their child support payments, it can put you in a stressful and uncomfortable situation. You expect to receive that money, and that is how you planned to finance what your child needed that month. While you may find yourself under financial pressure and you may feel frustrated or angry toward your ex, keep in mind that there are ways to resolve this.

One thing that is certain in life is that nothing is certain. You can plan something based on how your life is now, and in five or ten years from now, you might find that your life is completely different. When you got married, you probably did not picture yourself one day getting a divorce. When you were in the middle of settling your divorce, you probably could not imagine how your life would look today. 

Your child support agreement was most likely made based on your income back then. This agreement may no longer suit you if you have recently been laid off from work. Fortunately, your monthly payments could be modified under certain circumstances like loss of a job. If you have lost your job and have questions about your child support payments, a Kane County, IL child support attorney may be able to clear up a lot of confusion. 

Does the State of Illinois Allow Modifications to Child Support Payments?

According to Illinois State Law, modifications can be made to child support payments. The law lists certain circumstances under which the child support arrangement can be changed. One of the circumstances is if either parent’s income goes through some unexpected change, for example, if they have lost their job or gotten demoted.

For most parents in Illinois, paying child support is an obligation that ends once a child turns 18 or graduates from high school. However, for other parents, child support can continue for several years or even indefinitely. It is important to know when child support can be ordered after a child reaches legal adulthood so you can financially prepare yourself for any obligations you may have, as well as ensure that your child’s needs are met throughout their life.

Child Support for an Adult Child in College

Illinois is one of the few states that allows judges to order divorced parents to help their children pay for college or trade school. Married parents cannot be ordered to do this, but divorced parents can because of the idea that a child should continue to enjoy the standard of living she would have expected had her parents stayed married. For some families, this includes assistance with college tuition, although judges are not obligated to order parents to pay their child’s educational expenses.

The financial assistance a child gets for college cannot exceed the cost of in-state tuition at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, although the limit does take into consideration expenses like books, living expenses, and health insurance. Parents paying for their child’s university expenses are entitled to access to the child’s educational records, and the child is obligated to keep up a C-grade average. A parent’s educational support obligation ends once the child turns 23, gets married, earns a bachelor’s degree or skills certificate, or falls below a C-grade average.

College is notorious for being exorbitantly expensive; even if a child attends an in-state school, they could be paying tens of thousands of dollars a year to earn a degree in a field that may or may not have good prospects for future financial success.

Many parents, especially those who are divorced and who do not share values and priorities, are torn over whether the cost of sending a child to college is ultimately worth it. While parents who are still married cannot be compelled to pay for an adult child’s college education, many parents who are divorced may be surprised to learn than they can be. If you have a child approaching college age and you are wondering about your child support obligations regarding their university tuition, read on and then contact an Illinois adult child support attorney for advice in your specific case.

Parents Can be Ordered to Pay for a Child’s College Degree in Illinois

One of the priorities of Illinois family law is to reduce, as much as possible, the impact of divorce on the children of divorced parents. One way that the law does this is by considering what the life quality of the child would have been if the parents had stayed married. This is fundamentally the justification for the law allowing divorced parents to be required to contribute to an adult child’s education.

The state of Illinois expects parents to financially support their children even if they are unmarried or divorced. Child support payments help divide the financial burden between both of the parents. The parent with the lesser amount of parenting time provides financial support to the parent with the greater share of the parenting time. The parent with the majority of parenting time makes his or her financial contributions to the child by paying for things like housing, groceries, and other everyday expenses.

If you are the paying parent or “obligor” you may be worried about your ability to make child support payments. Perhaps you have lost your job or experienced another financial hardship, and you can no longer afford child support. There are ways to modify a child support payment amount, however, the courts only allow child support modifications in certain circumstances.

Request a Modification Review

Child support obligations are based on both parents’ net incomes and are designed to be affordable and reasonable. However, the state recognizes that parents’ financial situations can change. If you wish to reduce your child support obligation, you will need to file a petition to modify your child support order. You will need to explain your reasons for requesting the modification. Typically, a “substantial change in circumstances” is needed for a parent to get his or her child support order changed.