Family & Safety

To learn more about the basics of child support, you can read Child support common questions.

A parent can get an order for child support either on their own (with or without the help of a lawyer) or through the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (DHFS).

How child support can be established depends on the relationship between the parents.

If a person was married to the child’s mother when she became pregnant or when the child was born, that person is legally assumed to be the child’s legal parent.  Either parent can file a lawsuit to establish child support. This request can be part of a divorce, legal separation, or allocation of parental responsibilities case, or it can be a separate child support case. All of these cases are handled by the domestic relations division.

If the child's parents were never married, the parent asking for child support must first prove that the other person is the child’s legal parent.  This is called establishing parentage. If the other parent is not on the birth certificate, establishing parentage can be a difficult and lengthy process. Instead of trying to do this on your own, it can be helpful to hire a lawyer or ask the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (DHFS) for help.

A parent can start an IV-D services child support case with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (DHFS) division of Child Support Services instead of going to court on their own. DFHS will:

• Have a lawyer do the necessary paperwork to get child support started;
• Search for the other parent;
• Establish legal paternity, including obtaining DNA testing if needed;
• Finalize a child support order; and
• Assist in securing health insurance if needed.

DFHS only assists with establishing paternity and child support. They will not help with the allocation of parental responsibility (custody) or parenting time (visitation).  Further, it should be noted that the lawyer does not represent either parent. While the lawyer is working to help get child support, the lawyer is really working on behalf of the State of Illinois. This is important because any talks the parent requesting child support has with the lawyer from DHFS will not be confidential and may not remain secret.

If a parent receives Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), they will automatically receive child support services. Parents who only receive Medicaid are automatically offered child support services, but they must fill out a questionnaire.

Using the services of DHFS is often better than trying to get child support without help. They can help collect unpaid child support by:

• Collecting the paying parent's federal and state income tax refunds;
• Finding if and where the paying parent works and lives;
• Sending income withholding notices to the paying parent’s employer;
• Finding and collecting from the paying parent's bank accounts;
• Imposing consequences for not paying, such as taking away the paying parent's driver's license, professional licenses, and/or passports;
• Placing liens on real estate and worker's compensation and other lawsuit settlements; and
• Reporting the paying parent to credit bureaus. 

Other benefits to using DFHS include:

• The parent requesting child support may not have to go to all of the court dates;
• DFHS has better access to records of the paying parent's income and payments made through the State Disbursement Unit (SDU); and
• DFHS can ask another state to enforce the child support order if the paying parent moves to another state.

In most cases, child support payments are taken directly out of the paying parent’s paycheck and sent to the State Disbursement Unit (SDU).  The SDU records the child support payment and sends the money to the receiving parent.

Once the receiving parent gets a child support order, they can send it along with an “Income Withholding for Support” (IWO) form to the paying parent’s employer to tell them to withhold some money from their paychecks. You can read more about this on the Office of Child Support Enforcement website.

You can print the Notice to Withhold form or pick one up at your local courthouse. These instructions will help you complete the form. This sample form has numbered fields that match the numbers in the instructions.  When you’re done, send the form and child support order to the paying parent's employer by certified mail with return receipt requested. If the employer doesn’t withhold and pay the child support in a timely manner, they might have to pay a $100 per day fine.

Even if the child support order was issued in a different state, Illinois employers are required to honor it. The employer is still responsible for collecting and paying the child support.

Yes. No matter what kind of agreement the parents have, it is best that all payments are sent to the State Disbursement Unit (SDU) because the SDU keeps a record of all payments. This can help prevent arguments in the future. Check the SDU’s guidance about how to send payments, as their rules may change.

The Illinois SDU's mailing address is:
State Disbursement Unit
P.O. Box 5400
Carol Stream, IL 60197-5400

Child support should not be paid straight to the receiving parent unless the child support order says otherwise. If the child support order says to pay the parent receiving child support directly, never pay in cash. Use a money order or check so there is a record of the payment. If you plan to use an app for electronic transfer, check the application’s rules to make sure it does not prohibit the use of the app for child support.

If child support is paid directly to the receiving parent, the other parent and the State of Illinois may say that payment is still owed. It will then be the responsibility of the paying parent to prove that they already paid that child support. This is why it is important to keep records of all payments.

A paying parent who receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) cannot be ordered to pay child support out of their SSI income. However, a paying parent who receives Social Security Disability (SSDI) can be ordered to pay child support out of their SSDI income.

If a paying parent gets SSDI, the child may be eligible for a Social Security dependent benefit on the paying parent's Social Security record. This dependent benefit will usually count toward the paying parent's child support payment.

Illinois law provides that there is a “rebuttable presumption” that a parent who cannot work due to disability should not be ordered to pay the minimum child support amount of $40 a month.  Rebuttable presumption means that the receiving parent can try to prove to the court why a parent with the disability should pay at least $40 a month for child support. 

Yes. Parents have always received their full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/SNAP (food stamps) amount without any impact on their child support payments.

Previously, if a parent was receiving both the Illinois Department of Human Service's Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and child support, the state would take a portion of the child support payment. However, due to a recent change, a parent should now receive money from TANF and the full payment from child support without the state collecting or withholding any of the child support payment.

Most public benefits, like SNAP (food stamps), TANF (cash assistance), and public housing, are based on household size and the amount of parental income. If your household starts receiving child support or there is a change in size or income, parents should report these changes to the public benefits agency.

Yes. If a parent is unhappy with the child support court order, they have a couple of options:

• File a Motion for Reconsideration: with this motion, you are asking the judge to reconsider their ruling. You have to state why you think that the court was wrong when it made the original ruling. You have 30 days after the judge's decision to file a Motion for Reconsideration. Learn more about Preparing, filing, and presenting motions in court.  If your Motion for Reconsideration is denied, you can still file an appeal within 30 days.  
• File an appeal: an appeal is a request to the appellate court asking it to look at the trial court's decision to see if it was right. You do not get a new trial, and you cannot present any new evidence. The appellate court will only consider what was previously presented to the first judge. The rules regarding appeals are very complicated. You should either consult with a lawyer or go to the law library and read the Supreme Court Rules for appeals. You have thirty (30) days after the judge's decision to file an appeal. For more information, please read Appealing a Circuit Court decision.

You may want to get a lawyer to help you with establishing child support. A lawyer may bring a case to court faster and present a case better, though, in some instances, it may be better to use the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (DFHS) because the department can access information typically obtained in the discovery process that a private lawyer may not be able to get. Hiring a lawyer will also cost money. The parent asking for child support might not want to spend money on a lawyer because they are not sure how much child support they will receive.

You can use Get Legal Help to find a free legal aid organization or private lawyer near you.