Family & Safety

If you are divorced, legally separated, or living apart from the other parent of your child, you may be entitled to receive child support from the other parent.   Child support is money one parent pays to the other parent to help provide for the reasonable and necessary physical, mental, and emotional health of any children age 18 or younger (or age 19 if the child is still going to high school).  A parent must be the child's legal parent to be required to pay child support.

Child support is usually meant to cover housing, utilities, groceries, and regular day-to-day living expenses. This is usually paid in a regular, monthly payment that is the same each month.

In addition to regular monthly payments, the child support order could also require that the parents split other expenses as part of child support. This can include:

• Health insurance: The cost of health insurance may be ordered if the child is not covered by Medicaid. If one parent has access to health insurance through their employer which is paid monthly through their payroll deduction, then a percentage (often 50%) will be ordered to be reimbursed by the other parent to the insured parent. If both parents have access to health insurance, the judge is likely to look at coverage plans and the cost of the insurance. The judge will then decide who will cover the child and the percentage the other parent needs to reimburse the insured parent.
• Health needs: Health needs that are not covered by insurance may be split between the parents. These are "out-of-pocket" expenses not paid by insurance, like copays and deductibles for doctor visits, therapy and counseling, dental and orthodontia, optical, and medicine.
• Child care: Child care that allows a parent to work or attend school may be split between the parents. This includes deposits for securing a place in a child care program, the cost of before and after-school care, and camps when school is not in session. A child's special needs will be considered in determining reasonable childcare expenses.
• College expenses: This includes tuition, room and board, and necessary expenses like books. Typically, if the children are young when expenses are divided among the parents, this can be decided later. This often requires parents to come back to court when the child is older and closer to starting college to determine how this will be divided among the parents.
• Education: This includes all expenses required in order for the children to attend school until high school graduation. It might include tuition, fees, textbooks, supplies, school lunch, transportation, school-sponsored trips and special events, uniforms, before and after-school care, tutoring, and summer school.
• Extracurricular activities: This includes clubs and activities such as sports teams, music lessons, art classes, and more. A judge will consider costs associated with the activity, like enrollment fees or anything needed for participation, such as equipment and uniforms.

The child support order will expire when the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later, but not past the age of 19. Note that just because the accumulation of support ends, the withholding might not stop automatically. The paying parent may need to advise their employer of the change, and might need to seek an order from the court explaining that they no longer need to pay support.

Yes. A temporary child support order can be entered at any time while the case is pending. It might be different than the amount decided once all other financial factors are considered by the court. If it is lower than the final number due for child support, a judge may order “retroactive” support for the time that the paying parent was paying lower than the final ordered amount.

Yes. Parents of a child 18 years or older may still need to pay child support if the child:

• Is 19 years or younger and still in high school,
• Has a mental or physical disability, or
• Is getting a post-high school education.

Child support for adult children with a disability may be ordered by the court if one parent is caring full-time for the child. Any child support amount will factor in the adult child’s disability and their capacity to care for themselves in addition to the parents’ incomes. Just like child support for children under the age of 18, the child support payments are intended to be used for day-to-day living expenses.

Yes. To learn more about getting child support for college educational expenses, you can read Educational expenses for college students basics and the Educational expenses for college students common questions.

How much child support can be ordered depends on a variety of factors. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (DHFS) provides an Illinois Child Support Estimator online tool to help parents see how much child support may be ordered.

Generally, the judge will consider the income from each parent from all sources, including jobs, second jobs, holiday pay, overtime pay, and court-ordered support (maintenance) from a current or former spouse. If a parent is not working, the judge may look at their work history and order that they pay child support in line with the amount of income they reasonably could be earning. Judges may also calculate child support with a minimum wage income for a parent who is not working if the evidence shows the parent is able to work. This is called “imputing” minimum wage income.

The judge will also look at how much money a parent needs to house, feed, and clothe a child, as well as how much time the child spends with each parent.  

Public benefits such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments are not included, nor are benefits received by the children in the household such as child support, survivor benefits, or foster care payments.

Yes.  This is called a “deviation” from the guidelines. A judge must explain in writing their reasons for deviating from the guidelines. For example, a judge may choose not to follow the guidelines when a child with special needs requires extra financial support.

If the paying parent’s income is at or below 75% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, the court may order a $40/month child support obligation per child. The total monthly obligation for a paying parent in these circumstances is capped at $120. So, even if that parent is paying for the support of four children, the paying parent will only have to pay $120 every month—not $160. However, as noted above, the judge may order a higher payment if the evidence shows that the parent is able to earn more money.

If the paying parent has no income for reasons that are beyond their control, then the court may not require them to pay any support.  For example, if the paying parent cannot work because of disability or incarceration, the judge may order them to pay $0 or they may pause or “temporarily abate” their child support obligation until a time when they are able to work.

It depends. If one parent is earning significantly more than the other, the court may still order the higher-earning parent to pay child support to support the day-to-day expenses while the child resides with the lower-earning parent. The court may also look at what expenses both parents have regarding the child, and if one parent has significantly higher expenses, they may order that they receive some support.

Additionally, even if the time is split 50/50 and neither parent is paying a regular monthly sum, they will likely still be ordered to split expenses like child care, school expenses, extracurricular fees, health insurance, and uncovered medical fees.

It depends. If the parents are splitting their time nearly equally and they are earning similar amounts of money, a judge may allow the parents to agree to no child support. However, the court sees child support as the property of the child, not the parent, so if there is a time or income disparity, they may not allow the parent entitled to child support to forego it.

To learn more about getting child support, you can read Getting child support basics and the Getting child support common questions.

To learn more about getting child support, you can read Changing or ending child support payment basics and the Changing or ending child support payment common questions.

To learn more about getting child support, you can read Enforcing child support basics and the Enforcing child support common questions.

You may want to get a lawyer to help you with a child support issue. For instance, when trying to establish 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.

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