Far too often, parents who owe child support will do anything they can to avoid making payments for their children’s necessities. Frequently, this means multiple trips to court and tense hearings before a judge. In some cases, judges will hold parents who refuse to make child support payments in contempt of court and order them to spend time in jail. In the most extreme cases, parents will flee the country because they think it is might be a way to avoid meeting their child support obligations. Fleeing the country does not release you of a court order to pay child support, but it does make the process of collecting payments more difficult.

How to Get Child Support from an Ex Who Moves to Another Country

Obviously, there first needs to be a valid child support order from an Illinois judge before you can make any claim that you are entitled to child support. If the child was born during the marriage, child support is usually set forth as part of the divorce agreement. If the child was not born during a marriage, a hearing may be necessary to establish paternity. If a parent leaves the country before a hearing can be held, he or she may be ordered to pay child support by default.

...

A college education is virtually a requirement for a successful career in the twenty-first century, and a divorce does not excuse parents from making every effort to ensure their children receive quality higher education. Illinois law has long provided courts with the authority to require both parents to contribute to the post-secondary educational expenses of their children, and amendments to Section 513 of the newly overhauled Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act outline even more clearly how divorced parents may be ordered to do so.

How and When Divorced Parents Pay for College The first thing the new law on college expenses clarifies is how long parents may be required to contribute to college expenses, previously a point of contention in many cases. The IMDMA now requires parents, when subject to such an order, to contribute to educational expenses until their child’s twenty-third birthday unless “good cause” can be shown otherwise. The law does not define exactly what “good cause” means in this context, but also goes on to clarify that there is absolutely no obligation to provide for educational expenses under any circumstances once the child turns 25.

Other new parts of the law also allow for the early termination of the parent’s responsibility to contribute toward college expenses. As one might expect, there is no requirement to keep paying for college expenses once the child has completed a bachelor’s degree, but the law now also terminates the obligation of the parents if the child marries while still in school. In addition, Section 513(g) also requires students to maintain a “C” average for their parents to contribute toward their schooling expenses, though this requirement may be waived in cases of serious illness or other showing of good cause.

How Much Is Reasonable?

...

April 15 is just around the corner, and that means that it is almost time for everyone’s least favorite day of the year: tax day. While many people think that filing taxes is just a matter of reporting the income they earned from their job last year, income taxes can actually become quite a bit more complicated than that, especially if you have been ordered to pay, or are receiving spousal support.

Spousal Maintenance is Considered Income by the IRS

The IRS always considers spousal maintenance received to be income that must be reported when filing taxes. Any person receiving spousal maintenance must also provide their Social Security number to their former spouse as those who pay spousal support may count their payments as a deduction. The IRS uses Social Security numbers to determine who is eligible for the deduction and who must report spousal maintenance as income. Failing to include this information on a tax return may result in a $50 fine.

...

Divorce can change a person’s financial life in many ways. One way that often affects a person for a while after the divorce is finalized, is an order to pay child support or spousal support. An order for child support or spousal support can continue for years, even as a person’s finances change. When a court orders either form of support, it often considers a person’s income in determining the amount to be paid. What happens to these orders when a person’s income changes later on?

Modifying Spousal Support Orders

If a spouse who is ordered to pay maintenance retires, loses their job, or otherwise loses their source of income, they can petition a court to reevaluate the amount ordered in order to determine if it can be decreased. In filing a motion with the court, the petitioner has to show a substantial change in circumstances that would warrant the decrease.

...

When child support is ordered, the payments are based on the income of the parent who is ordered to pay it. Income is considered from different sources, and a percentage is calculated based on Illinois law and the number of children involved. However, this does not mean that the amount will always be affordable to the parent, and the law allows a parent who loses employment or other forms of income to appeal to a court to seek lower payments. If a parent fails to seek modification of the child support after losing income, they may end up getting behind and owing arrearages on the child support.

Arrearages owed on child support do not go away. A parent may be ordered to keep paying child support based on arrearages long after the children have reached their eighteenth birthdays. While this feels unfair, especially since the child is not likely to be receiving the support payments directly, it is important to remember that the arrearages payments are not new support payments; they are meant to cover child support that the parent was supposed to be making in the past and never did. When making payments on arrearages, it is important to make sure that the calculations are done to reflect this and new child support payments are not added.

Options for Settlement

...