Child Support Agreements and Addressing "Other Expenses"  


Child support agreements addressing requests for "other expenses" can help avoid trips back to court. There is often a lot of litigation over setting a child support amount, mostly because the obligor claims he cannot afford it.  What often comes as a shocker is when non-custodial parents realize financially supporting a child involves more than just "child support".  Per 750 ILCS 5/505, Illinois law provides that the non-custodial parent is also responsible for 50% of other expenses, including but not limited to: uncovered medical expenses, child care, education, and extracurricular activities.

Child Support Agreements and Non-Custodial Parent's Responsibility for 50% of Other Expenses

As child support lawyers, we work to protect our child support clients from the abuse of the "other expenses" provisions in support agreements. We try to word agreements and court orders in a way that gives the non-custodial parent more say in a situation before he or she is stuck with the bill.

For example, adding a child to your medical insurance does not always mean that the premium will increase.  For family plans, the amount will often be the same.  If you are able to include the child in your health insurance, the entire amount for health insurance can be included as a deduction for child support purposes thus lowering your child support obligation.

Addressing Educational Expenses in Support Agreements

For education, if both parties have joint decision-making, then both parties would need to approve the school before the child is enrolled.  If worded correctly, you should not be stuck with a private school bill if you did not agree to it.  You may still be responsible for all other school expenses such as books, registration, and any other school-related expenses.

Be Reasonable with Extracurricular Activities

For extracurricular activities, we often include that the parties must agree to that activity, and not unreasonably withhold their consent before they are responsible for paying 50% of the said expense.  That prevents one parent from enrolling the child in several activities without the other parent's consent and then expecting the other parent to foot half the bill.  The parent must not unreasonably withhold their consent, however.  So not agreeing to any activity in order to avoid paying for any expenses would not fly.

Consult a Legal Advice to Avoid Problems with a Child Support Agreement

Seeking advice from an experienced child support lawyer can be critical. It is important to incorporate the proper language in court documents when addressing these issues in order to prevent an excessive amount of additional expenses that you cannot afford.

THIS ARTICLE WAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AT: https://illinoislawforyou.com/child-support/other-expenses-child-support-agreements/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Divorced Parents Disagree About the COVID-19 Vaccine 

Image
  There is a lot of disagreement about vaccinations for children and the argument between parents with differing views on this subject is not a new one.  Illinois family law attorneys representing parents in this type of disagreement have worked throughout the years to avoid the problem in its entirety by addressing the issue of vaccination in the parenting agreement, now called an Allocation Judgment.  A prior agreement on how to handle vaccinations will give clarity as parents deal with the COVID-19 vaccine.   COVID-19 Vaccine Questions from Divorced Parents There are a number of questions and co-parenting issues surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine. Here are five of the most frequently asked questions we are seeing in our Chicago family law practice: 1. What If the Other Parent Will Not Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? We just saw a judge in Cook County strip a mother of her parenting time because she had not received the COVID-19 vaccine.  The parents were before...
Read more

Illinois Law Update – Can a Guardian Ad Litem Speak to a Therapist in My Case?

Image
The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act in recent years gave the courts in Illinois the authority to order therapy for a minor child, family counseling for one or more of the parties and the child, or parental education for one or more of the parties if it finds that the parents or all parties agree, that the child’s physical health is endangered or that the child’s emotional development is impaired, or that an abuse of allocated parenting time has occurred, or, one or both of the parties violated the judgment with regard to conduct affecting or in the presence of the minor child.  {See 750 ILCS 5/607.6 regarding same}.  However, the same statute previously explicitly indicated that all therapy would be confidential. As of August 13, 2021, Illinois enacted Public Act 102-349, and the statute is now modified.  It no longer has a provision stating that therapy would be strictly confidential.  This kept all information obtained by a Guardian Ad Litem fro...
Read more

Changes to the Illinois Child Relocation Statute in Family Law for 2022

Image
  Oftentimes while a family law case is pending, parents will need or want to move with their minor children . The child relocation law in Illinois as of 2021 indicated that you need to seek approval for relocation from the Court if you want to move your minor child(ren) more than 25 miles away from their current residence. However, under the Illinois statute, as written in 2021, it indicates that “a parent who has been allocated a majority of parenting time or either parent who has been allocated equal parenting time may seek to relocate with a child.”  Judges and attorneys have interpreted this section to mean that until a parenting time schedule is in place, a parent cannot seek relocation, because it is unknown if that parent has the “majority” of parenting time or “equal” parenting time, until, at a minimum, there is a parenting time schedule in a custody order.  New Temporary Child Relocation Law Many Judges have also been interpreting the child relocation law to ...
Read more