If you are a divorced parent, chances are you have been through challenging and complicated proceedings concerning your children. Whether you and your ex-spouse share custody, or if custody was awarded to primarily one parent and visitation rights to the other, a child support order is likely to be part of the arrangement.
Determining a Child Support Obligation
Per the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, a child support obligation is determined similarly to how taxes are determined—via a calculated percentage of a person’s adjusted income. The more children that a person has, the higher the percentage of his or her adjusted income will be.
There are, of course, several instances in which the court-determined child support order will need to be modified.
If a non-custodial parent’s income dramatically changes, for example, or if a custodial parent remarries and a child’s financial situation dramatically changes, the paying parent may seek to have a child support order reexamined for modification. Both a custodial and non-custodial parent may apply to modify a child support order.
According to the South Illinois University School of Law, the first step to modify a child support order is to “serve” the other parent, by mail. To do this, the party requesting a change must first have a copy of the Petition and Complaint and mail a file-stamped copy of it to the other parent. The next step is to fill out and file a Certificate of Mailing to prove that the document was sent on the day in question. The final step is to mail a file-stamped copy of the Certificate of Mailing.
It is important to be sure that the Petition includes all the information and requests that are being made. Once the Petition has been submitted, it cannot be altered without starting the process over again. It is imperative that both parents have their own power of attorney to undergo a child support modification.
Consult a Illinois Family Law Attorney
If you or someone you know is considering applying for child support modification, do not go through it alone. Contact an experienced Illinois family law attorney today.