Is there a difference between child support and alimony in Illinois? There are several differences between child support and alimony, although both involve financial support. The purpose of child support is to cover children’s financial needs. This support typically lasts until children turn 18 or graduate from high school. Meanwhile, the aim of alimony in Illinois is to help a lower-earning spouse gain or maintain financial stability after a divorce. The amount of alimony and how long it lasts depends on the length of the marriage and each spouse’s financial circumstances.
Understanding how child support and alimony differ can be important for your financial future. Call The Rogoff Law Group at (847) 768-2194 for guidance.
What Is the Purpose of Child Support?
Under Illinois law, parents must share the financial responsibility for their children. Child support promotes the stability of children whose parents are not together. Ideally, it would give children a standard of living similar to what they would experience if their parents lived together.
Noncustodial parents typically make child support payments. The payments can cover essentials such as housing, food, clothing, and health care.
Parents can negotiate child support between themselves without court intervention, whether during divorce proceedings or not, and get a judge to approve their agreement. A parent can also file for child support. In many cases, the income shares model that Illinois uses decides the amount of child support. The model considers both parents’ incomes and the number of children.
How Does Alimony Work?
What is alimony? Alimony, also called spousal support, has the purpose of helping a lower-earning spouse stay financially stable after a divorce. Spouses can negotiate alimony between themselves or have the court decide. However, one major difference between child support and spousal support is that child support typically is automatic in a divorce. Meanwhile, a spouse must ask for alimony.
A prenuptial agreement can play a role in alimony determinations, since such agreements often include terms pertaining to spousal support. These agreements cannot delve into child support, though.
Illinois courts determine whether this type of post-divorce support is justified based on the length of the marriage, each spouse’s income and financial resources, the standard of living during the marriage, and each spouse’s economic and non-economic contributions to the household.
What Are the Differences Between Child Support and Alimony?
Both child support and alimony can arise from a divorce, but child support can be mandated even if the parents were never really in a relationship or married. Alimony, meanwhile, is typically tied to the dissolution of a marriage. A spouse can waive alimony, but spouses cannot waive child support. Overall, alimony and child support have differences in their purpose, duration, and enforcement.
Purpose
Parents in Chicago and Des Plaines are expected to financially support their children in ways that align with the parents’ income and resources. Thus, child support focuses on children’s needs. It often covers housing, food, clothing, medical care, and even extracurriculars and other expenses.
Meanwhile, alimony helps ensure both parties have financially equitable situations after a divorce. It aims to help a financially weaker spouse. Many times, the purpose is to help the spouse make a transition to self-sufficiency.
In such cases, the alimony could last a few months or years, or even longer, depending on the length of the marriage. In a few cases, especially those involving marriages of 20 years or more, alimony may be permanent support for financial stability. Permanent support may also be necessary if the recipient spouse is older or has serious health issues or disabilities. In Chicago, at least 7.8% of people younger than 65 years old have a disability.
Both child support payments and alimony generally are not tax-deductible, nor do recipients report them as income.
Duration
Illinois has a formula based on marriage length to determine alimony. The court often follows it, but judges do have the flexibility to determine other durations and amounts. Spouses can also negotiate alimony between themselves for customized solutions such as a one-time, lump-sum payment. A divorce lawyer can help with alimony talks and child support discussions.
Child support is continuous until children turn 18 or finish high school. In some cases, child support may continue into a child’s college years.
In cases involving children with severe disabilities who will never be able to support themselves, courts may order child support to last indefinitely. Usually, the disability must have arisen before the child turned 18 years old. The support can cover ongoing daily financial needs, specialized care, medical expenses, and housing costs, including those for assisted living.
Modification and Enforcement in Chicago
Child support enforcement is strict, with enforcement options including wage garnishment and lawsuits. Either parent can seek modifications for more or less child support if there are changes, such as a job loss or the child developing more intensive needs.
Alimony modifications can also depend on changes in financial circumstances. Factors such as cohabitation or remarriage can also result in a termination. Enforcement approaches include court orders, but child support enforcement gets more of an emphasis than alimony enforcement.
A lawyer can help with filing a lawsuit for unpaid child support. A lawsuit may be necessary if attempts to resolve the issue with the payer have failed and the Illinois Department of Child Support Services has backlogs.
Backlogs can mean the DCSS is not able to quickly use methods such as wage garnishment and tax refund interception. Other types of child support enforcement from a lawsuit or DCSS include liens on the delinquent parent’s property, driver’s or professional license suspension, and bank account seizure.
Alimony and child support can get confusing. Contact us at The Rogoff Law Group to discuss these considerations in your situation.
