family law attorney

If you read my blog, you know that I am not a believer in “father’s rights” type marketing strategies.  It’s the stuff of snake oil salesmen in my opinion.  If you care about your clients then you do whatever you can for them.

I do think some laws are unfair though. The biggest violator has to be Illinois child support laws.

What is wrong is that the amount you pay or receive does not reflect in any way the amount of time you spend with your child or what you do for them financially.  If you are paying support for one kid, you’ll pay 20% of your net take home pay.  Two kids is 28%.  Three is 32% and so on.

But if you have your kids 50% of the time (man or woman) and your ex has the other 50%, one of you is still going to pay child support to the other.  How is that fair?  What if the Dad has the kids four days/nights and the Mom has them three?  Should the Mom have to still pay the full amount?  It’s not right.

It’s definitely not a male/female issue.  People get screwed equally.  It’s not just based on the time spent with the kids.  How about the fact that you can be making $35,000 a year and your ex could make $400,000 a year and you’d still have to pay them child support if they have primary custody.  I know Illinois can be a screwed up state, but that is ridiculous.

This happens because “this is how it’s always been done.”  What made sense 50 years ago doesn’t necessarily make sense now.  And to change this wouldn’t require more litigation, it would just require more organization and a willingness to look at what is really going on.  Here’s what I’d propose:

-If your ex earns more than four times or $100,000 more than you do, your child support payments can’t exceed half of the current statutory minimums (so if you have two kids, you’d pay 14%).
-If you can prove that you spend at least 40% of the non-school hours with your child, then you should be eligible for the same deduction.  Perhaps this would encourage some listless parents to spend more time with their kids.
-If you lose a job or have a reduction in salary, let’s create an easier way to modify your payments without having to hire a lawyer and go to court.  And if you get a raise, you should be required to report it within 30 days for modification of be subject to having to pay back the increase retroactively.
-And given how many employers pay their employees cash under the table, enabling those parents from having to pay child support, I’d be in favor of allowing the other parent to sue the employer because their breaking of the law is hurting the child.
-I’d have child support issues handled by Arbitrators, not Judges, if that was the only issue in the case.  That way it would take less time and money to get a result.  Put both parties under oath, ask them questions about their wages and go from there.  These hearings should not take nearly as long as they currently do.

While we are at it, let’s address college support payments.  In an ideal world, parents would be able to afford to send their kids to college.  I certainly hope to do so for my kids.  If my wife and I stay married then it will be up to us as to whether or not to pay all or part of their college expenses.  But if we were to get divorced then I’d be forced to do so.  That makes no sense at all.  A much better idea would be to make sure that 529 college savings plans can’t be touched until the child is either in school or has turned 20 and has not yet gone to college.  But if you never saved for college while you were married, why do you get forced to pay it once divorced?

This system wouldn’t be perfect.  Nothing is.  But the goal should always be to make our laws better and fairer.

The term “joint custody” is often misunderstood to mean a 50-50 split in parenting time. However, “custody” doesn’t mean physical custody when used in this way. Instead, it’s referring to your ability to make parenting decisions when it comes to your child. Joint custody means that you and the other parent have equal decision-making power and must work together to make choices about the major things in your child’s life, such as education and religion.

Joint custody is awarded in cases where the parents are able to maintain some sort of relationship with each other. In other words, they are on speaking terms and can work together and reach an agreement as issues come up. If the two parents can’t talk without fighting and can’t agree on anything, then a judge is not likely to award joint custody. It would not be in the child’s best interest. Joint custody can be awarded regardless of whether the parents were ever married.

As for physical custody, that can be agreed upon by the parents or ordered by the judge. Many parts of a custody case can be decided by the parents, if they agree and if they are acting in the child’s best interest. The best interest of the child is the judge’s focus in these cases, and the law requires him or her to make it the priority.

The parent who doesn’t have primary physical custody can end up with a range of visitation arrangements, depending on where each parent lives, schedules at school and work, preference of those involved, and again, the best interests of the child. Unless there is a form of abuse happening, the court will aim to create a situation in which the child can have a close relationship with each parent. So, you can end up with joint custody for decision making and visitation for spending time with your child.

The other piece of the puzzle is child support. Joint custody does not rule out child support. A common outcome is that both parents share decision-making ability (joint custody), one has physical custody and the other has a visitation schedule and may also pay child support to the parent who has physical custody. But as you can imagine, there are many different scenarios and ways this can play out.

Joint custody, while important, is not the whole picture. If you believe it’s in your child’s best interest to live with you and that you are entitled to child support, then go after these things. If the other parent disagrees, we suggest getting an experienced family law attorney to help you present your case to the judge. This is especially important if the other parent has an attorney fighting for what they want.
If you have questions about your work injury or need help dealing with the insurance company, contact us. You can call us at (312) 346-5320 or (800) 517-1614, or fill out our online form. It’s free and confidential.

Written by Michael Helfand

See also: Can I change my child’s visitation schedule between my ex and me?