Best Chicago Child Support Lawyer

Best Chicago Child Support Lawyer

If you’re facing a divorce, you are dealing with wide-ranging concerns, but those that take precedence over all others are the ones that involve your children. Child support is one such issue. Child support is an important financial tool, which helps to ensure that the cost of continuing to support your children through childhood is balanced between you and your ex, and it can play a pivotal role in you and your children’s future. If you have questions or concerns related to child support, don’t delay finding the best Chicago child support lawyer for you.

How Is Child Support Determined?

Child support is determined according to state guidelines that make the calculation process fairly straightforward. Child support is predicated on an income shared calculation approach, which is no longer based solely on a specific percentage of the payor’s net income. The new approach attempts to balance both parents’ incomes with their shared responsibility to support their children financially. 

This income shared calculation involves the following:

• Determining each parent’s net income (gross income minus specific mandatory deductions)
• Adding both net incomes together to obtain a combined net income (and determining each parent’s percentage of the whole)
• Processing this combined amount through the income shares calculation chart to obtain the basic child support obligation.
• The amount of parenting time awarded to each party.

The parent paying child support will be required to pay his or her calculated percentage of the total obligation to the other parent (whose child support obligation is presumed to be covered by him or her providing the children with their primary residence).

Mitigating Factors

While the income shared approach is intended to balance the financial playing field, the court can take any factors it considers pertinent into consideration when determining child support in your case, including all of the following:

• The specific needs of your children (a special needs child is likely to require greater financial support)
• The financial resources and needs of the parent receiving child support
• The financial resources and needs of the parent paying child support
• The standard of living the children would have enjoyed had the marriage not ended in divorce
• The physical and emotional health of the children and their individual education needs

When a court does choose to deviate from the calculation guidelines, it must state what would have been owed under the guidelines and its reasons for deviating from them. 

Find the Best Chicago Child Support Lawyer for You

The experienced Chicago child support lawyers at WARD FAMILY LAW have the resources, compassion, and focus to skillfully advocate for the child support you and your children need. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.