Parents have a legal duty to support their children under Illinois law. Child support is money a parent pays to the other parent to help with the costs of raising a child. It is the responsibility of the parent who does not have custody or is not living with the child to pay child support. Illinois statutes provide that the non-custodial parent pay a certain percentage of his or her net income for child support.

Under 750 ILCS 5/505 the court shall determine the minimum amount of support by using the following guidelines:

Number of Children		Percent of Supporting Party's Net Income
1		20 percent
2		28 percent
3		32 percent
4		40 percent
5		45 percent
6 or more		50 percent

The court applies the above guidelines unless the court makes a finding that the application of the guidelines would be inappropriate, after considering the best interest of the child in light of a number of factors such as financial resources and needs of the child, financial needs of the custodial parent, standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not been dissolved, financial resources of the non-custodial parent and other factors.

Paul Marcotte can provide information regarding the legal and financial issues involved in a divorce and answer your questions. He represents clients in Chicago, suburban Cook, DuPage, and Will Counties.

Contact us for more information on child support.