Child support is often established if two individuals who share a child end their relationship before getting married or get a divorce. Child support is a recurring financial payment from one parent to the other designed to benefit the child. It could be made from a higher-earning spouse or the one who maintains a lesser share of the allocation of parental responsibilities (child custody).

While many child support arrangements are set up without substantial difficulty, they are sometimes among the most contentious elements of divorce and family law cases.

When a divorce occurs, one spouse often provides child support to their ex-spouse until their children become emancipated. Usually, this happens when the children turn 18. But what if the children become emancipated before they come of age? When is a minor considered emancipated, and how does this impact child support? The subject of minor emancipation and child support has a long and complicated history in Illinois state law. The topic of de facto emancipation has been hotly contested in Illinois state law, but thankfully, several court rulings have provided clarity on determining when a child, whether they are a minor or not, has been emancipated and its relationship to child support.

The 1980 Emancipation Act

The court rulings on child emancipation in Illinois go back over the last century. There were many different rulings which brought confusion and inconsistency to how the law was enforced. In an attempt to bring clarity to the debate, Illinois passed the Emancipation of Minors Act (750 ILCS 30/1 et seq.), and under this law, there are two types of emancipation:

When spouses divorce, they will both often struggle to support themselves financially as they adjust to living in on a single income rather than two combined incomes. In some cases, a person may be able to receive financial support from their former partner. This support may include either child support meant to provide for children’s needs or spousal maintenance (formerly known as alimony in Illinois) meant to help a spouse maintain a similar standard of living to what they were accustomed to while married. In some cases, unallocated support may be beneficial for both parties, but divorcing spouses should be aware of how recent changes to the law affect this type of support.

What Is Unallocated Support?

Under current laws, spousal support payments may be deducted from the payor’s taxable income, and they must be reported as taxable income by the recipient. Child support is taxed in an opposite manner: it is not tax-deductible for the parent paying support, nor is it taxable for the parent receiving support.

In 2017, a new Illinois child support law went into effect.

For Illinois child support payers, it is important to understand how three factors are the basis of determining child support payments: 1) the net income of both parents, 2) the number of children receiving child support, and 3) the amount of parenting time each parent enjoys with their children.  

The New Illinois Child Support Law is Effective as of July 1, 2017 

Child support in Illinois is governed by the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, and an update to this law went into effect July 2017. Before this change, Illinois used a somewhat antiquated method of calculating the amount of child support payments—only the paying parent’s income and the number of children being supported were considered.

Since this model no longer reflected the actual costs of raising children, the state moved to an income-sharing model that bases child support on both parents’ incomes.

Understanding the New “Income Shares” Method