One of the most important questions in Family Law is how much child support the residential parent will receive, and divorce lawyers spend a great deal of time on this issue.

In Illinois family law courts set child support based on guidelines found in the Illinois statutes, and these guidelines compute the recommended child support from the net income of the non residential parent. Since Illinois family law provides guidelines on child support rather than absolute rules, a judge can order support which varies from the statutory amount. However, my experience as a divorce lawyer is that judges apply the guidelines in the great majority of cases, and will frequently overrule the parties, if the residential parent agrees to accept less than the statutory recommendation.

The guidelines under Illinois Divorce Law are as follows:

* With one child the statutory guideline is 20% of net income.

* With two children the statutory guideline is 28% of net income.

* With three children the statutory guideline is 32% of net income.

* With four children the statutory guideline is 40% of net income.

* With five children the statutory guideline is 45% of net income.

* With six or more children the statutory guideline is 50% of net income.

There can be disagreements over exactly how to compute a percentage of net income. However, once the court enters its support order this is no longer a problem, since the family law attorney will draw an order that states the child support obligation in a fixed dollar amount rather than as a percentage of net income. Until the children reach their majority the courts retain jurisdiction to adjust child support based on changes of circumstances, and the change of circumstances most often considered is an increase or decrease in the non-residential parent's income. The party wishing to change the child support must have his or her divorce attorney bring a motion in court, and the judge will not order the change to be effective at any date earlier than the motion is filed, regardless of how long the change of circumstances has existed.

Illinois Family Law also requires that the non-residential parent carry medical insurance on the children when such insurance is available through his or her work. In the frequent cases where the parties choose to put the children on the residential parent's insurance policy, because it offers better coverage, the court may increase the child support payment to reimburse the residential parent for this expense.

In most cases the parties will also equally split any medical expenses for the children not covered by insurance and any day care expenses necessary to allow the residential parent to work. Sometimes the provision to evenly divide expenses are expanded to cover such things as private school tuition or school activities.