Visitation-Support Tradeoff

Blisset v. Blisset, 123 Ill.2d 161, 526 N.E.2d 125, 121 Ill.Dec. 931 (1988), is dispositive of the issue that tradeoffs of visitation rights for support rights will not be allowed or enforced. Blisset struck down a private agreement waiving child support in return for a relinquishment of visitation rights as void, unenforceable, and against public policy.

Appellate courts made similar rulings even before Blisset was decided. For example, Huckaby v. Huckaby, 75 Ill.App.3d 195, 393 N.E.2d 1256, 30 Ill.Dec. 909 (5th Dist. 1979), noting that the public policy of Illinois imposes a duty on parents to support their minor children, would not enforce a settlement agreement that contained a provision suspending support payments in the event the mother failed to allow visitation as a sort of private enforcement mechanism. The court found that agreement void, noting that the parents could neither transcend nor suspend the legally imposed obligation to support the minor children.

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