INTRODUCTION

Child support is still one of the most frequently discussed topics in family law circles and the media. The reason is obvious: an ongoing realization that the mechanisms that exist for setting and collecting support are not functioning well enough to protect America’s children.

Numerous studies have been done to document the long-term consequences of the financial disruption inherent in divorce. The concern focuses on the societal and even generational impact of divorce, and state legislatures have tried to fashion legislation to protect the children from impoverishment with ever-increasing federal involvement. In early 2003, for example, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in United States v. Klinzing, 315 F.3d 803 (7th Cir. 2003), upheld as constitutional the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998 (DPPA), 18 nonpayment of past due child support owed to children who live in a different state than their non-custodial parent. It was passed in recognition of the cumbersome and slow process inherent in the already existing Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA) and in an effort to further assist states in their child support recovery efforts beyond their borders.

In Illinois, the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA), 750 ILCS 5/101, et seq., speaks directly to the importance of protecting children and specifically enunciates in §102 its underlying purposes to:

(2) strengthen and preserve the integrity of marriage and safeguard family relationships;

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(4) mitigate the potential harm to the spouses and their children caused by the process of legal dissolution of marriage;

(5) make reasonable provision for spouses and minor children during and after litigation, including provision for timely awards of interim fees to achieve substantial parity in parties’ access to funds for litigation costs;

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(7) Secure the maximum involvement and cooperation of both parents regarding the physical, mental, moral and emotional well-being of the children during and after the litigation.

Yet, there is a consensus among parents and practitioners that the well-intentioned legislative protections are necessarily aimed at common denominators and may not serve individual needs very well, not for custodial parents who need more child support, not for non-custodial parents who are not in a position to pay the “normal” percentages, and, most importantly, not for the children.

This dissatisfaction with the state of the law on child support is reflected in its constant evolution. The warning here for the practitioner is that while this chapter is based on current statutory and case law, today’s law may not be tomorrow’s, and changes-both in direction and magnitude-are not always predictable, being subject to both political and social pressures.

Most recently, and as of July 2003, the guideline percentage for two children was raised to 29 percent from 25 percent. This was the result of advocates who work with the legislature to try to identify and create more efficient procedures and effective guidelines. Although IMDMA §505 contains minimum guidelines for the setting of child support currently based solely on the net income of the non-custodial parent, other states use gross income or adjusted gross income figures as the base, and still others have income-share models. These and other alternatives continue to be debated and considered in Illinois.

Child support law continues in its evolution and its sophistication. We as practitioners struggle with this generation’s support challenges, including multiple families, migratory spouses, international mobility, and life partners. We also have more sophisticated methodologies at our disposal, including Internet resources, a gradual federalization of child support procedures, and developing Illinois case law grappling with these challenges and others, including the components of net income, when deviation is appropriate and imputed income. Along with custody, the financial protection of our state’s children remains one of our most important undertakings as family law attorneys.

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