When going through a divorce with a child involved, child support almost always comes up. If you and your former spouse can agree upon no child support, it is far easier, keeps the divorce cost down, and helps both of you make a clean break. However, this often only happens when the two of you are still amicable towards each other and make a similar amount of money. In all other cases, someone will need to pay child support. This is when you really need a Chicago family law attorney while going through your divorce in Chicago. It is possible to be roped into child support even if you make less money and have the children more often. An attorney can prevent this from happening.
Payments are typically made to the parent who has custody of the child. If you have split custody, child support is broken down into the frequency you spend with your child. If it goes week on, week off then the frequency is even and may mean you don’t have to pay any child support. If you have the child longer than your spouse, they will need to pay child support, even if you make more money.
A common question regarding child support is if a stepparent needs to pay child support. They do not. Stepparents do not need to pay child support, nor do grandparents (so if the individual paying child support dies, it does not move on to the next of kin but instead stops completely). If the two of you were never married, it does open for the chance of opting out of child support, especially if you can prove you are not the biological parent of the child. However, more often than not you will still be required to pay child support if you are found to be the parent even though you were never married.
Questions? The Law Offices of Michael P. Doman, Ltd can answer all your child support questions.