Raising a child comes with its challenges. While there are typical ups and downs with any child, parents in Illinois going through a divorce begin to understand the real costs associated with raising their child. Because child support is a family law issue often faced by divorcing parents, parents soon become fully aware of their financial capabilities and how much financial support their child actually needs each month.

How can you modify a current child support order? While some divorcing parents may encounter much conflict and time-consuming efforts to establish a final child support order, the truth of the matter is that these orders do not always prove to work over time. Much like life brings change, child support orders might require changes as well. Thus, parents should be prepared to seek a modification of a support agreement at some point.

When it is appropriate to request child support modification? In order to make a request for modification, a parent will be required to prove there has been a substantial change in circumstances. This could occur in various situations; however, there are four typical scenarios that give rise to a substantial change in circumstances. The first is a decrease in income. This commonly occurs when a parent loses their job, making it difficult to meet their child support obligations. The second is an increase in responsibilities for the minor child. In these situations, a custodial parent might seek additional child support to meet these increasing demands.

When there is an increase in familiar responsibilities, this could also give rise to seek child support modification. This occurs when a non-custodial parent has more children or re-marries, resulting in a request to decrease child support obligation so he or she can properly support their subsequent children. Finally, child support modification could be sought if one parent has received a large inheritance or experienced a substantial increase in their income. Depending on whether the recipient or payer parent has experienced this increase in cash flow, this could result in child support increasing or decreasing.

Although it is imperative to ensure that your child is receiving the financial support they need and are entitled to, it is also important for parents to understand their rights and options when it comes to child support. This not only protects the best interests of the children involved but also works to protect parental rights and obligations.

Source: Thespruce.com, “Requesting Child Support Modification in Court,” Debrina Washington, July 10, 2017