Changes to Illinois child support laws for 2017

Effective 7-1-17, a new child support law will become effective. Under the "income shares" model, the divorce court is instructed to refer to economic tables that will be put forth by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to determine how much money would be allocated for the care of the child if a similarly situated couple were living together based on the combined income of the couple, the cost of living, and the number of children.  Each parent is responsible for their prorata share of this amount based on their relative incomes (or potential incomes if the parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed).  Depending on the relative incomes of the parents this may cause some parents to pay more and some to pay less in child support than under the previous law.