If you want to be involved in your child’s life despite not having visitation rights, please read on, then contact an experienced Tazewell County child custody lawyer to learn if you must pay child support if you do not have visitation rights in Illinois.
Does the state of Illinois require you to pay child support even if you do not have visitation rights?
Yes. If Illinois’s Family Court orders you to pay child support, you must pay, even if you do not have visitation rights. You see, the noncustodial parent’s visitation rights, or lack thereof, are irrelevant in the Court’s calculation of child support. The only way to get out of paying child support is for a parent to surrender his or her parental rights. However, you should know that doing that also means that you no longer have any say in what the child does and you can’t request visitation rights. If you want to be involved in your child’s life at any point in the future, we would advise you against that course of action.
How is Illinois child support calculated when you have no visitation rights?
As previously stated, the Family Court does not factor in your specific custody or visitation arrangement when calculating child support payments. Instead, the Family Court considers the following factors:
- The net income for each parent is determined by using the child support calculator
- The adjusted net incomes are combined to calculate the total income available for support
- Each parent’s percentage of net monthly income is calculated by dividing their individual net monthly income by the combined total net income
- Using the Income Shares Schedule, the basic child support obligation is determined by matching where the combined adjusted net income and the number of children intersect on the chart
- The basic child support obligation amount is then multiplied by each parent’s respective percentage share to establish their support responsibility
- Other costs such as health insurance, child care, extracurricular are factored in to adjust the obligation
- The resulting obligation for the paying parent is the recommended amount of child support
Assuming you do not wish to relinquish your parental rights, you have only two options: Accept that you must pay child support, or ask for a modification. In the latter case, you should reach out to a skilled Tazewell County family law attorney to discuss your next steps.
How can a Tazewell County family law attorney help you?
First and foremost, a qualified legal professional from our Tazewell County firm will help you request a modification to your child support payment. He or she will help document and present evidence that you have undergone a substantial, permanent and involuntary change in circumstances that were not considered during the original determination of child support. Our firm will help give you the best possible chance of success, so please give us a call today.
Contact Our Experienced Illinois Firm
At Butler, Giraudo & Meister, P.C., our divorce lawyer will help you navigate the divorce or family law matter you are facing. We provide effective and compassionate legal counsel for the following legal matters: divorce, alimony, division of marital assets, child custody, and child support. Contact us today.
