Divorced and unmarried parents of minor children in Illinois often rely on their child’s other parent to make timely child support payments. When the parent responsible for making payments falls behind on his or her payments or stops paying altogether, it can leave the receiving parent in a terrible bind. Parents who are desperate to get child support payments back may understandably want to escalate matters but may be reluctant to get a Court involved because they fear the expense and hassle that could ensue.
Unfortunately, parents who stop following the parenting time schedule described in their Court-ordered parenting plan because of unpaid child support can face legal consequences, just as a parent who stops paying child support can. Instead, it is better to follow the law and allow a Court, with the help of an experienced attorney, to take action against someone whose child support payments are in arrears.
Recovering Unpaid Child Support
Child support and parenting time are both contained within the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, but they are two separate statutes that are mostly decided independently of each other. While it is true that child support payments may be increased or decreased depending on the amount of time the paying parent spends with a child in shared parenting time scenarios, stopping one does not justify stopping the other.
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