Raising children in Illinois can be expensive. All of the children’s needs must be met by the parents. Paying for clothing, food, and shelter can be expensive enough, but there are many other costs that parents pay for their children as well. When the parents are living together, they often share the costs together, but when the parents are split, figuring out how to pay for the children can be more difficult.
In these cases, there is a child support order governing how the child’s financial needs will be met. Generally, the non-custodial parent will be required to pay a certain percentage of their net income based on the child support guidelines. However, just because a parent is ordered to pay child support does not mean they will actually pay it. Also, there are certain ways that a parent can hide how much they are actually earning.
One way is through a business owned by the parent. It is sometimes easy for a parent to keep money in a business account to make it seem like they are not earning as much as they are truly earning. In situations like this, the court may be able to look at the business’ assets and earnings to determine the parent’s income.
This can only be done in certain circumstances, though. These include such situations like when the parent and business maintain records together, when the parent and business fail to keep an arm’s length relationship in regards to assets, or if the parent transferred money to the business with the intent to hide it from the other parent.
Many parents in Illinois who pay child support also own a business. If the parent is using the business to hide how much they truly earn in order to pay a lower amount of child support, the court may be able to force them to provide business records to the other parent. Ultimately, the court wants to ensure the child’s needs are being met. Experienced attorneys understand this complicated area of the law and may be able to guide one through it.
Source: childsupportillinois.com, “750 ILCS 5/505(b)” accessed on Nov. 30, 2015