On behalf of Stange Law Firm, PC posted in Child Support on Monday, June 17, 2013.
When two parents split up — whether they were married or not — the Illinois courts will use statutory guidelines to determine how much the non-custodial parent should be paying in child support. A number of factors, such as the net income of the non-custodial parent, are included in the child support formula in order to determine how much monthly payments should be.
In looking at those factors, one father is currently in court asking for certain company-paid employent benefits to not be included in the child support payment calculation.
Originally, he was ordered to pay $2,198 a month in child support. The father is the president at a college. The college was founded by his mother. In addition to being the college’s president, he also sat on the board.
However, in 2010 he asked for a reduction in how much he pays in child support. His claim was that due to a decrease in enrollment, his salary was cut in half from around $143,000 a year to $75,000 a year.
Where it has gotten tricky though is with his company-paid employment benefits, which include a car, insurance, a cellphone and tickets to football games. In total, he receives $16,756 worth of employment perks. This is in addition to the $75,000 a year and was therefore included in his overall income for child support calculation purposes.
Subsequently, his child support reduction request was denied.
Now, claiming his company-paid perks should not be included, the father wants the state’s Supreme Court to overturn the decision of two lower courts and take these employment benefits out of the equation.
At this point it is anyone’s guess what will happen, as it has been argued that due to the father’s position at the college, he does play a role in deciding salary and benefits to employees, of which he also benefits.
A decision is not expected to be made by the state’s Supreme Court until later on this year.
Source: The Columbus Dispatch, “Dad wants perks excluded from child-support formula,” Catherine Candisky, June 11, 2013
