Wage Garnishment and Child Support

 Posted on April 01, 2018 in Child Support

Children are the top priority in every divorce case. For this reason, Illinois divorce law offers various options to help parents receive the child support payments they need to provide for their children and allow them to live the high quality of life they deserve.

Although some parents trust their ex-spouse to make direct child support payments, others do not and rely on wage garnishment to collect their payments.

Wage Garnishment Defined

Wage garnishment occurs when a court issues an order requiring an employer to withhold a certain amount of money from the paycheck of an employee who owes child support. This withheld money is sent directly to the parent who is entitled to the child support payments. Wage garnishment is often used by spouses to collect outstanding child support payments.

You should note that the court is responsible for handling child support cases that are 30 days overdue. Therefore, you may go to court if the child support payments you are owed are 30 days past the date they were due. The court will then force your ex-spouse to make the payments or impose penalties.

How Employers Handle Wage Garnishment

If you would like to collect child support payments through wage garnishment, an experienced divorce attorney should fill out a form at the time of your divorce. The form will allow your ex-spouse’s employer to handle the wage garnishment. By collecting child support via wage garnishment, you will not have to worry about not receiving a payment if you are the spouse who is receiving child support.

Child Support is a Priority Over Other Debts Collected Via Wage Garnishment

Under Illinois law, child support is the most important debt someone may owe. If your ex-spouse has other debts, a child support garnishment will typically withhold 20 percent from their paycheck if you have one child and higher percentages if you have multiple children.

This is over the 15 percent that is allowed for other debts. In the event your ex-spouse’s wages are garnished to pay a credit card debt and child support, the child support would be withheld instead of the credit card debt.

Contact Our Naperville, IL Divorce Attorneys

If you are worried about not receiving the child support payments you need to support your children, you should reach out to our experienced Naperville, IL divorce lawyers. We can educate you further on how wage garnishment can alleviate your concerns and ensure you receive child support payments in a timely fashion. Call us at 630-953-3000 today for a no-obligation consultation.

Source:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2093&ChapterID=59