Wage Garnishment: When an Ex Dodges Child Support Payments

 Posted on December 02, 2014 in Family Law

Child support is extremely important after the split of a couple. Generally, child support is either outlined within an agreed-upon divorce settlement decree between the couple, or it is ordered by the court based upon certain factors such as income and the extent of custodial responsibility between the parents.

Too often, however, some parents may evade their responsibilities to their children and voluntarily choose to not pay the required child support amount. In this situation, Illinois allows for wage garnishment, a process by which the parent’s wages are reduced by a certain amount until his or her dues are paid.

Income Withholding for Support Act

Illinois has set in place the Income Withholding for Support Act with the purpose of ensuring that child support and the needs of the child outlined by court orders and divorce decrees are honored. While skipping town may be one “sleuthy” way in which a parent may avoid the periodic payments, if the court can find where he or she works, then the court may take out the child support payments from his or her salary or bank account. This is known as wage garnishment.

In Illinois, to enforce a wage garnishment against the delinquent spouse, the obligee (or the spouse receiving child support) must prepare an income withholding notice to be presented to the employer of the obligor (the delinquent spouse).

The Income Withholding Notice to Employers

The income withholding notice must include all of the relevant information, including the dollar amount that the obligor is deficient. The dollar amount, however, may not be a more than a certain percentage of the obligor’s income (which is determined on a state-by-state level). The income withholding notice puts the employer on notice that he or she has a duty to withhold a certain amount of the obligor’s income until the arrearage has been paid off. The employer may be subject to a $100 per day penalty if the employer deliberately fails to comply with the wage garnishment. It is important, however, as seen in a recent Illinois Supreme Court case, that the income withholding notice has all of the required information or else the employer will not be required to comply.

In this recent Illinois Supreme Court case, it was determined that the income withholding notice provided to an employer was statutorily deficient because the obligee failed to include the deficient spouse’s Social Security number. Clearly, it is essential that all relevant material about the obligor has been supplied before the notice may take effect.

Illinois Family Law Attorneys to Force Child Support Payments

The Income Withholding for Support Act is just one of the means by which Illinois may enforce these important child support payments. There are a variety of other means by which a spouse may force the arrearage of his or her delinquent ex. An experienced Illinois family law attorney at the Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices can access your case and determine whether wage garnishment or another method could be used to gain pending child support. Contact us today for a free and confidential consultation.