Modify retro support and current?

[Parent2KL]

Cook County Illinois
In May of this year, I went from salary 1333.00 bi weekly to 15.38 an hour. I don't work a regular 40 hour week so some of these checks were somewhat lower than the 1333.00 and others were drastically lower. Now, my company has changed owners and they require more education then I have. Basically as of November 24th, I will be unemployed. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should figure out how much I have overpayed in the last 6 months or how I should ask for a bare minimum until I find employment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[sandyclaus]

Cook County Illinois
In May of this year, I went from salary 1333.00 bi weekly to 15.38 an hour. I don't work a regular 40 hour week so some of these checks were somewhat lower than the 1333.00 and others were drastically lower. Now, my company has changed owners and they require more education then I have. Basically as of November 24th, I will be unemployed. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should figure out how much I have overpayed in the last 6 months or how I should ask for a bare minimum until I find employment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

You paid exactly what you were ordered to pay given the information that the court used to prepare the original order. You don't get credit for overpaying now that your income has changed.

You can certainly file for a downward modification NOW due to a change in circumstances (lower income, and soon to be unemployment). Any changes the court may grant will NOT be retroactive, but instead will apply going forward (from the date that you file the request to modify).

Understand that any modification will take into consideration not only what you are CURRENTLY making, but what you are capable of earning. Since you had earned as much as $1333 weekly, your order may not permanently change. The time to seek a downward modification would have been when your income was reduced to the $15.38/hour. Most likely, if you get a modified support order, it will be based upon THAT figure as your last earned wage, and NOT lowered to the "bare minimum" as you would have it. Think of it as motivation to get that new job as quickly as you can, so that you have money to support your kids AND cover your current living expenses. If you remain unemployed for an extended period of time, you can always go back and ask for a suspension in your payments or another downward modification.

 

[TheGeekess]

Cook County Illinois
In May of this year, I went from salary 1333.00 bi weekly to 15.38 an hour. I don't work a regular 40 hour week so some of these checks were somewhat lower than the 1333.00 and others were drastically lower. Now, my company has changed owners and they require more education then I have. Basically as of November 24th, I will be unemployed. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should figure out how much I have overpayed in the last 6 months or how I should ask for a bare minimum until I find employment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

http://www.childsupportillinois.com/customers/ncpservices.html

 

[CJane]

So, you went from a salaried position of $35,000.00/year (or so, you don't say if the 1333 biweekly was net or gross) to a $15.38/hour wage?

That's only a difference of about $2500.00/year. Probably not enough to make a significant difference in the amount of child support you're expected to pay.

 

[TheGeekess]

So, you went from a salaried position of $35,000.00/year (or so, you don't say if the 1333 biweekly was net or gross) to a $15.38/hour wage?

That's only a difference of about $2500.00/year. Probably not enough to make a significant difference in the amount of child support you're expected to pay.

IL has a flat rate. IIRC, it's 20% for one child.

 

[CJane]

IL has a flat rate. IIRC, it's 20% for one child.

That's correct. However, Illinois only allows for a modification if three years have passed since the last order was implemented, or there is a *significant change in income. Since we don't know what the actual change in income is due to the way OP presented the information, we can't know if the change is significant.

And, many states have a rule that EVEN IF there is a significant change in income, unless it would result in a 20% change in the amount of the order, it won't be modified anyway.

If OP was paying about $583/month (20% of $35K) and is now obligated to pay $550/month because his full time wages would total $33K/year, his obligation has only changed by 16% or so. Not terribly significant.

Unless my math is way off.