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Showing posts from August, 2012

Changes to Child Support Statute in 2013 on Child Related Expenses

A recurring issue in family law has been the issue of what child support covers. Do regular percentage child support payments cover all the costs of raising children or are there some expenses that a non-custodial parent should pay outside of the child support. In Will County, divorce judges have routinely ordered non-custodial parents to contribute toward a child’s unreimbursed medical expenses, day care costs, school fees and extracurricular expenses IN ADDITION to regular child support. This has sometimes been hard to explain to clients paying support because the child support statute never addressed the issue directly to say whether these additional expenses were part of what child support covered. However, a change effective January 1, 2013 is meant to clarify the issue. The statute now gives the court the specific authority to award theses additional expenses (or a contribution to them) in addition to regular child support. The new law states: 750 ILCS 5/503 (2.5) T

Know your COBRA Rights to keep health insurance coverage after a divorce

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) mandates that most group health plans must provide a temporary continuation of coverage that otherwise might be terminated upon divorce or other event. COBRA requires continuation coverage to be offered to covered employees, their spouses, their former spouses, and their dependent children when group health coverage would otherwise be lost due to certain events including: ·         the death of the covered employee, ·         termination or reduction in the hours of a covered employee’s (unless fired for gross misconduct) ·         divorce or legal separation from a covered employee, ·         a covered employee’s becoming entitled to Medicare, and ·         a child’s loss of dependent status (and therefore coverage) under the plan. Employers may require individuals who elect continuation coverage to pay the full cost of the coverage, plus a 2 percent administrative charge. The required payment for conti