Are Extracurricular Activities Automatically Included In Child Support?

Most parents say raising children means giving them food and a place to live. Sports, clubs, and lessons are a key part of your life. If you and your spouse divorce, consider child support and how extracurricular activities will be paid for. If you have questions about Illinois child support, talk to our Chicago child support lawyers for assistance.

What Does Child Support In Illinois Cover?

When a couple divorces in Illinois, one parent is usually given primary custody of the children. The other parent is required to pay child support in most cases. Child support is intended to cover the reasonable costs of raising a child, including:

  • Food
  • Housing
  • Clothing

The family court calculates the income of both parents to determine how much child support should be paid. But extracurricular activities are an extra cost that the Court will determine separately; it is not included in the regular child support.

It is possible to successfully argue that music programs, language lessons, sports, and other activities are important enough for the child to warrant each parent contributing to these expenses, up and above child support. However, you may need the help of a Chicago child support lawyer to make this argument successfully.

Non-essential extras, such as a tuxedo, or a prom dress are often not seen as expenses that should be included in child support. Instead, these are considered extras that the parents will need to address themselves.

Other extra expenses that probably will not be included in child support are tuition for private school, jewelry, plastic surgery, and expensive designer clothing. Costs of field trips to Shedd Aquarium, Millennium Park, and Lincoln Park Zoo also might be included in child support, but talk to your attorney about them.

What About Summer Camp?

If a summer camp is an extracurricular activity, it’s a necessary childcare expense. If the camp replaces daycare, this is an expense that will need to be shared. As a result, some parents need to split summer camp costs.

Many non-custodial parents feel that they are being taken advantage of with the costs of extracurricular activities. Talk to an attorney today if you think you should not have to pay for an extra activity in your child support payment.

Talk To Our Chicago Child Support Lawyers Today

Child custody and child support are usually one of the most contentious divorce issues. Who will have primary custody, and how much will child support cost you? What about afterschool activities, and who pays for them?

If you have issues with child support and extracurricular activity costs, our Chicago child support lawyers are here to help. Our attorneys work on child support cases in Evanston, Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Mount Prospect, Elk Grove Village, Glenview, Niles, Prospect Heights, Northbrook, Wheeling, Winnetka, Arlington Heights, Riverside, Rosemont, Glencoe, Morton Grove, Rolling Meadows, and Wilmette. Please contact Gordon & Perlut, LLC at (312) 360-0250 to help with child support issues.