Can I Still Collect Child Support If My Child’s Other Parent is in Jail?

 Posted on January 16, 2020 in Child Support

For many divorced and unmarried parents, money is tight. If you are a single parent, you probably have many financial obligations including housing costs, childcare expenses, school-related expenditures, and more. If you receive child support from your child’s other parent, you may depend upon these payments heavily. If something were to happen and you no longer received child support, you would be in serious trouble. These are the concerns that many parents have when they learn that their child’s other parent has been incarcerated.

Parents Are Still Expected to Pay Child Support Even While Incarcerated

If your child’s other parent has been arrested and charged with a crime, he or she may be spending time in jail or prison. However, this does not mean that he or she is automatically relieved of child support obligations. When a person is incarcerated, the court still expects him or her to continue paying child support. However, the incarcerated parent does have the option to petition the court for a temporary child support modification. The court may grant this modification if the parent can prove that he or she genuinely needs it. For example, if the incarcerated parent cannot participate in a work release program and has no income, the court may allow him or her to temporarily stop making child support payments. Once the parent is released from jail, he or she must pay the past due amount.

Other Sources of Income During Incarceration

When an incarcerated parent is not making money from traditional work, this does not mean that he or she has no means to pay child support. The court may require an incarcerated parent to pay child support through other means. Child support payments may be taken from:

• A checking, savings, or retirement account
• Disability benefits or retirement benefits
• Profits from selling property
• Investment revenue
• Income from a rental property
• Interest or dividend income from investments
• Other income, revenue, or resources

It can sometimes be difficult to get an incarcerated parent to fulfill his or her child support obligation. A qualified family law attorney can help.

Contact a DuPage County Child Support Lawyer

Pesce Law Group, P.C. knows just how important child support payments are to a parent who is trying to make ends meet. If your child’s other parent has been incarcerated and you are worried about receiving child support payments or you have other child support-related concerns, contact our office for help. Call us at 630-352-2240 today to schedule a free, confidential consultation to discuss your needs with an experienced Naperville family law attorney.

Sources:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/075000050K505.htm

https://www.verywellfamily.com/incarcerated-parents-and-child-support-2997981