In re Marriage of Turk

Iris and Steven have two sons, Nathaniel, born in 1997, and Jacob, born in 1999. Iris filed a divorce petition. The court entered an agreed judgment dissolving the marriage, providing for unallocated maintenance and child support, joint custody, and that Steven would provide the medical insurance for the children and cover 50% of their out-of-pocket medical and dental costs. Steven and Iris frequently returned to court and in 2010 the court granted temporary physical custody to Steven, limited Iris to supervised visitation, and made a one-time reduction in the amount Steven was paying for child support. Steven filed a petition under 750 ILCS 5/510, asking that his obligation to pay child support to Iris be terminated. Steven was required to pay $700 per month “based upon the current parenting schedule.” Steven subsequently asked the court to order Iris to pay child support to him or to temporarily terminate the obligation on the grounds that the boys’ schedules eliminated any expenses Iris might have. The trial court entered an agreed order which specified that Steven was to have “the sole care, custody, control and education” of the boys. Iris was granted visitation with Nathan for dinner on Wednesdays. With Jacob, she had weekly visits from Monday to Wednesday mornings, plus alternating weekends. Steven earned $150,000 per year while Iris earned than $10,000 per year. The court ordered Steven to pay Iris child support of $600 per month and made him “solely responsible for all uncovered medical, dental, orthodontia, psychological and optical expenses for the children.” The appellate court rejected Steven’s contention that section 505 does not authorize orders to pay child support to noncustodial parents and held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering Steven to pay child support, but that the award $600 per month, was not justified by the record. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the authority of the circuit court to order Steven to pay child support and remanded for a hearing regarding the amount. The court reversed modification of the support order requiring Steven to pay the full amount of any of the children’s medical and dental expenses not covered by insurance.View "In re Marriage of Turk" on Justia Law