In most cases, child support payments are taken directly out of the paying parent's paycheck.

The process starts when a Notice to Withhold Income for Support is sent to the paying parent's employer. The employer must follow the Notice by taking the child support out of the paycheck and sending the child support to the State Disbursement Unit (SDU). The SDU then records the child support payment and sends the payment to the other parent.

The parent paying child support must make sure that their employer is taking the right amount from their paycheck for their child support payment. If the employer does not take out the child support from the paycheck and send it to the SDU, the paying parent must send it themselves.

Employers may be fined up to $100 per day if they do not withhold child support.

Percentage payment

In some situations, the parent asking for child support can ask the judge to order that the paying parent pays a percentage of their net income for child support instead of paying a specific dollar amount. In this situation, the parent asking for child support should try to confirm that the paying parent paid the correct amount.

For example, if the paying parent is a construction contractor, and says that they received $20,000 for a job, they should provide payment checks for this job. They could also provide bank statements for the account they put the money into.

Another option is to wait until the end of the year and ask to see the paying parent's income tax documents to make sure that their stated net income is in line with the amount of child support they paid that year.

Sending payments to SDU

No matter what kind of agreement the parents have, it is best that all payments are sent to the State Disbursement Unit (SDU) because the SDU keeps a record of all payments. This can help prevent arguments in the future.

The Illinois SDU's mailing address is:

State Disbursement Unit
P.O. Box 5400
Carol Stream, IL 60197-5400