When you begin receiving your child support checks, you may be concerned about whether your ex-spouse can dictate how you spend the money, or if the family law court will monitor your spending. This may be especially worrisome if your ex was controlling during your marriage or if he or she is currently making comments about your child support spending. At the Law Offices of Johnson & Buh, we understand that this can be stressful. You and other Illinois can be reassured when you know your rights surrounding child support.
FindLaw states that custodial parents receiving child support have a wide range of freedom in how to spend it. As you know, child support is for the benefit of your children, but you know best how this money should be spent for their comfort and well-being. Therefore, you might use child support for your children’s physical needs, such as putting a roof over their head, keeping them warm in the winter and cool in the summer and for keeping them clothed. You can use child support to buy school supplies and for extracurricular activities, such as sports and music lessons. Child support can also be used to pay for doctors’ visits, medication and food. You can save the money for an emergency or to pay their college tuition.
You might, on the other hand, feel guilty if you use child support to buy your children Christmas presents or movie tickets or to take them out to dinner. However, these are also seen as acceptable expenses, since your children’s emotional needs are important as well. Our page on child support explains more about the roles of both custodial and non-custodial parents.
