A change to the way payment plans are structured for child support may soon become law. The advisory committee to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services is now behind a plan to completely overhaul the state's child support formula. This could bring Illinois out of the dozen states that haven't adapted an income shares system.

The similar plans that 38 states have already adopted work differently. Instead of basing the child support payments on a flat percentage by basing child support on how much the parent earns. The payment would switch from a flat percentage of parents' net income depending on how many children are being supported to a system where if one parent earns more, they pay more.

The system would also take into account whether the child spends significant amounts of time with the non-custodial parent. Even though there are over 740,000 children currently receiving support using the old child support model, many of them won't be affected, but some could.

To prevent the system from being weighed down by old cases, the changes would likely only effect new cases. According to one representative who is on the committee, the change could come as soon as this spring as long as the law is changed.

This change might help change the Illinois child support formula from a one-size-fits-all system to a more custom fit child support plan, preventing some parents from being financially drained while the other parent takes home excess income that might not go to the child's wellbeing.

Source: Chicago Tribune, "A better system for child support," Jan. 16, 2012