Changing Agreed Amount to Judicial Order

[No_Angel]

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Illinois

Hello,

My ex and I have an agreed order for our two 16 year old twins. They now spend Tuesday to the following Friday with me, mom, and spend every other Friday night - Tuesday afternoon with dad. For this he pays $500.00 per month. He does not pay child support during the months when the children are not in school (generally June/July). He has not missed this princely sum ever, nor ever been later than 1 day (6th of the month) in the 18 months we have been following this new schedule. One of the children wrote him a letter directly stated that said child was feeling suicidal at his home and preferred being home with mom. That prompted him to make this change without court intervention.

I'm finding that $500 for two teenagers is not nearly enough. I'm not looking for a windfall, but the guy is worth over $1,000,000. He could cough up a few hundred extra bucks a month. He has been unresponsive to written requests for an increase, because really, $500 doesn't pay for groceries for two teenagers, let alone keeping them in socks and underwear. Do i need to take him back to court pro-se or do I need to hire a lawyer (don't want to do that)?

Thanks in advance.

As an aside, if anyone cares, my last post was regarding my cancer diagnosis and working through it. I didn't work through it, but I did find another another job that was great while I wasn't on chemo. Chemo did a number on me and I didn't work during chemo, but got a great job afterwards. I worked until my cancer returned in summer of 2019, and once again cleared off. I've been off chemo since late January 2020.

And now Covid-19 strikes ...

[LegalWriter]

If he won't agree to a different amount, then you will need to go back to court. You can try to do it yourself or you can hire a lawyer. That's your prerogative. If he's got money chances are good, he will hire counsel. You can also ask the court for him to pay your attorney's fees which the can choose or decline to order. Consult counsel.

[No_Angel]

Thanks for the quick response.

[pg1067]

Do i need to take him back to court pro-se or do I need to hire a lawyer (don't want to do that)?

I don't really understand what you're asking. You're free to try and do it yourself, or you're free to hire a lawyer. No one here is in any position to know whether any "need" exists.

[llworking]

If he won't agree to a different amount, then you will need to go back to court. You can try to do it yourself or you can hire a lawyer. That's your prerogative. If he's got money chances are good, he will hire counsel. You can also ask the court for him to pay your attorney's fees which the can choose or decline to order. Consult counsel.

I am going to give you a slightly different answer. You could go through the child support enforcement agency for your state to increase child support and to enforce payment 12 months a year. It would probably be a good idea to do so. At least talk to them.

[No_Angel]

I am going to give you a slightly different answer. You could go through the child support enforcement agency for your state to increase child support and to enforce payment 12 months a year. It would probably be a good idea to do so. At least talk to them.

Thanks for the creative and less expensive advice. As you might imagine, trying to piece your life together after a major illness is expensive, and if avoiding attorney's fees is at all possible, it would make a huge difference. My ex's attorney likes to drag things out, continuance after continuance.