NOTE: A new Illinois law governing how child support is calculated went into effect in July 2017. Please visit our child support page for details

The average financial cost of raising a child until the age of 18 was estimated at around $240,000 last year, excluding the cost of a college education. While the joy a child can bring cannot be measured in financial terms, this amount of money can be unmanageable for most parents without some form of assistance. For single parents, the financial assistance from the other parent, primarily in the form of compelled child support, can be invaluable and help them stay afloat.

Enforcing child support is often difficult, even when the person paying support resides in the same state as the child. Enforcing child support becomes increasingly more difficult, however, when the parties reside in different states. Not only is it often difficult to find the person who is supposed to pay, but the process of enforcing the support order is also no easy feat in itself and requires the assistance of a skilled attorney to ensure that the order is issued to the proper court.

Historically, when a non-custodial parent moved out of state, the custodial parent had very limited means by which they could recover or maintain the child support payments. In 1920, the United States Supreme Court even determined that support orders were not enforceable under the United States Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause. At that time, to enforce an existing custody order, the custodial parent had to establish a new custody order in the new state, requiring him or her to travel to that state and initiate proceedings there. This was a time-consuming, costly, and inefficient endeavor.

Remarrying after a divorce can be a challenging endeavor; this is even more so when you also have children from that previous marriage. Readjusting to a new life and lifestyle after a divorce is difficult for both parents and children. Adjusting to the idea of a parent remarrying, however, can be particularly difficult and traumatic for children.

According to the American Psychological Association(APA), children can begin to feel competitive or even abandoned as their parent begins to spend more time with a new spouse. Teenagers may feel uncomfortable witnessing romantic gestures or expressions of physical attraction between their parent and a new stepparent. Therefore, parents have to be careful to balance the relationship with their children and the relationship with their new spouse.

Additionally, stepparents face the numerous challenges presented by caring for children that are not their own. This is particularly so with younger adolescents (ages 10-14), as this age group tends to have a more difficult time adjusting to a stepparent than children in other age groups. The APA suggests that stepparents attempt to bond with their spouse's children in a friendly manner (akin to a camp counselor or mentor) before attempting to become a disciplinarian with them.

Regardless of when you file for divorce, your tax status—whether you can file jointly with your spouse or must file individually—depends on your marital status as of the last day of the year (December 31). For example, if you have filed for divorce but are still legally married on December 31, you can file a joint return with your spouse for that year; if, however, you have officially divorced as of December 31, you can no longer file jointly for that year. Wherever you are in the separation process, there are a few things to keep in mind to relative to filing your taxes.

Filing Jointly

Filing returns jointly usually provides a benefit to spouses, as it usually leads to a lower tax liability. For this reason, spouses often file jointly (even if they are going through the divorce process). However, according to the Internal Revenue Service, both spouses are jointly and individually responsible for taxes, penalties, and interest due on any joint tax return filed for a year that ended before your divorce. This rule applies even if a divorce agreement states that a former spouse is responsible for these amounts (in other words, the IRS is not bound by an agreement entered in a family court). However, a spouse may be able to file for relief from IRS liability. There are three types of relief: