The idea of one spouse paying the other spouse child support and/or maintenance upon divorce is a familiar topic for most people. These payments provide needed income for the spouse with a lower income, as well as the spouse who has custody of the children. However, under an alternate form of payment—unallocated support—both the paying spouse and receiving spouse can benefit.

What is Unallocated Support?

Through unallocated support, an individual pays an amount to a former spouse which represents the payment that would have to be made for maintenance and child support. However, the payment does not specifically allocate between what is child support and what is maintenance (hence, the name unallocated support). This difference can have important tax implications in certain circumstances.

Upon divorce in Illinois, it is possible that one spouse may be awarded, and the other spouse ordered to pay, maintenance. Maintenance is support for one spouse from the resources of the other spouse. The issue of whether, and in what amount, maintenance may be awarded is often a critical issue for divorcing couples.

The most significant form of maintenance is permanent or indefinite maintenance, which is awarded when it is unlikely that a spouse will ever be able to find and secure sufficient employment from which to support themselves. A spouse may not be able to secure employment because he or she suffers from a serious illness. Or, he or she may have forgone employment or education in order to care for the home, particularly if children are involved.