Court Opinion

ID: 9524153
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:50:23.180546+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:08:53.353319
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE COOK, dissenting: I respectfully dissent and would reverse and remand the decision of the trial court. No reasonable person could take the position that $8,500 per month is an appropriate child-support award for a one-year-old child. I have no problem with the proposition that a child-support award is not limited to the child’s minimum needs, that a court may also consider the standard of living the child would have enjoyed if the marriage had not been dissolved. Bussey, 108 Ill. 2d at 297, 483 N.E.2d at 1234. Nor do I have any problem with the proposition that when one parent earns a disproportionately greater income than the other, that parent should bear a larger share of the support. In re Marriage of Garrett, 336 Ill. App. 3d 1018, 1023, 785 N.E.2d 172, 176 (2003). Nevertheless, a child-support award should not be a windfall to the custodial parent. Bush, 191 Ill. App. 3d at 261, 547 N.E.2d at 597; Singleteary, 293 Ill. App. 3d at 36, 687 N.E.2d at 1088. This award cannot be justified by any standard-of-living argument. The needs of a one-year-old child are simple. It matters little to a one-year-old whether he rides around in a Mercedes or in a Chevrolet. How can this award be justified? We are given two responses: (1) the father makes $4.5 million a year, and (2) this award is less than the 20% guidelines amount. The fact that the father can afford it does not justify a windfall to the custodial parent. In Bussey, a windfall to the custodial parent could perhaps have been justified as a maintenance award. Maintenance, however, cannot be awarded in this Parentage Act case. See Graham, 239 Ill. App. 3d at 645-46, 608 N.E.2d at 616 (noting that Bussey was a marriage dissolution case). As far as the guidelines are concerned, it is recognized that they do not work well in cases of very high or very low income. See Department of Public Aid ex rel. Nale v. Nale, 294 Ill. App. 3d 747, 754, 690 N.E.2d 1052, 1057 (1998) (utility of the statutory child-support guidelines decreases as the incomes of the parties increase); In re Marriage of Kern, 245 Ill. App. 3d 575, 579, 615 N.E.2d 402, 405 (1993); In re Marriage of Scafuri, 203 Ill. App. 3d 385, 392, 561 N.E.2d 402, 406 (1990). The limiting factor on child support in this case is not the income of the noncustodial parent, as it is in most cases. In this case the limiting factor is the reasonable needs of the child, taking into account the standard of living he would have enjoyed. The award in this case, apparently the largest child-support award ever mentioned in an Illinois published opinion, is far beyond the reasonable needs of the child and serves only to provide an improper windfall for the mother. The careers of professional athletes are notoriously uncertain. It may have been possible for the trial court to establish a “separate fund or trust for the support, maintenance, education, and general welfare of any minor, dependent, or incompetent child of the parties.” 750 ILCS 5/503(g) (West 2002). That has been done in other cases involving professional athletes. See Finley v. Scott, 23 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 51, 707 So. 2d 1112 (1998) (discussed in 1 Gitlin on Divorce § 10 — 3(i)(4) (3d ed. 2003)). In Finley, child support was set at $5,000 per month but the award was divided so that $2,000 per month would be paid to the mother and $3,000 would be paid into a trust for the child. That was not done in this case, however, and it is possible that the child support currently being paid will have been spent long before the child is emancipated.