The Trial Court entered a judgment of dissolution. It awarded permanent maintenance to the wife. The wife had spent several years raising their daughter rather than pursuing a career.
The Trial Court ordered the husband to pay half of the daughter’s private high school tuition. The husband argued that he should pay less than half because (1) the wife did not present sufficient evidence to demonstrate why the daughter could not have chosen a less expensive school. And (2) the husband presented evidence that a less expensive school would have been adequate to meet the daughter’s educational goals.
Both parties appealed but these were two of the husband’s issues.
The Appellate Court agreed with the Trial Court regarding permanent maintenance to the wife. The Appellate Court also agreed that each party was to pay half of the daughter’s private high school education.
Indefinite or permanent maintenance is appropriate in cases where the recipient spouse is not employable at an income level sufficient to enable her to live at the standard of living that was established during the marriage.
We also reiterate that an award of maintenance is always subject to modification upon a showing of a substantial change in circumstances.
The child’s needs are to be determined in reference to the standard of living the child would have enjoyed if her parents’ marriage had not been dissolved. Support of a minor child, unlike an adult child, is the joint obligation of both parents.
In re Marriage of Hamilton, 2019 IL App (5th) 170295 (June 5, 2019).
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