The parties were back in court after the divorce. The Trial Court calculated that in February, 2016 father’s child support arrearage was $5,701. This was for the years 2009 through 2014. The Court, in 2018, calculated mandatory statutory interest on the arrearage. It started the interest accrual from February, 2016.
The law provides that: “A support obligation, or any portion of a support obligation, which becomes due and remains unpaid as of the end of each month, including the child support that was due for the month to the extent that it was not paid in that month, shall accrue simple interest as set forth in Section 12-109 of the Code of Civil Procedure.” 750 ILCS 5/505(b) (West 2018).
Section 12-109(b) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) states: “Every judgment arising by operation of law from a child support order shall bear interest as provided in this subsection. The interest on judgments arising by operation of law from child support orders shall be calculated by applying one twelfth of the current statutory interest rate as provided in Section 2-1303 to the unpaid child support balance as of the end of each calendar month.” 735 ILCS 5/12-109(b) (West 2018).
Section 2-1303 of the Code states that “[j]udgments recovered in any court shall draw interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the judgment until satisfied.” 735 ILCS 5/2-1303 (West 2018). Wife appealed.
The Appellate Court stated that the Trial Court made an error. The Trial Court erred in failing to assess mandatory interest on father’s arrearage beginning 30 days from the first missed payment.
Tthe Trial Court’s determination of the amount of father’s total arrearage was not an abuse of discretion.
In re Marriage of Westlund, 2020 IL App (1st) 190837 (March 31, 2020) Cook Co., 4th Div.
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