Crank v. Crank

871 N.E.2d 962, 374 Ill. App. 3d 1115, 313 Ill. Dec. 235, 2007 Ill. App. LEXIS 763
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 12, 2007
Docket3-06-0907
StatusPublished

This text of 871 N.E.2d 962 (Crank v. Crank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crank v. Crank, 871 N.E.2d 962, 374 Ill. App. 3d 1115, 313 Ill. Dec. 235, 2007 Ill. App. LEXIS 763 (Ill. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

JUSTICE CARTER

delivered the opinion of the court:

Gary M. Crank and Carita Crank filed for dissolution of their marriage in 1991. Following the agreed termination of the maintenance and! child support orders, Gary asked the circuit court to calculate the arrearage he owed. The court calculated the arrearage and ordered Gary to make periodic payments of $300 a week. Gary filed a motion to reconsider with the court. The circuit court denied Gary’s motion and he now appeals that ruling. We affirm the circuit court’s ruling.

FACTS

Gary and Carita Crank were married in Missouri in 1969. Throughout their 22-year marriage they had four children, the last two being born in 1976 and 1987. In 1991, Gary and Carita filed a petition for the dissolution of their marriage. The circuit court of Hancock County entered a judgment dissolving the marriage on August 1, 1991, and awarded custody of the couple’s two minor children to Carita. In addition, the circuit court ordered Gary to pay child support in the amount of $272.77 per week along with spousal maintenance in the amount of $281.08 per week, with the weekly amount of maintenance to be reduced to $269.45 after 43 weeks, and then reduced again to $252.71 after 78 weeks. The maintenance was set at this level because Gary was gainfully employed as a chiropractor in Massachusetts, whereas Carita was going back to school to obtain a degree in criminal justice.

Over the ensuing years Gary’s child support obligation was modified twice. In 1993 it was changed to $75 a week and in 2000 it was changed to $96 a week plus 20% of his bonuses. In 2006 the parties agreed that Gary’s child support and maintenance obligations were terminated as of July 2005 and that Gary owed an arrearage. On August 9, 2006, a hearing on the motion to determine child support was held. There is no record or bystander’s report as to what was said at the hearing. The circuit court issued a “Uniform Order for Support” finding that Gaiy owed a total arrearage of $220,209.55, consisting of $170,760.44 in unpaid child support and $49,449.11 in interest. Further, the circuit court ordered periodic weekly payment of $300 to satisfy the arrearage.

Gary filed a motion to reconsider and a hearing was held on the motion on November 1, 2006. In his motion to reconsider, Gary argued that the circuit court incorrectly identified the entire arrearage as consisting of child support and also that the court was in error for setting his weekly payment at $300. Gary argued that $300 consisted of 60% of his weekly income, far higher than the 15% allowed by the Illinois Wage Assignment Act (740 ILCS 170/4 (West 2004)) and also that under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (750 ILCS 5/505(g — 5) (West 2006)), the circuit court could only order the old support amount of $96 or $94.94, which was 15% of his weekly income. The circuit court accepted Gary’s first contention and adjusted the arrearage calculation to show that of the $220,209.55 in total ar-rearages owed, $34,663.06 was child support owed to Carita, $7,000 was child support owed to the State of Illinois, $123,098.69 was maintenance owed to Carita, $5,998.69 was owed in medical arrear-ages, and $49,449.11 was owed in interest. However, the circuit court denied Gary’s motion to reconsider, finding “that the law cited by [Gary] does not impose a restriction to the ability of the court to order the amount of payment toward the arrears.” The court further found it had the power to order a variety of enforcement provisions and the ability to determine Gary’s income for purposes of ordering payment on the arrearage. Gary has appealed the circuit court’s order requiring him to pay $300 a week in arrearages.

ANALYSIS

On appeal, Gary contends that the circuit court erred in that it did not have the authority, posttermination, to increase his weekly payment from $96 to $300 in order to satisfy arrearages. Gary also contends that under the Wage Assignment Act the circuit court could not order him to pay periodically more than 15% of his weekly earnings. In support of his first contention, Gary argues that child support judgments are to be enforced as any other judgments. Thus, the only collection powers available to Carita and the State are those set forth in section 505(g — 5) of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, under which the circuit court does not have the authority to increase the periodic payment from its pretermination level. We disagree and affirm the judgment of the circuit court setting periodic payments of $300 to satisfy the arrearages.

Both parties agree on the essential facts of the case and make no issue of any factual determination, such as the calculation of arrear-ages or whether, under the facts of the case, the circuit court should have set the periodic payment at $300. Rather, the issue is whether, under the law, the circuit court had the authority to increase the periodic payment to satisfy arrearages, when pretermination the periodic payment for child support was $96 plus 20% of Gary’s bonuses. To determine whether the circuit court had such authority, we will have to interpret the relevant statutes. Issues of statutory interpretation are a question of law and thus are reviewed under a de novo standard. Krautsack v. Anderson, 223 Ill. 2d 541, 553, 861 N.E.2d 633, 643 (2006).

Child support judgments are to be enforced as any other judgments. In re Marriage of Metz, 233 Ill. App. 3d 50, 57, 598 N.E.2d 369, 374 (1992). The issue in the present case is the power of the circuit court over a support arrearage judgment once the support obligation is terminated. In recent years, the State has passed several statutes relating to the ability to collect arrearages posttermination. They state, in relevant parts:

“When current support terminates on the date stated in the order for support, or because the child attains the age of majority or is otherwise emancipated, and the amount previously required to be paid for current support of that child automatically continues as an obligation for periodic payment toward satisfaction of unpaid arrearage or delinquency as provided for by law, the obligee or public official may prepare and serve upon the obligor’s payor an income withholding notice***.” 750 ILCS 28/32(a) (West 2006). 1
“If there is an unpaid arrearage or delinquency (as those terms are defined in the Income Withholding for Support Act) equal to at least one month’s support obligation on the termination date stated in the order for support or, if there is no termination date stated in the order, on the date the child attains the age of majority or is otherwise emancipated, the periodic amount required to be paid for current support of that child immediately prior to that date shall automatically continue to be an obligation, not as current support but as periodic payment toward satisfaction of the unpaid arrear-age or delinquency.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Krautsack v. Anderson
861 N.E.2d 633 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2006)
Hadley v. Illinois Department of Corrections
864 N.E.2d 162 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2007)
In re Marriage of Metz
598 N.E.2d 369 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
871 N.E.2d 962, 374 Ill. App. 3d 1115, 313 Ill. Dec. 235, 2007 Ill. App. LEXIS 763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crank-v-crank-illappct-2007.