For the past four years, I have financially been taking care of my wifes daughter from another man. They were never married and never had any kind of legal custody papers written up. We did, however, claim her on our taxes.

Over the four years he has given us a total of $300.

Questions:
1. Despite the fact that there were never any legal custody documentation written up, can she still go after back support? Like I said, we have been claiming the daughter on our taxes. She had been asking him for money over and over and just never bothered to take the legal route. Now she really needs the money

2. Does anyone know how payment is made in Illinois. I was told in Wisconsin if someone had to pay back support, the state paid the custodial parent in one lump sum and the one paying had to pay the state. Do they do this in Illinois?

Thanks!

I've never heard of any state paying the custodial parent a lump sum before collecting the money from the non-custodial parent. Of course, that doesn't mean it's not done, simply that I've never heard of it :) Still, I would be very surprised if it were the case, but I've been surprised before. I'll be watching this thread with interest to see what others know about this issue.

I think, in this situation, the fact that there was never (it sounds like) a written child support agreement/a prior petition for child support is really the issue, or at least more of an issue, than the nonexistence of a custody agreement. You said the mother and father were never married, was parentage legally established?

According to this website:

http://www.saokids.org/toc.htm

When are you entitled to child support back to the date of the child's birth?

This type of child support is called retroactive child support. Under Illinois law, there are two types of retroactive child support. One is mandatory, and this entitles you to child support back to the date that the father was served with the complaint to establish parentage.

The other type of retroactive child support is discretionary, meaning that the judge is not required by law to award you this. This type of retroactive child support awards you support back to the child's date of birth and prior to the commencement of your action. However, when you are seeking this type of retroactive support, the court must look at the following factors before making a decision:

--the father's prior knowledge of the fact and circumstances of the child's birth;
--the father's prior willingness/refusal to help raise or support the child;
--the extent to which the mother or public agency bringing the action previously informed the father of the child's needs or attempted to seek or require his help in raising or supporting the child;
--the extent to which the father would be prejudiced by the delay in bringing the action.

Please be advised that not everyone is entitled to retroactive child support prior to the commencement of the action.

Now, I have no idea how accurate that information really is, because there are all kinds of inaccurate things on the web.

You need to check with an attorney.

My disclaimer--I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY

Well if they were married then she may have a chance for back child support.
Illinois does not have it where they pay you in one lump some. And if there was never an amount set by court how can there be an amount of back child support

Go for it. Obviously the present support arrangement is not working.

wisconsin dont have the lump sum payment. it just keeps adding up with interest if u are awarded arrears. not sure how ill works though.