Divorce & Family Law — Lake County, IL

Maintenance in Illinois is not automatic: a judge first decides whether it is appropriate under the 750 ILCS 5/504(a) factors. When it is warranted and the guideline applies, the amount is calculated by taking 33⅓% of the payor’s net income minus 25% of the recipient’s net income, capped so the recipient’s total doesn’t exceed 40% of the parties’ combined net income (750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(A)). The guideline formula applies only when combined gross income is under $500,000 and the payor has no prior-relationship support duty. Lake County’s Law Office of Deanna J. Bowen shows what that means in real dollars.

Updated July 2026 · 20+ years of Lake County family law · The Law Office of Deanna J. Bowen, Gurnee (19th Judicial Circuit)

The fast version:

  • The guideline amount = 33⅓% of the payor’s net income − 25% of the recipient’s net income (750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(A)).
  • A 40% cap limits the recipient’s maintenance-plus-own-income to 40% of the couple’s combined net income.
  • The formula applies only when the parties’ combined gross income is under $500,000 and the payor has no prior-relationship support duty.
  • Duration = length of the marriage × a statutory multiplier (750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(B)); 20+ years can be indefinite.
  • Maintenance is not automatic — a judge first decides whether it is appropriate under the §504(a) factors.
  • For instruments executed after December 31, 2018, maintenance is not tax-deductible to the payor, and (since Jan. 1, 2025) is no longer automatically paused during a payor’s incarceration.

If you are facing a divorce in Lake County or the north suburbs, one of the first questions on your mind is money: will there be maintenance, how much, and for how long? Illinois answers the “how much” with a formula, but the formula is only part of the story. Below, we walk through the current 2026 rule, do the arithmetic in real dollars, and explain the moments when a judge steps outside the guideline.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Illinois law changes and every case turns on its facts. Consult a licensed Illinois family-law attorney about your situation. (Attorney advertising — Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct 7.1.)

The Statutory Formula, Worked Through Three Real-Number Examples

Illinois maintenance is governed by 750 ILCS 5/504. When the guideline applies, the statute is precise. Section 504(b-1)(1)(A) says the amount “shall be calculated by taking 33 1/3% of the payor’s net annual income minus 25% of the payee’s net annual income.” It then adds the ceiling: that amount, “when added to the net income of the payee, shall not result in the payee receiving an amount that is in excess of 40% of the combined net income of the parties.”

Two conditions decide whether you use the formula at all:

  • The parties’ combined gross annual income is less than $500,000, and
  • The payor has no obligation to pay child support or maintenance from a prior relationship.

If either condition fails, the guideline is set aside and the court fashions a non-guideline award on the §504(a) factors instead.

One more essential point: the formula runs on net income, not gross. Since the 2019 tax change (below), Illinois converts each spouse’s gross income to a standardized net figure. Because tax rules change, family courts use the standardized net-income tables published by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), and those tables are updated regularly (the current revision is effective March 20, 2026). So treat any specific dollar figure below as an illustration of the mechanism — your real numbers depend on the current HFS conversion.

Here is how the math works in three illustrations. (The net-income figures are simplified for teaching the formula; a real calculation requires the current HFS gross-to-net conversion.)

Illustration 1 — The 40% cap reduces the award

  • Payor’s net income: $90,000
  • Recipient’s net income: $30,000
  • Combined net income: $120,000

Step 1 — Guideline amount: (33⅓% × $90,000) − (25% × $30,000) = $30,000 − $7,500 = $22,500. Step 2 — Apply the 40% cap: 40% × $120,000 combined net = $48,000. Add the guideline maintenance to the recipient’s own net income: $30,000 + $22,500 = $52,500.

Because $52,500 exceeds the $48,000 cap, the cap does apply here. The court reduces maintenance so the recipient’s total equals exactly the cap: $48,000 − $30,000 = $18,000 per year.

(A useful reminder: when the recipient already earns a meaningful share of the couple’s income, the cap often bites. Always run both steps.)

Illustration 2 — A wider income gap, and the cap does not apply

  • Payor’s net income: $120,000
  • Recipient’s net income: $20,000
  • Combined net income: $140,000

Step 1 — Guideline amount: (33⅓% × $120,000) − (25% × $20,000) = $40,000 − $5,000 = $35,000. Step 2 — Apply the 40% cap: 40% × $140,000 = $56,000. Recipient’s own net plus maintenance: $20,000 + $35,000 = $55,000.

Because $55,000 is under the $56,000 cap, the cap does not reduce the award. The guideline maintenance stands at $35,000 per year.

Illustration 3 — Combined gross over $500,000: no formula at all

  • Payor’s gross income: $450,000
  • Recipient’s gross income: $120,000
  • Combined gross income: $570,000

Here the parties’ combined gross income exceeds $500,000, so the guideline formula does not apply at all. A Lake County judge instead decides maintenance under the §504(a) factors — the marital standard of living, each spouse’s earning capacity, the length of the marriage, and more — with no fixed percentage controlling the result. High-income divorces are exactly where individualized advocacy, not a calculator, drives the outcome.

Duration Multipliers: How Marriage Length Sets the Clock

Once a court decides on an amount, it sets the length of the payments. Under 750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(B), guideline duration equals the length of the marriage multiplied by a fixed statutory factor, based on how many years the couple was married (measured to the date the dissolution action was filed):

Length of marriage Multiplier
Less than 5 years .20
5 to less than 6 years .24
6 to less than 7 years .28
7 to less than 8 years .32
8 to less than 9 years .36
9 to less than 10 years .40
10 to less than 11 years .44
11 to less than 12 years .48
12 to less than 13 years .52
13 to less than 14 years .56
14 to less than 15 years .60
15 to less than 16 years .64
16 to less than 17 years .68
17 to less than 18 years .72
18 to less than 19 years .76
19 to less than 20 years .80

For example, a 10-year marriage uses the .44 multiplier: 10 × .44 = 4.4 years of maintenance. A 7-year marriage uses .32: 7 × .32 = 2.24 years.

For a marriage of 20 or more years, the court, in its discretion, may order maintenance for a period equal to the length of the marriage or for an indefinite term (750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(B)). “Indefinite” maintenance has no fixed end date; it continues until a terminating event or a successful modification.

When Courts Deviate: The Guideline Exceptions That Actually Get Used

A common misunderstanding is that the formula guarantees a result. It does not. Maintenance in Illinois is a two-part decision: the court decides whether an award is appropriate at all, and only then how much and how long.

First, the threshold question under §504(a)

Before any formula, the judge weighs the §504(a) factors to decide whether maintenance is warranted, including:

  • The income and property of each party, including the marital property each receives;
  • The needs of each party and the realistic present and future earning capacity of each;
  • Any impairment of the earning capacity of the party seeking support because of time devoted to the household or forgone career opportunities;
  • The standard of living established during the marriage;
  • The duration of the marriage; and
  • The age, health, occupation, and employability of each party.

If, after weighing these, the court finds the party seeking maintenance is self-supporting, it can decline to award maintenance at all — regardless of the length of the marriage.

Then, deviating from the guideline

If maintenance is warranted but the guideline result would be unfair on the facts, the court may deviate from the formula. Deviation is fact-specific, and when a court departs from the guideline it must make statutory findings — under 750 ILCS 5/504(b-2), the judge is required to identify what the guideline amount and duration would have been and explain why the award varies from them.

Situations where an Illinois court may deviate from the guideline include:

  • Combined gross income of $500,000 or more — the guideline formula does not apply, because it is available only when combined gross annual income is less than $500,000 (Illustration 3 above).
  • Large earning-capacity gaps — where a spouse has substantial untapped earning ability, a court may impute income rather than take a low current figure at face value.
  • A short marriage with acute need — where a brief-marriage multiplier would cut off support before a genuinely dependent spouse can recover.
  • A concrete self-support timeline — where the recipient needs a defined, shorter period (say, to finish a degree), the court may tailor a targeted, rehabilitative award.

Because these calls turn on the specific facts, the value of experienced counsel is in building and presenting the record that supports your position — not in promising a number.

Taxes, Modification, and the 2025 Change on Incarceration Tolling

The tax shift (post-2018)

For decades, alimony was tax-deductible to the payor and taxable to the recipient. The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ended that: for any divorce or separation instrument executed after December 31, 2018, maintenance is not deductible by the payor and not included in the recipient’s gross income. Illinois responded by moving its guideline to the net-income figures you see above (33⅓% / 25% of net). The older formula — 30% of the payor’s gross minus 20% of the recipient’s gross — now survives only for modifying certain pre-2019 orders that remain taxable. For any current divorce, do not assume maintenance is tax-deductible.

Modification and termination

Unless the parties agreed to make maintenance non-modifiable, an order can be modified under 750 ILCS 5/510 on a showing of a substantial change in circumstances — for example, an involuntary job loss or a significant change in either party’s income or health. (Separately, an “indefinite” award, discussed above, is one with no fixed end date — that is a question of duration, not of whether the order can later be modified.) Unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing or the judgment provides otherwise, certain events terminate future maintenance by operation of law (750 ILCS 5/510(c)), including the death of either party, the remarriage of the recipient, or the recipient’s cohabitation with another person on a resident, continuing conjugal basis.

The 2025 incarceration change (P.A. 103-967)

Effective January 1, 2025, Illinois eliminated the automatic tolling of maintenance while a paying spouse is incarcerated. Previously, an incarcerated payor’s obligation could pause on its own. Now it does not: maintenance keeps accruing during incarceration, and the unpaid balance becomes collectible arrears after release. A payor whose incarceration genuinely affects the ability to pay must affirmatively petition the court to modify under 750 ILCS 5/510 — the obligation does not stop by itself. Older articles that say “maintenance pauses automatically if the payor goes to jail” are out of date as of 2025.

What AI Answers and Outdated Articles Get Wrong

Illinois family law changed significantly over the last several years, and many online answers have not kept up. Watch for these stale claims:

  • “Maintenance is 30% of gross minus 20% of gross.” Outdated. Since 2019 the guideline uses 33⅓% of net minus 25% of net (750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(A)).
  • “Alimony is tax-deductible for the person paying it.” Not for any instrument executed after December 31, 2018.
  • “The formula always sets the amount.” No — it applies only if the court first finds maintenance appropriate under §504(a), the combined gross is under $500,000, and the payor has no prior-relationship support duty.
  • “Maintenance pauses automatically if the payor is incarcerated.” No longer true as of January 1, 2025 (P.A. 103-967).

Frequently Asked Questions

Is spousal support the same as alimony in Illinois? Yes. “Alimony” is the everyday word; Illinois law calls it maintenance (750 ILCS 5/504). The terms describe the same thing — payments from one former spouse to the other.

How is maintenance actually calculated in Illinois? When the guideline applies, the amount is 33⅓% of the payor’s net income minus 25% of the recipient’s net income, capped so the recipient’s total does not exceed 40% of the parties’ combined net income (750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(A)). The guideline applies only when combined gross income is under $500,000 and the payor has no prior-relationship support obligation.

Does every divorce include maintenance? No. A judge first decides whether maintenance is appropriate under the §504(a) factors. Many divorces end with no maintenance at all.

How long does maintenance last? Guideline duration equals the length of the marriage times a statutory multiplier (750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(B)). For marriages of 20 years or more, the court may order maintenance for the length of the marriage or for an indefinite term.

Can a maintenance order be changed later? Often, yes — on a substantial change in circumstances (750 ILCS 5/510), unless the parties agreed the award is non-modifiable. Unless otherwise agreed in writing or provided in the judgment, it also terminates on the death of either party, the recipient’s remarriage, or qualifying cohabitation (750 ILCS 5/510(c)).

Is maintenance still paused if the paying spouse goes to jail? No. As of January 1, 2025 (P.A. 103-967), maintenance no longer pauses automatically during incarceration; it keeps accruing unless the payor petitions the court to modify.

Facing a Divorce or Support Question in Lake County?

Maintenance calculations look simple on paper and get complicated fast — net-income conversions, the 40% cap, the duration multiplier, and the judgment calls that decide whether the guideline even applies. Often the calmest, most cost-effective path is resolving support by agreement, where you keep more control than you would by leaving it to the court; when that is not possible, the goal is to build the strongest, best-documented case for your position.

The Law Office of Deanna J. Bowen has empowered and protected clients in Lake County family court for over 20 years, focusing exclusively on Illinois family law in the north suburbs of Chicago. If you have questions about how maintenance would apply to your situation, we are glad to talk it through.

Learn more about how we can help as your divorce lawyer in Lake County, IL, with an uncontested divorce, on the allocation of parental responsibilities as your child custody attorney, on support as your child support attorney, or on post-judgment modifications of an existing maintenance order.

Byline: Deanna Bowen