Many people get behind on paying child support.  For the same reasons that people fall behind on paying their other bills, many people are simply unable to pay what is required for child support.  Often, this is caused by a combination of factors, from underemployment, inflation, rent increases, or bad financial planning and bad choices.

Whatever the reasons, the law in Illinois is designed to help protect the children who benefit from child support, and so falling behind on support can lead to a lien being placed on your personal injury or workers’ compensation case.

Hold it!  You mean the state can take my settlement away to pay back support?

Yes, pretty much that’s true in many cases.

But first, let’s learn a little more about the process and what  lien actually means.

Liens

Without getting too technical, a lien is a placeholder in a case that allows the lienholder to be paid out of the proceeds of that case.  Just like a mechanic can place a Mechanic’s Lien on your house, forcing you to pay up before you sell or refinance, the Illinois Department of Health and Family Services (IDHFS) can place a lien on a personal injury or workers’ compensation case.

If you are behind by two or more months in support, the Department can put a lien on your case.

Does this mean that you might not get anything from your injury or work-injury case?  Does this mean your lawyer won’t get paid?

Leaning into Liens

 When I have a client who has a personal injury or workers’ compensation case, I will often ask if they are aware of any arrearage of child support.  Many are not aware, but some are.  This puts me on notice of a potential issue right away and I make a note in my file (electronically and on paper).

This seems to occur most often in workers’ compensation cases.  I will usually receive a written notice of a lien from the IDHFS within a few weeks of the filing of the Application for Adjustment of Claim with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC).  My first step after receipt is to make that ever-important note in the file, but my second step is to contact the client.  I don’t accuse my client of being  deadbeat and I don’t yell at them for not telling me.  I simply inform him or her that I received notice of  a lien, discuss the amount of the arrearage, and talk through how this will work with regard to an eventual settlement or arbitration award.

Most clients have no beef with the lien; they recognize they owe the money and want to get it paid.  They often view this lien on the case as a positive thing, allowing them to get the burden released, or at least reduced.

Then, I contact IDHFS to discuss generally what they can do to negotiate the lien.  If I have a case worth potentially $10,000 and the child support lien is $22,000, I inform them there won’t be enough to pay everything off.  If my case is worth potentially $100,000 but the lien is $5,400, I may not even bother contacting the Department until after the case is settled.

In personal injury cases, it’s a similar process, but often these cases take much longer to resolve, so I may just set everything aside until the case is ripe for settlement.

Resolution, Partial or Complete

In a perfect world, there is enough money to go around to pay my fee (20% of the gross settlement in a workers’ compensation case and one-third of the gross settlement in an injury case), my costs advanced, and the lien, while still leaving my client with fair compensation.

In all cases, I discuss this with my client, using real numbers, explaining everything, and ensuring they are comfortable with the amounts being negotiated, what they will receive, and how it all works.  I make certain that they realize child support is still due and that they must stay current.  I almost never get any pushback.  These people are not behind on support because they are flawed or bad people; they simply don’t make enough money to pay their support obligations and meet their other bills as well .

However, this is often not the case.  Many clients fall into the situation where they owe tens of thousands of dollars in support, but have cases worth far less than that.

How does this get resolved?

There are several options.  One option is to pay off a portion of the arrearage, while leaving a portion for the client to pay on their own outside of the settlement over time.  This is the most frequent approach.

But if there is a large settlement, I will negotiate to pay off the entire arrearage with a release of the entire lien.  Obviously, the client must stay current on their future child support or they will face another judgment against them for back support.

If the matter involves a personal injury case with other liens (medical, subrogation, medical payments), it may be necessary to ask a judge to judicially reduce all the liens so that the client receives a fair amount, and everyone gets some of what they are owed.  Often, different lien statutes conflict.  This is the least desirable method of handling liens in my opinion, and the best way is to negotiate directly with all lienholders.  I find if I am reasonable, they are reasonable in return.  Not always, but almost always.

Takeaways

  • Child support liens can put a wrench in workers’ compensation or personal injury cases
  • Two months or more of arrearage can lead to a lien being placed on your case
  • You will not receive a check for settlement without the lienholder (IDHFS) on it unless you negotiate the lien ahead of time.  Some workers’ compensation insurers require the lien amount go directly to the lienholder, rather than the petitioner’s lawyer

Contact Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Stephen Hoffman

In any case involving injury, dog bites or injuries, workers’ compensation, medical malpractice, or other injury and potential liability, immediately get medical treatment, report any crash to police and your own insurance company, and contact a lawyer with expertise in your type of case, such as bicycle accidents or pedestrians hit by cars.

If you’ve been in an accident and have questions, contact Chicago personal injury attorney Stephen L. Hoffman for a free consultation at (773) 944-9737. Stephen has over 30 years of legal experience and has collected millions of dollars for his clients. He is listed as a SuperLawyer, has a 10.0 rating on Avvo, and is BBB A+ accredited. He is also an Executive Level Member of the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce.

Stephen handles personal injury claims on a contingency fee basis, which means you don’t pay anything up front, and he only gets paid if you do. Don’t wait another day; contact Stephen now.