NHL Lockout Affects Support Proceedings

At 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 16, the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players Association expired without a new agreement in place, causing the owners to lockout the players for the second time in eight years; the last lockout resulted in the cancellation of the entire 2004-2005 NHL season.

Despite the turmoil that the lockout will cause, specifically, an empty United Center and long periods of boredom north of the U.S. border, some things can be expected to remain the same: An empty Jobing.com Arena (home of the fanless Phoenix Coyotes) and numerous court filings by professional hockey players in an attempt to modify child support obligations based on a substantial change of circumstances, being the 2012 NHL lockout.

With both the NFL and the NBA being involved in labor disputes last year, many articles were written regarding modification of existing child support obligations based on the work stoppage being a substantial change in circumstances that justified a modification in support payments. Although the NHL may not have as many fans as other sports, the effect on child support proceedings will be just as dramatic.

In Illinois, Section 5-510 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (IMDMA) sets the parameters for the “modification and termination of provisions for maintenance, support, educational expenses and property distributions.” 750 ILCS 5-510. Specifically, 5-510(a) states that an order of child support may be modified upon a showing of a substantial change in circumstances.

Typically, a substantial change in circumstances is seen in involuntary job loss (In re Marriage of Wiley, 199 Ill.App.3d 223 (1990)); moving states to pursue an alternative employment opportunity (In re Marriage of Caris, 150 Ill.App.3d 812 (1986)); returning to college to supplement one’s education (In re Marriage of Webber, 191 Ill.App.3d 327 (1989)); becoming self-employed (In re Marriage of Hardy, 191 Ill.App.3d 695 (1989)); or retiring (In re Marriage of Waldschmidt, 241 Ill.App.3d 7 (1993)). A less typical justification for a modification for child support is the involvement of the payor in a labor dispute.

In determining whether to grant a request to reduce child support, a trial court may consider “any substantial economic reversal resulting from a good faith, voluntary change of employment.” In re Marriage of Horn, 272 Ill.App.3d 472, 476 (4th Dist., 1995).

The court will consider whether the decision that resulted in the “substantial economic reversal” was “prompted by a desire to evade financial responsibilities for support of the children.” Id. at 476. There are a few subtleties that may prevent a professional athlete from filing a petition for modification of child support prior to the scheduled start of a player’s regular season. First, a petitioner must usually wait to file his or her petition until a time when the actual change in his or her economic condition begins rather than predicting for a future substantial change in circumstance. The reason being is that the bargaining agreements in most professional sports, hockey included, call for players’ pay to begin after the start of the regular season.