In re Marriage of Dahm-Schell, 175 N.E.3d 1069

Parties divorced after a 1992 marriage; respondent inherited about $615,000 from his mother during the pending dissolution, mostly held in two inherited IRAs.
The dissolution awarded the inheritance to respondent as nonmarital property; the trial court included only dividend income from the IRAs when calculating support.
Federal law required respondent to take mandatory distributions (RMDs) from the inherited IRAs; in 2018 those distributions totaled about $10,731 per year.
Respondent petitioned to modify child support and maintenance; he argued the mandatory IRA distributions should not count as income because the funds were nonmarital and he had to withdraw them.
The circuit court ruled the mandatory distributions were not income; petitioner sought interlocutory review under Ill. S. Ct. R. 308. The appellate court reframed the certified question to focus on inherited IRA distributions that were never previously imputed as income.
The Fifth District held that mandatory distributions from an inherited IRA, when the underlying funds were never previously imputed as income, constitute "income" for child support and maintenance and remanded for recalculation.

Issue	Petitioner (Dahm-Schell)	Respondent (Schell)	Held
Whether mandatory distributions from an inherited IRA (containing funds never previously imputed as income) count as "income" for child-support and maintenance calculations	Distributions should be counted as income because the inheritance enhances the payor’s ability to pay and was never previously imputed	Distributions are not income because the funds are nonmarital, already belonged to him, and RMDs are mandatory (akin to withdrawing savings)	Yes. When IRA funds were inherited and never previously imputed as income, mandatory distributions are "income" under 750 ILCS 5/504 and 5/505; avoid double counting if funds were already imputed

In re Marriage of Rogers, 213 Ill. 2d 129 (Ill. 2004) (defines "income" broadly as gains/benefits that enhance ability to support).
In re Marriage of McGrath, 2012 IL 112792 (Ill. 2012) (withdrawals of funds already belonging to the owner generally are not "income"; double-counting must be avoided).
In re Marriage of Lindman, 356 Ill. App. 3d 462 (Ill. App. 2005) (IRA distributions may be income; courts should adjust to avoid double-counting).
In re Marriage of O’Daniel, 382 Ill. App. 3d 845 (Ill. App. 2008) (withdrawals from self-funded retirement accounts are not income except for interest/appreciation).
In re Marriage of Klomps, 286 Ill. App. 3d 710 (Ill. App. 1997) (retirement benefits awarded in dissolution can be considered when determining child-support income).
In re Marriage of Sharp, 369 Ill. App. 3d 271 (Ill. App. 2006) (Act creates a rebuttable presumption that all income, unless excluded, is income for support purposes).