Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

Hi. This is about child support arrearages. My son owes approx. $14000.00 in CS Arrearages. It was $8000.00 in 2011. In October of 2011 my son went to court and was ordered to pay a set amount for CS. The amount was based on a job he thought he was getting. He actually got a job where the income was much less. He failed to modify because he didn't know that he was supposed to modify because 44% of his income was being deducted for CS. He thought 28% was being taken out for current CS and 16% must be going towards the $8000.00 arrearage. In 2014-after ordering a copy of his credit report he found out he was very wrong. Instead of those arrearages decreasing...those arrearages were over $20,000.00. That 44% as it turned out was only 44% out of a 100% for current CS based on the 2011 court order. The remaining 56% was added on to the arrearages every week. Long story short...my son who is 46 years old by the way...needs to move out and get on with his life. He has turned his life around completely...works very hard...has a decent paying steady full time job, is responsible and dependable...and pays current CS, medical insurance, and over $300.00 per month in arrearages. He still can't get out of my basement because he still doesn't net enough to rent an apartment around here. He isn't living here for free. He does pay rent however it is less than it would be anywhere else around here. I did help him get a vehicle so he could get a better job and he is paying for this. With the 9% interest that the state charges which is a killer...these arrearages never go down. The State confiscates his tax returns so thousands of dollars have gone towards these arrearages in the last few years and still to date the arrearages are $14,000.00. The custodial parent of their two boys...one who is going to be 19 in june...is married and they are obviously living quite well based on there remodeling projects and vacations. The custodial parent is living in a 2 and 1/2 income home. My son is living on half of one income. Last week... I met with my son, his ex and her husband and I offered all of them $10,000.00 lump sum payment on arrearages (which would be loaned to my son so he can go forward) and I asked if she would go to court along with my son and ask the judge to waive the remaining $4000.00. She got back to me and countered with my agreeing to $11,000.00. I got back to her with $10,500.00 and she agreed. She now wants $3.00 for filing for a court date. Okay...my objective here is for the balance to go down to zero arrearages and I want to be guaranteed that the State will stop taking income from his checks for arrearages immediately and I want to make sure she doesn't pull a fast one and have the current CS increased because he now will have a little over $300.00 a month in net pay which he absolutely needs in order to move out of here. Just to let you know...he had lost his job prior to 2011 due to the company downsizing and he failed to get another job hence the $8000.00 arrearage. This is on him...but what has transpired since is not the same. He also failed to modify which some can consider sheer stupidity...but he really didn't know what was going on with the arrearages. He truly had no idea that they were increasing. I am sure his ex did but never said anything to him about it ...however this is water under the bridge. I am not saying that he should get off the hook due to ignorance. I do think the 9% interest that the State charges is cruel and unusual punishment though. We want to pay the arrearages off. The custodial parent is going online to get a court date. She doesn't think we need an attorney since everyone is agreeing to the $10,500 lump sum payment and since she is agreeing to waive the remaining $4000.00 in order to bring it down to zero. What do I need to know here before we proceed? Thank you for your consideration and help. It is much appreciated.

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