MCLC - Divorce and Family Law

Support

Massachusetts child support laws require joint parent support of minor children. Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines determine, based on income, the per cent of the child’s support each parent will pay. Guidelines protect parental rights because support is predictable and consistent.

If the parents have a joint Parenting Plan, child support is calculated for both parents. The parent with the higher income pays the difference between the two child support amounts to the parent with the lower income. Mother’s and father’s rights are protected because both are supporting the child. Your collaborative child support attorney will assist you with child support calculations.

When there is sufficient income for one spouse to pay spousal support to the other, child support is calculated before spousal support.

Child laws do not require that a guardian pay support for a child under guardianship. The support obligation remains with the parents.

Support

If you are facing a Massachusetts divorce or have a post-divorce issue, including a possible modification or contempt related to your divorce agreement, the issues of child support and alimony (also known as spousal support) can have significant impacts on your own quality of life and that of your children.

Collaborative professionals can help you resolve these matters without going to court for repeated hearings, while carefully considering the concerns for all of the parties involved.

Child Support

Child support in Massachusetts, like other states, exists to make sure parents are financially supporting their children. Generally child support is paid to the parent that is the primary physical custodian by the other parent. More and more couples are deciding to share parenting duties equally, and the Massachusetts child support guidelines addresses this issue as well.

The most recent Massachusetts child support guidelines went into effect in 2009. They can be found here: http://www.mass.gov/courts/childsupport/guidelines.pdf The guidelines cover parents with combined gross income up to $250,000.00 and consider several other factors, including both parents’ income and ability to earn income, the number of children involved, and the cost of health care coverage and childcare expenses.

Child support is normally paid until a child reaches the age of 18, or when children over 18 are still attending high school. A number of other discretionary factors may be considered by the court to award child support for children over the age of 18 that have completed high-school, including the child’s academic circumstances (attendance at college for example), the child’s living situation and resources of both parents, and a child’s continued economic dependence on the recipient.

If a child under 18 no longer resides with the parent receiving child support, is married, or has joined the military then child support would normally terminate.

There are numerous issues that may cause what first appears to be a simple child support guidelines case to become much more complicated. Questions concerning income and the attribution of income to a parent who is unemployed or underemployed are not uncommon. Many other child support modification cases arise from issues related to post-majority (over age of 18) support.

Only the court can change or modify the amount of a child support order, but either parent may request a modification of the order if the order is at least three years old regardless of whether there has been a substantial change in circumstances, or if the order is less than three years old and either parent’s income substantially changes; the child’s custody changes; or significant changes to the family’s health insurance coverage occur.

Child support may be awarded in a number of contexts besides a final divorce judgment, including an action for separate support, as part of temporary orders during a litigated divorce case, as part of a guardianship petition, a paternity action, or as part of an abuse prevention order under Mass. Gen. Laws c. 209A. Additionally, child support can be ordered as part of an interstate child support action.

Although the Massachusetts child support guidelines are the default in many cases, parents have the option to agree to a child support amount that deviates from the guidelines. The court must approve the child support amount and find that the agreement is in the best interests of the child or children, but frequently there are reasons why an amount of child support that is different from the guidelines figure makes sense for a family. For example, if one parent lives far away, the extra travel expenses incurred could justify that parent paying less child support.

Looking carefully at the needs of the children and the circumstances of the parents is an important element of arriving at a proper amount of child support. Your collaborative team can assist in reaching workable solutions to this important issue.

Spousal Support – Alimony

Alimony, also known as spousal support, is addressed in Chapter 208, section 34 of the Massachusetts General Laws. The basis for alimony in Massachusetts is purely statutory and grounded in the theory that marriage is a partnership. Unlike child support, no official guidelines for alimony in Massachusetts exist, although this may change in the not too distant future.

Due to the lack of clear guidelines, alimony can be a difficult issue for couples to navigate. When spouses do not agree on whether alimony should be paid and to what extent, stressful and expensive litigation can result.

Alimony Factors

The following factors before deciding to award – or not award – spousal support in Massachusetts must be considered: the length of the marriage, the conduct of the parties during the marriage, health, age, station, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, estate (all property to which title is held, regardless of how acquired), the opportunity of each to acquire future capital assets and income, and the liabilities and needs of a person.

Although labeled discretionary, additional factors that the Court may consider include the contribution to the acquisition, preservation, or appreciation in value of the respective estates of the parties, and the contributions of a spouse as homemaker to the family. These factors can be quite significant in certain cases.

Since 1974, alimony is not based upon the gender of the parties; nor is it intended to be a form of punishment.

Alimony payments are deductible from the gross income of the payor and taxable as income to the recipient, unless the parties specifically agree to some other allocation of the tax consequences.

Is Massachusetts Alimony Reform on the Horizon?

Spousal support is currently a hot topic in Massachusetts. The historical lack of consistency in alimony awards can serve to encourage expensive litigation, while a number of evolving alimony theories including those of the American Law Institute, as well as societal changes are causing practitioners to re-examine the concept of alimony.

Previous efforts to standardize alimony guidelines in Massachusetts have not been widely accepted. Currently, a joint task force of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Boston Bar Association is supporting the use of alimony guidelines, although it remains to be seen if such a formulaic approach will be embraced by the legislature, courts and domestic relations attorneys.

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