Child Support in Massachusetts

 
Child support is money paid from one parent to another to financially support children when the parents no longer live together. Parents are obligated to support their children financially, regardless of whether they are still married (but living apart), are divorced, or were never married. The amount of child support depends on a combination of a) how much time the children spend with each parent, b) the difference between the incomes of the parents, and c) the number of children the parents have together. The income figures used are adjusted for the amount of money each parent spends on childcare and health care (including dental and vision), and on whether a parent is paying out child support or alimony from a previous relationship.
 
The State of Massachusetts uses a mathematical formula that weighs all of these factors to determine the amount of child support that one spouse will pay to the other. The formula gives you less and less additional money for each additional child. For example, you don't get twice as much child support for two children as you get for one child. Instead, for two children you get 25% more that you would get for one child. For three children, you get about 10% more than you would get for two children. For four children, you get just 5% more than you would get get for three children. And for five children, you get just 2% more than you get for four children. This means that total child support for five children is just 48% more than child support for one child.

You can see the MA guideline child support that you or your spouse should pay the other person by using the free Massachusetts Child Support Calculator on this website. You can also calculate this child support by filling out this 2017 Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. You can download the Instructions for completing the guidelines worksheet for the 2017 child support guidelines here. If you plan to share custody approximately equally, you may want to use this Shared Custody Calculation cover sheet to accompany the two Child Support Guidelines Worksheets that you must fill out and submit.

Massachusetts laws regarding child support are clearer and more specific than laws about alimony, division of assets, and other financial aspects of divorce. The government and courts will also play a much more active role in administering child support and making sure it is paid than they will for other parts of a separation agreement. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue (the agency that collects MA state taxes), for example, has a Child Support Enforcement arm.  It can directly take child support payments from a person’s wages (‘wage assignment’) and give them to the child support recipient, and it can directly seize funds from bank accounts, suspend licenses, and put liens on property when someone hasn’t paid their child support.

New Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines 2017 took effect September 15, 2017. These new guidelines  a) raised the minimum child support order from $18 to $25 per week, b) eliminated the 33%-50% parenting time category from the 2013  child support formula, c) adjusted the ways in which child care and health care costs are factored into the child support formula, d) lowered the presumptive ('normal') child support for some children 18-22 who are out of high school by 25%, and e) limited the court ordered payment of college expenses to a maximum of 50% of costs for an in-state student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. (Parents can, of course, agree to pay more than this--but a judge cannot order it.)

There are serious math and logic errors in the way that the 2017 Child Support Guidelines were implemented. In other words, the people who put together the 2017 Child Support Guidelines Worksheet were not able to translate the intentions of the 2017 Child Support Guidelines into formulas and numbers correctly. In summary, the three errors are:

1) If you have children under 18 AND children between 18 and 22 who are receiving child support, the child support number is always too low.
2) If you have 50%-50% parenting time, the person who pays for health insurance and childcare gets credited twice for these expenses. So if parents have equal income and 50%-50% parenting time and one parent pays $100/week for health insurance, the other spouse can end up paying them back  $118 or more for health insurance, instead of half of the $100, or $50.
3) If, by chance, the numbers in lines 4d and 4e on the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet are opposites of each other (e.g. 50 and -50; or 13 and -13; or 43 and -43), the logic in the calculator fails, and the worksheet can give results that are thousands of dollars off per year.

See a longer discussion of these problems at the bottom of the MA 2017 Child Support Calculator page. I have also prepared a deviation calculator that corrects these errors that you can use if the 2017 Child Support Guidelines Worksheet is producing strange outcomes for those who have 50-50 custody or children both under 18 and over 18 who are receiving child support. Results from this "deviation calculator" deviate from the standard, expected, "presumptive" amounts that are produced by the  2017 Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. These numbers that deviate would have to be explained to the court in the divorce paperwork, specifically in form CDJ 305, Findings and Determinations for child Support and Post-secondary Education Form.

Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines 2013 were previously updated on August 1, 2013. I have left an old 2013 MA Child Support Calculator online so that you can better understand child support calculations that were made between August 1, 2013 and September 15, 2017 and compare them to current child support calculations from after September 15, 2017.

Click to call Child Support Expert Attorney Julia Rueschemeyer with your questions about child support now: 413-885-9338

How to file for child support in MA if you are separated but not divorced
(or were never married)

Although there is no legal separation status in Massachusetts—you are either married or divorced--if you and your spouse are separated, you can still get child support, even if you are not divorced. You simply need a “justifiable cause” for living separately, such as abuse, adultery, or a spouse who left you. This is for cases in which you are not immediately filing for divorce—or you were never married--but the process involves several of the same forms you use when filing for divorce.
 
To file for separate support for Child Support, you need to file:

• A Complaint for Separate Support. In this form, you document your marriage and the names your children, explain why you are living apart, and request custody, support, and even the transfer of real estate into your name.
• A certified copy of your marriage certificate
• An Affidavit Disclosing Care or Custody Proceedings. This form lists any  current or previous court actions or proceedings that are already underway regarding your children.
• A financial statement describing your income and expenses. If you make over $75,000 you fill out the Long Form; if you make less than $75,000, you fill out the Short Form.
• A Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. You can simply use the MA Child Support Calculator on this website to generate the numbers that you copy into the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet.

 
Filing for Separate Support costs $120 in court fees. You should file in the same family law court where you would file for divorce—in the county where you last lived together. If both of you have moved out of that county, you can file in a MA county where one of you now lives.
 
After you have filed the papers in court, you have 90 days to tell your spouse about the case you have filed for support. This process is called “Service of Process”, and it lets the spouse know that there is a case, what it is about, and if and when there is a court hearing. Often these papers are delivered to you spouse by a sheriff. You can find out more about this process at the MA Service of Process of Domestic Relations Complaints in Probate and Family Court webpage.
 
At a family court hearing, a judge will review the papers that you have filed that show your income and expenses, the number of children you are supporting, and your spouse’s (or child’s parent, if you are not married) income and expenses. The judge can order support for you and/or your children. The judge can even order the transfer or sale of a house that you or your spouse owns.