2018 MA Child Support Calculator

June 15, 2018 Massachusetts Child Support Calculator

 

This Child Support Calculator uses the June 15, 2018 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines, which are required for all child support orders in MA beginning June 15, 2018. Please feel free to contact Attorney Julia Rueschemeyer with any questions you have about divorce mediation or uncontested divorce.

 

After calculating your child support, you can click the button “Save Results to Worksheet PDF”, and the calculator will download a filled-in,  court-ready 2018 Child Support Guidelines Worksheet.

 

If you find that changing childcare and health care costs affects the overall child support amount in strange ways, you might consider consulting the 2018 Deviation Calculator.

 

Bug Alert: If you used this calculator before the morning of June 19 AND one spouse has income of $0, the calculator may have given an artificially low child support number.

 

To calculate how much child support you should pay or receive, simply:

 

a) Enter a name for yourself and your spouse (fake names are fine)

b) Enter the number of children under age 18 that you have together

c) Enter the number of children you have together who i) have turned 18 but not yet turned 23 and ii) live with you or are supported by you. If a child is still attending high school, treat the child as under 18.

d) Indicate the amount of time that the child spends with each parent by choosing from among 4 choices: about 50% time with each parent, about 1/3 of the time with you and 2/3 of the time with your spouse, about 2/3 of the time with you and 1/3 of the time with your spouse, or (less common) “split” custody, in which different children have primary residence with different parents. Choose the one that is closest to your situation.

e) Enter:

  • i) gross weekly income for each spouse,
  • ii) the weekly amount paid by each spouse for childcare,
  • iii) the amount paid by each spouse for family or individual health care insurance each week,
  • iv) the amount paid weekly by each spouse toward the child’s vision or dental insurance, and
  • v) the amount each spouse pays out weekly for alimony or child support from a previous relationship or marriage.
d)   Which of the following three choices is closest to describing the amount of time the children spend with each parent?
  About 33% with Petitioner B and 67% with Petitioner A
  About 50% of the time with each parent
  About 33% with Petitioner A and 67% with Petitioner B
  (Less common) There is more than one child covered by the order, and each parent provides a primary residence for at least one child (different children have different primary residences)
You have indicated that 1 or more children primarily reside with Petitioner A and 1 or more children primarily reside with Petitioner B
 
b-1) Indicate how many children under 18 primarily reside with Petitioner A and how many with Petitioner B:
c-1) Indicate how many children 18 and 23 who receive child support primarily reside with Petitioner A and how many with Petitioner B:
 
e)   Gross weekly income:
Child Care cost each week:
Health Insurance cost each week:
Dental/Vision cost each week:
Weekly alimony or child support paid out to a previous marriage:

CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES WORKSHEET RESULTS (June 15, 2018 version)

pays


The numbering and description of each line below come directly from the Massachusetts Probate Court's June 15, 2018 Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. You can save the results of your calculation into a court-ready Child Support Guidelines Worksheet by clicking on the "SAVE RESULTS TO WORKHEET PDF" button above.
Below are the calculations that lead to the child support amount. The numbering and description of each line come directly from the Massachusetts Probate Court's CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES WORKSHEET, which is a required document for child support and divorce cases. Because you indicated that each parent will have the children about 50% of the time, you will see two sets of calculations. The first one calculates child support as if had most of the parenting time, and the second one calculates child support as if had most of the parenting time. The actual presumptive ("expected") payment in this 50-50 custody situation is the mathematical difference between the two calculated amounts, with the higher income spouse (typically) paying this difference. This calculation is shown at the bottom of the page.
   
1. AGE, NUMBER, AND PARENTING OF CHILDREN
a. Number of children who may be eligible to be covered by this order
b. The box that applies to the children listed in 1(a).
 
Parent A
Parent B
c. Parents' names
d. Number of children under age 18
e. Number of children 18 years or older who may be eligible to be covered by this order
f. Total number of children to be covered by this order
2. INCOME
a. Gross weekly income
b. Minus Child care cost paid
c. Minus Health care cost paid
d. Minus Dental/vision insurance cost paid
e. Minus Other support obligations paid
f. Available Income
g. Combined Available Income
h. Share of combined available income
3. GROSS SUPPORT AMOUNTS
a. Applicable available income
b. Support amount for one child
c. Adjustment for number and ages of children covered by this order
d. Combined support amount
4. ADJUSTMENTS FOR CHILDREN 18 YEARS OR OLDER
a. Adjustment percentage for the ages of the children listed in 1(d) and 1(e)
b. Adjustments for children 18 years or older
c. Adjusted combined support amount
5. PROPORTIONAL SUPPORT AMOUNTS
 
Parent A

Bob
Parent B

Jennifer
a. Minus Each parent's share of support
b. Other parent's share of support
c. Support at % of each parent's available income
d. Other parent's adjusted share of support
e. Recipient and Payor
f. Payor's net share of support
6. ADJUSTMENT FOR CHILD CARE AND HEALTH CARE COSTS
a. Child care and health care cost paid
b. Payor's share of Recipient's cost
c. Minus Recipient's share of Payor's cost
d. Payor's net cost
e. Maximum adjustment amount
f. Adjustment applied to order
g. Adjustment applied to order
h. Payor's adjusted share of support
7. PAYOR'S NET SUPPORT OBLIGATION
a. Support as % of Recipient's available income
b. Payor's final support obligation
Weekly Child Support Payment from Parent to Parent
8. ADDITIONAL INCOME ABOVE $4,808
a. Combined additional income
b. Share of combined additional income
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