2023 MA Child Support Calculator

2023 Massachusetts Child Support Calculator

 

This Massachusetts Child Support Calculator uses the October 4, 2021 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines, which are required for child support orders in MA as of October 4, 2021. It is the most user-friendly MA child support calculator on the internet. For child support court orders between June 15, 2018 and October 3, 2021, use this 2018-2021 MA Child Support Calculator.

 

October 2023 New Feature: This Massachusetts child support calculator now illustrates post-tax income after child support is calculated. This feature does not exist on any other MA child support calculator.

 

I mediate MA divorces for Worcester, Boston, Springfield, and all MA locations with online divorce mediation on Zoom.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions you have about divorce mediation or uncontested divorce. You can try the most user-friendly MA alimony calculator here.

After calculating your child support, you can click the button “Save Results to Worksheet PDF” to save the results to a Child Support Guidelines Worksheet .pdf, or you can add the case name, docket number and other information to create a completely court-ready Child Support Guidelines Worksheet .pdf. The calculator can also show an approximation of each spouse’s after-tax income after paying or receiving child support..

To calculate how much child support you should pay or receive, simply fill in the following information and click “Calculate”.

 

The August 2022 MA Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Cavanaugh v. Cavanaugh says that judges making orders in contested (1B) cases must look not only at the result of this child support calculation, but also at child support calculations that first calculate alimony, then use the post-alimony-calculation incomes to then calculate child support. A unique Cavanagh alimony, child support, and tax consequences calculator for Massachusetts divorce on this site does the calculations that judges must consider when making orders in contested (1B) divorce cases that could involve child support.

 

After you have calculated your results and downloaded a court-ready .pdf, you should check your final calculations against the state court’s calculating .pdf at: MA fillable .pdf 2021 child support calculator. You may find the state court form very difficult to fill out unless you you use my website first. If you use my website and download the results as a .pdf, it will give you a guide as to how to fill out the state’s confusing version of the form. The resulting two .pdf’s should be identical.

d)   Which of the following three choices is closest to describing the amount of time the children spend with each parent? 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.
  About 67% with Petitioner A and 33% with Petitioner B
  About 50% of the time with each parent
  About 67% with Petitioner B and 33% with Petitioner A
  (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)   Enter a weekly dollar amount for the following income and expenses:
 
Gross weekly income  Enter the gross weekly income for each parent. Gross weekly income is the total amount BEFORE taxes and other deductions are made from your paycheck.:
Health Insurance cost each week  Enter the amount paid by each spouse for family and for individual health care insurance each week.:
Dental/Vision cost each week  Enter the amount paid by each spouse weekly toward the child’s vision or dental insurance. (It can be difficult to separate this out from family vision and dental, since it is typically paid together.):


If you pay child care costs, enter the amount that each parent contributes to the cost for each child. If you do not pay child support for a child, leave it blank:

Child care amount paid for Youngest child:
Child care amount paid for Second Youngest child:
Child care amount paid for Third Youngest child:
Child care amount paid for Fourth Youngest child:
Child care amount paid for Fifth Youngest child:
Weekly alimony or child support paid out to a previous marriage  If either of you pays alimony to a previous spouse or if either of you pays out child support for a child from a previous relationship or marriage, enter the weekly paid out in that person’s column.:


Do you receive a Social Security dependency benefit? (uncommon)

Yes
No
2.b. Enter the total amount of the dependency benefit in the column of the disabled or retired parent  Enter an amount in the column for one parent or the other, not both. A child is entitled to a dependency benefit only through one parent.:
2.c. Enter the amount of the dependency benefit Social Security sends directly to each parent  The total amount from this row 2.c. must equal the amount entered above, in row 2.b.:

CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES WORKSHEET (October 4, 2021 version)

pays

Enter any of the following information that you would like to appear on the Worksheet .pdf:

Case Name:
Docket Number:
Date Prepared:
Name of Preparer:
Gross Annual Income
Approximate Annual MA and Federal Taxes
Annual Child Support
Approximate annual income after taxes and child support



Your guidelines child support amount is .
Enter a different support amount here, and click the CALCULATE button:



Gross Annual Income
Approximate Annual MA and Federal Taxes
Annual Non-guideline Support Amount Chosen by User
Approximate annual income after taxes and non-guideline support amount chosen by user

Tax calculations:


Tax calculation formulas come from the 2023-2024 calculator at: https://goodcalculators.com/us-salary-tax-calculator/massachusetts/


If a parent has the child(ren) 67% of the time, that parent’s taxes are calculated as "Head of household" and the other parent’s taxes are calculated as "Single". If parenting time is 50-50, this calculator treats both parents as filing "Single".


This tax calculator will be most accurate for salaried employees who take the standard deduction and who have low pre-tax deductions on their paystub. It may be much less accurate for people who make significant 401k contributions, are self-employed, have their own business, have rental income, have investment income, etc.


This calculator does not include the Child Tax Credit, for children who are 17 or younger at the end of the tax year. These tax credits can be taken by either parent. The separation agreement should specify which parent takes which credits in which years. The amount of this credit has been $2,000 and higher per child in recent years.


This calculator does not include any Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, and it does not include any Earned Income Tax Credit (for low- to moderate-income families).



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 divorce and child support cases and can be downloaded from the link here.
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.
   
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