Child Support

Every parent in Massachusetts has an obligation to support his or her children. Massachusetts has adopted Child Support Guidelines to provide some predictability in setting child support orders. Although these guidelines are fairly easy to compute if both parents are W2 employees and the children principally live with one parent, the guidelines have many complexities to address the various situations that families may have, such as

  • payments by a parent for children from another relationship
  • where each parent has a child or children from this relationship living with him or her
  • or where a parent is intentionally failing to work so as to reduce his or her support obligation.

The interaction between child support and alimony may also complicate the calculation of a child support order.

We can assist you in presenting your situation to obtain an appropriate child support order.

Alimony

In 2012 Massachusetts passed an alimony reform act to address many complaints through the years that alimony orders were inconsistent from judge to judge, lacking in predictability, and enduring in some cases far longer than the marriage or beyond the normal retirement age of the payor. Although this act has provided some assistance to lawyers and judges in determining an appropriate amount and duration of alimony payments, the act has may complexities, including interactions with child support, what happens when a party cohabits with another person after an alimony order is set and when existing orders may be modified.

This is an area where each party needs legal representation and we can help you in understanding how alimony reform affects your situation.