Child Support & Alimony

• Child Support
• Alimony

Child Support

All parents must support their children, whether the parents are married or not.  The issue of which parent makes child support payments to the other is determined based on where the children live.  If one parent offers the primary amount of physical support to the children, then the other parent is usually required to make financial support payments.

In Massachusetts, there are child support guidelines that are formulated to be used by the judges of the Trial Court.  These formulas are used to set temporary, permanent or final orders for current child support, or to decide whether to approve agreements for child support.

The court can make appropriate orders of support and education for any child who is older than 18, but not yet 21, and who lives in the home of a parent and is principally dependent upon that parent for support.  The same is true for a child who is older than 21, but not yet 23, if the child is principally dependent upon parents for enrollment in an educational program, excluding educational costs beyond an undergraduate degree. 

These guidelines are presumed to be correct unless there is a showing that the amount would be unjust or inappropriate under the particular circumstances in a case.  Reasons for deviation from the guidelines are, for example, a parent ordered to pay support that has other minor children and has insufficient financial resources available; or a parent who may have extraordinary expenses such as travel-related visitation expenses, or a high amount of uninsured medical expenses.

Our attorneys always stress to clients the need to present to the Court any other expenses you may want to discuss with opposing counsel or to include in any support order.  These expenses include college tuition and college savings accounts, allowances, holiday and birthday gifts, special occasions such as proms and graduations, first cars and auto insurance, birthday parties, weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, first communions, travel to and from parents’ homes if it requires airfare, bus or train fares, and other school- or activity-related supplies and expenses.  Children’s Expenses Worksheet

Finally, there are two other points to emphasize which relate to the Child Support Guidelines:

1.  Age Differential:  The guidelines are increased to reflect the cost of raising older children.  When the oldest child in the household for whom support is sought reaches 13 years old, there is a 10% increase to the basic order.

2.  Attribution of Income:  If the court makes a determination that a party is earning substantially less than they could through a reasonable effort, the court may consider potential earning capacity rather than actual earnings.  In making this determination, the court shall take into consideration the education, training, and past employment history of the party.  This determination, however, is not intended to apply to a custodial parent with children who are under the age of six living in the home.

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Alimony

For practical purposes, alimony, maintenance and spousal support mean the same thing.  Simply put, alimony is a series of payments from one spouse to the other, or to a third party on behalf of the receiving spouse.

Deciding whether a spouse should receive alimony (and if so, how much) is based on need, the ability of the other party to meet that need, length of the marriage and previous lifestyle.

To establish need, the court will assess whether the recipient will have enough money to live after the divorce.  To make this determination, the judge will likely consider the spouse’s earning ability, earnings from property received in the property division and earnings from separate property.  Minor children are also considered when evaluating need.  Although child support is a separate issue, the custodial parent must be able to care adequately for the children.

In assessing whether the other spouse has an ability to pay spousal support, the court simply asks whether the payer can afford to pay what is needed and still have enough to live.  The payer’s ability to pay may also be based on their having enough money left to support a lifestyle roughly equivalent to the marital lifestyle.

Of course, the parties are often able to agree on the question of alimony. A critical consideration is the fact that alimony is deductible, dollar for dollar, from the payer’s total adjusted gross income on their income tax return, and correspondingly is includable as ordinary income by the recipient on their income tax return.  Child support, on the other hand, is not deductible by the payer and not taxable by the recipient.

Finally, the longer the marriage, the more likely alimony will be awarded.  A two-year marriage may not qualify for alimony but a 25-year marriage probably would.  In addition, the longer the marriage, the longer the alimony will be paid.

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Attorney Irwin M. Pollack, founder of the Massachusetts Family Law Group and The Law Offices of Irwin M. Pollack, focuses his practice primarily on divorce, child support & alimony, custody & visitation, property distribution, modification & enforcement and business valuation in Boston communities including Andover, Lexington, Wellesley, Weston, Belmont, Topsfield, Marblehead, Swampscott, Manchester, Natick, Framingham, Marlborough, Sudbury, Dover, Duxbury, South Shore, North Shore, Worcester, Shrewsbury, Holden, Cape Cod, Sharon, Foxboro, Newton, Needham and Chestnut Hill.  Contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation or call (781) 461-9800.