Massachusetts Child Support Calculations

Child support is calculated on the child support guidelines. Child support guidelines take into consideration a couple of different factors. The primary factor is the gross income of each party. The gross income is the income that a party gets before taxes are taken out and any other deductions so it’s not what’s net in your paycheck. It’s what you make on a gross basis. The next factor in the child support guideline calculation is the cost of daycare and who’s paying for daycare. The next factor is health insurance and that’s true whether you’re paying for it privately or through an employer whether you get it deducted from your paycheck. The factor after that is the dental and vision. If a parent has a prior child support order, that’s also taken into account but in most cases, where it’s just a married couple getting a divorce that they are looking at the child support. The next factor is the number of children involved. The number goes up if there’s two children involved versus one child or three children. However, one of the common questions that I’m asked is, “does it double”? That’s not the case. It goes up in increments. It’s not doubled. It’s just higher. So the formula is a well-thought-out formula. It was studied by the courts, judges and lawyers and it’s designed to give fairly uniform results to people paying child support.

This informational blog post was provided by Cynthia Hanley, an experienced Massachusetts Divorce Attorney.