Modifying Child Support in Massachusetts

Anytime child support is changed in order to be enforceable, that has to be done by a modification to the previous agreement whether that be a separation agreement, in a separation agreement, we call that separation agreement but that’s the divorce agreement or a previous modification agreement. In order for child support to be binding and enforceable, it has to be approved by the court. So in cases where income goes up and down, it could get recomputed and then if there was a huge variation, you could go to court. Although the rule now is that you can’t go back to court for 3 years. So that has to be something that’s factored in as to why the income is up and down and that’s where a percentage of the bonus or commission might get payable if someone all of a sudden gets a surprise commission or something to that effect. The guidelines are designed so that the (inaudible) provide a stable amount that the payor knows what they have to pay and the recipient knows what they’re going to receive. So it generally doesn’t vary from month to month although sometimes you can put something like that in an agreement in order to be fair to both parties.

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