Will I pay or receive child support?

Financial support from one spouse to the other after a divorce can either be child support or alimony.  Child support is almost always calculated strictly according to the Massachusetts child support guidelines.  The child support guidelines is a set of mathematical formulas which calculate how much one parent should pay the other in child support based on the number of children, the incomes of the parents, the time the children are in each parent’s care, and certain expenses the parents make on the children’s behalf.

We have provided a Massachusetts Child Support Calculator for you to calculate the likely child support order in your case. Keep in mind that his calculation may differ from the final amount based on the specific facts of your case.

In order to accurately calculate child support by the guidelines, it is important to know how much the other parent is earning.  In some cases, one parent will try to hide income before the divorce through a financial process called “divorce planning.”  This could include purposefully earning less than they are able, deferring part of their income until after the divorce, or hiding part of their income in other financial accounts or locations.  In these cases, it is important to draft targeted discovery requests and conduct a comprehensive financial analysis and investigation in order to make sure that the appropriate child support is ordered.