Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

My fiance is paying a high child support rate, the mother states its money for her bills. And asks us to buy clothing, to which we do. We do not want a child to suffer. The child support is spent on hair doos, nails, spa treatments, ect, And she also hits up 3 different food pantries in 3 different towns. She frequently goes out to eat. We drop the child off at parties, at bars, to which the mother places as the drop off point, to which discusts me. We also get my step-daughter to be approx 17 days out of the month, almost 1/2 time. And his parents also watch her during the day very frequently. We are seriously struggling, and having a hard time making ends meet. We can't even afford milk or toilet paper. $900 child support from a guy making $42K per year seems very high to me. What should we do? We would like 50/50 custody with no child support. We are so stressed out.

Asked on 6/22/10, 3:27 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Christopher Vaughn-Martel Charles River Law Partners, LLC

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My first question is whether your fiance is under a current court order for child support. If not, I would suggest that you calculate the appropriate amount of support using the child support guidelines worksheet. If you want to modify your current custody and support order, your fiance will need to file complaint for modification.

Answered on 6/23/10, 4:34 am

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