Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts
I was in my lawyers office the other day, and he mentioned that Massachussetts has new child support guidelines. I thought...oh great....but then he told me that the new guidelines take into account the living expenses my ex shares with her live in boyfriend, with whom she has lived with for four years. As my lawyer and I were discussing something else, I forgot to ask him for more information on this. It hit me the next day that he said that. Is this true???
2 Answers from Attorneys
The new Guidelines do not change my general understanding that child support is calculated based on two sets of gross income: yours and hers. There is always discretion for the judge to consider extrinsic factors such as her boyfriend's contribution to the household, but that is for unusual cases. In the usual case, her income (or ability to earn) and yours are all that the judge is goiung to look at.
for the most part, it is a formula driven procedure that only changes under few circumstances. There are some that say that it further erodes the contributor, that is usually a male.
The Department of Revenue has a tool in which you can get a good faith estimate.
In practice, the guidelines usually do not take into account the contributions or earnings, except to the extent that the court usually wants to know if any of the household expenses are shared by any one else.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
