One of the most contested, and anxiety-producing, issues in divorce and custody fights is the question of child support. And it is contested, even though there is a published formula anyone can run to know the presumptive amount likely to be ordered.
The main way child support is contested is to dispute how parenting time is divided. If one parent has the children most of the time – “primary physical custody” – he or she gets the most under the formula. If custody is divided 50/50 then the parent who makes more money will be required to pay support to the one earning less.
Another way child support is contested is through disputes over what each parent actually earns. Both parents facing a child support calculation have an incentive to appear to earn less than they do. If the parents are on a salary they will often try to minimize any bonuses or commissions they receive. If they are self-employed, and financially sophisticated, parents sometimes use extremely complex means to hide income. There are known methods to discover the truth in such cases, though those methods can be expensive.
Judges also have the discretion to “depart from” (i.e. not strictly apply) the Child Support Guidelines in some cases. And that “departure” can be for more or less child support, depending on the facts of an individual case. Child support is often lower, for example, for a parent who must travel to see the children and faces significant costs for doing so. Conversely, child support can be higher if the child has special needs or custodial parent has the child almost all of the time. The Guidelines were also created to apply only in situations where the parents’ combined incomes are less than $400,000 per year. Parents with income above that level often negotiate different ways to ensure full support for the children.
The formula to calculate child support is public and can be found at this link: https://courtforms.jud.state.ma.us/publicforms/PFC0001_2021.