The Child Support Guidelines

What are the Child Support Guidelines?

The Child Support Guidelines are rules and formulas that judges must use to figure how much money a parent must contribute for the support of his or her children. The formula uses the "gross" (total before taxes are taken out) weekly income of the person who will be paying child support as well as the number of children, the children's ages, the income of the parent who receives the child support payments, and the cost of health insurance. The formula counts the income of the parent who receives the child support payments when that parent earns more than $20,000 per year. This is called the custodial parent income "disregard." See "What is the Custodial Parent Income Disregard?" for more information.

The child support order is calculated on the "Child Support Guidelines Worksheet", an official court form.

What is child support?

Child support is money that one parent (the "non-custodial" parent) pays to the other parent (the "custodial" parent) for the support and benefit of their children. Under Massachusetts law, children have the right to financial support from their parents. Parents have the responsibility to financially support their children.

What does "custodial parent" mean?

In the Child Support Guidelines, "custodial parent" means the parent with whom the child lives most of the time. The Child Support Guidelines do not apply if the parents have shared physical custody, which means that the child lives about the same amount of time with each parent.

How do the Child Support Guidelines work?

Under the Guidelines, judges must calculate a child support order taking into account the incomes of each parent, the number of children that are going to be supported by the child support order, the ages of the children, and the cost to the parents of providing health insurance for the children.

What is the Basic Order?

First, judges must calculate a "Basic Order". The Basic Order is based on the non-custodial parent's income and the number of children to be supported. The judge is permitted to adjust the Basic Order up or down by 2%.

The table below shows the amount of the Basic Order for several levels of non-custodial parent income for one, two, and three children

Non-custodial parent's gross weekly income	Number of Children
	One	Two	Three
$100 per week	$20	$20	$20
$150 per week	$32	$36	$41
$200 per week	$42	$48	$54
$250 per week	$53	$60	$68
$300 per week	$64	$73	$82
$350 per week	$75	$87	$98
$400 per week	$86	$101	$113
$450 per week	$98	$115	$129
$500 per week	$110	$129	$144
$550 per week	$121	$143	$160
$600 per week	$133	$157	$175

What do the Child Support Guidelines say about the amount of the order for children of different ages?

The Guidelines increase the Basic Order to reflect the costs of raising older children. The table below says how the Basic Order should be increased according to the age of the oldest child for whom support is sought.

What do the Child Support Guidelines say about situations where there are more than 3 children covered by the child support order?

When there are more than three children covered by the order, the Guidelines do not require a specific amount, but do state that the order should not be any less than the amount for three children. If the judge doesn't order any more than the amount for three children, the judge has to give written reasons for the decision.

What is the Custodial Parent Income Disregard?

The Child Support Guidelines recognize that custodial parents often must work in order to maintain a home and reasonable standard of living for the children.  In order to encourage this employment, the Child Support Guidelines do not count the custodial parent's earned income, up to $20,000 per year (the "disregard"). Anything above that may be used to reduce what the other parent contributes.

Many parents believe that the amount of the disregard should be increased due to the dramatic rise in the costs of housing, transportation, health care contributions, and other costs of living and working over the past several years.

Where can I get a copy of the complete Child Support Guidelines?

Just click right here.