Boston Divorce Lawyer – Boston Divorce & Family Law Attorney Blog

Any time there is a dispute or issue in a Probate and Family Court, the court requires that a complete and up-to-date financial statement be submitted.  Many people think that this is no big deal and leave it until the day of court to fill it out.  That would be a mistake.  The court relies on the financial statement to calculate child support, alimony and property division.  They can choose to deviate from the child support guidelines or the new alimony guidelines based on what’s contained in the financial statement.  For that reason, it should be completed with extreme care.

If you make $75,000 or less per year in gross income (before taxes), then you fill out the Short Form financial statement.  If you make more, then you fill out the Long Form financial statement.  I will be writing the instructions below as if I am filling out a Short Form financial statement.  For a Long Form, you should really seek the advice of an attorney for your case.

First the basics – the “Division” is the county your cases is located in and the docket number is the numerical number assigned to your case.  These are important so that the court can properly file your financial statement with the correct case file.

The Personal Information section should be filled out completely except for the Social Security number portion.  You can either omit this line or put only the last four digits.  Everything else must be filled out completely.

Part 2 deals with all sources of income.  This can be easily gleamed from a current pay stub.  Take note that the figures being asked are weekly.  If you have a monthly paycheck, then divide it by 4.3 (not 4 as is commonly done) to obtain the weekly amount.  If you get paid bi weekly, then simply divide by 2.  If you are self-employed, then you need to fill out an additional Schedule A.  It is best to have your business accountant fill the Schedule A form for you.  If you own income generating rental property, then you must fill out a separate Schedule B.  Take special note of line item q which deals with contributions from other household members.  If you live with parents or a partner, and they compensate you for household expenses, then you must list this. If however, you split the bills so that someone pays the electric and someone else pays the telephone bill, then simply list it in the expense section below.

Part 3 deals with taxes which can be calculated from your pay stub or tax returns.  Remember to divide by 4.3 to get the weekly amount.

Part 4 should be auto-calculated if you are using the Court forms.  If not, it is the sum of part 2 minus the sum of part 3 or basically your income after taxes.

Part 5 deals with items deducted from your paycheck automatically before it even gets to you and part 6 is simply your income minus taxes and other deductibles.

Part 7 deals with your gross income from the previous year.  The court wants to know this because they want to determine if you have purposefully underemployed yourself for the sake of the court action.

Part 8 is really important because you can use this part to argue to the court why your child support or alimony should be reduced based on your inability to pay.  If you have high expenses, and not simply because you like to spend money, then the court might consider a deviation if justified.  These numbers have to calculated exactly and remember to divide monthly numbers by 4.3 to get the weekly equivalent.

Part 9 is where you put the amount in attorneys fees.

Part 10 and 11 is important when it comes to dividing assets in a divorce.  It is important to list every single piece of real estate, retirement account, bank account or anything of value in this area.  If there isn’t enough space, then separately attach an exhibit.  If you neglect to list something and the other party finds out or the court finds out, it is not only considered perjury but it could cost you in a property division.

“But that’s what child support is for!”

I often hear this refrain, or its cousin “I understand that’s why s/he is paying child support”.  More often than not, it isn’t correct in the context.  People tend to think that a child support payment is intended to be the full contribution owed by a non-custodial parent, but that is rarely true.  So what is child support for?  And when are you liable for or entitled to additional monies?

Child Support is intended to insulate children from the economic impact a divorce can have on a child’s standard of living.  As the 2009 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines states, Child Support is intended “to meet the child’s survival needs in the first instance, but to the extent either parent enjoys a higher standard of living, to entitle the child to enjoy that higher standard”.  Translated into lay terms, Child Support is meant to enable a child to have his or her basic needs met by items or services of the same quality he or she enjoyed during the marriage.  So what do these payments actually cover?  Food, clothing, shelter and basic sanitary/hygienic needs, like groceries, household cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and toothbrushes.

That being said, it’s time for what Child Support isn’t considered to include.  A monthly child support payment does not include monies owed for a person’s share of a child’s medical expenses.  It doesn’t include extraordinary basic expenses, like a share of tuition for a private school or college.  It doesn’t include fees associated with a child’s extracurricular activities.  While a parent may not be automatically liable for some portion of these costs, if the children were already creating or were expected to create these sorts of expenses at the time of their parents’ split, it’s difficult to argue that a parent shouldn’t continue to be responsible for some portion of this expense if she or he can afford to help.

This doesn’t mean that one parent may decide to take on some huge expense for a child and then force the other parent to contribute.  It likewise doesn’t mean that a parent can refuse to contribute to these expenses merely because he or she pays child support.  As with so many things in the area of family law, the law takes the commonsense approach: the involved parties need to look at the situation on the ground and decide what is in the child’s best interest.  Once that is determined, it is a question of the fairest way to accomplish that goal.

If you are currently having an issue with how you and your child’s other parent should apportion payment for certain expenses related to your child, it is worthwhile to consult with an attorney or mediator to assist you in coming to a solution that is fair and reasonable not only to you, but to your child.

You should never pay your child support in cash!  The simple reason is that you cannot trace cash payments.

If there is a court order for child support that’s requiring you to pay x amount in child support and you pay cash, who’s to say you actually paid it?  And in several years, how will you remembered if you’ve paid every single payment or if you’re missing a few?  If the other parent sues you for unpaid child support, how are you going to prove that you actually paid?

The best way to pay child support is through automatic wage assignment by the Department of Revenue (DOR).  In Massachusetts, the DOR has a special division called the Child Support Enforcement division that will automatically pull the right amount of child support from your paycheck and will make a note of it in their system.  The DOR usually has an office in each county inside or near the Probate and Family Court whether you’re in Boston or Cambridge or Quincy.  If you owe back child support, they will be able to calculate it in their system.  Above all else, they will have documentation of every child support payment you’ve ever made so there can be no arguments about whether or not you actually paid child support.

The next best thing to paying your child support through the DOR is paying by check.  At least if there’s ever a disagreement, you can track checks although this can be difficult forensic accounting if we have to go back many years.

In this video, I talk about the basics of Massachusetts child support laws.  I discuss when child support is to be paid and how much support is paid by using the child support guidelines.  For parents wishing to obtain child support, I talk about the different types of services available, both free and paid.

Part III of an ongoing series exposing the truth about Family Law Myths.   To see the truth about more Family Law Myths, see Parts I and II.

Myth: If I’m completely uncooperative, I can stop the case from moving forward.

Truth: All too often, people believe that if they refuse to participate in the process (divorce, child custody, child support, alimony, paternity, etc.), the process can’t move forward.  The truth is that while this might stall the proceedings temporarily, it won’t work for long.  Not only will the process move forward, but it will more than likely end with a final result that you absolutely hate.  Why?  The courts can only make decisions based on what is presented to them, and the other party has no responsibility to tell them your side of the story.

Your failure to respond to filings and refusal to show up for court dates hurts only you.  Only you (and your attorney) can defend your interests.  The thought of going to court makes everyone anxious.  It’s not a pleasant way to spend your day.  But what’s at stake is too important to let anxiety get in the way.  If you ignore the process, the process will go forward, ignoring you.

Myth: A good lawyer can be found cheaply or for free.

Truth: You wouldn’t walk into the super market and ask for free food.  A brand new car with an incredibly low price tag would probably make you suspicious.  So why would you expect a good family law attorney to be cheap or free?  Like all other things, when it comes to legal services, you get what you pay for.   Why would you want to pinch pennies with what is at stake in a family law matter?

If you truly cannot afford a family law attorney, it may be worthwhile to look into pro bono (free) legal services that may be available to you.  There are a few things worth remembering when looking for these services:

-           Just calling private attorneys offices and asking for free or discounted rates likely isn’t going to get you free or discounted services.  It’s not that attorneys don’t want to help you, it’s that they can’t afford to!

-          Family law matters are matters of civil law.  This means you don’t have the right to an attorney.  That only applies to criminal matters.

-          Legal services agencies (agencies that receive funds from the Commonwealth to provide free legal services) can only provide services to individuals who, at the very least, meet income requirements.  In lawyer terms, you must be “indigent.”  This typically means your household’s income is equal to or less than 175% of the Federal Poverty Line.  Right now, that’s approximately $13,500/year +$4,500/year for each additional family member living in the household.

**Even if you meet this requirement, different agencies have different “priorities” for service.  These priorities are set by the Commonwealth when the agency is created.  While the agency might have discretion to accept other cases, they also have practical limits like their funding and their caseload.  Often these agencies can’t accept all cases that fall within their priorities, let alone accept ones that fall outside of them.