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.

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.

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.

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.

Myth: Having Joint Legal Custody means that each parent is financially responsible for half of everything the child needs.

Truth: Whether or not a parent has legal custody of a child has nothing to do with whether or not he or she has to pay support, or how much that parent will have to pay.  Legal custody dictates who gets to make major decisions for your child, like where your child will attend school.  Child Support is based on the gross incomes of both parents, and who has physical custody of the child.  Support is paid because both parents have a responsibility to contribute to their child’s financial well-being, but the court isn’t going to order a parent to pay half if he or she can’t afford that.

Further, both parents may not be responsible for all of a child’s expenses.  Child Support is about covering the necessities in a lump sum.  Things like food, clothing, rent or mortgage payments.  There are plenty of things that aren’t considered necessary expenses, or that are covered by orders separate from a Child Support order.  There may be separate provisions for healthcare expenses, or extracurricular activities.  Often times, when it comes to discretionary spending that the parents don’t agree on (for instance, one parent feels it appropriate to buy the child a brand new car and the other parent doesn’t agree), the parent who disagrees may not be responsible for any portion of the purchase.

Myth: Whether or not a parent pays Child Support determines whether or not he or she has a right to see his or her child.

Truth: The obligation to support your child and the right to spend time with your child are totally separate issues.  A parent who puts his or her child at risk may be required to pay support, even though he or she is not allowed to see the child.  Likewise, a parent who cannot pay support may have an order allowing him or her frequent visits.   In the Probate and Family Courts, judges are looking at what is in the best interest of the child.  Most of the time, this is the child having both of his or her parents in his or her life, making financial contributions at a level they can afford.

Myth: You have a right as a parent to see your child.

Truth: To a certain extent, this is true, but not the way most parents seem to think about it.  As mentioned above, the Probate and Family Court is really protecting the rights of your child; your child’s right to be safe, happy, and healthy—emotionally, mentally, and physically.  Most of the time, this interest is best served when everyone who loves your child gets to play a part in his or her life.  This is why a court will order a visitation schedule.  Not because you as a parent have a right to that time with your child, but because your child has a right to that time with you.

In the past I’ve discussed how to modify Child Support Orders.  In that post, I pointed out that to modify the order, the court will need to see that a significant change in material circumstances has occurred.  Becoming eligible for SSDI is exactly the type of change I was referring to.  In fact, the benefit your child receives might even completely cancel out your weekly child support payments!

Consider what a Child Support Order is really for:  to ensure that your child is financially supported.  That the support is coming in is what counts.  If the Dependency Benefit your child receives is as much or more* than the amount you should be paying under the support guidelines, there’s little reason for you to be paying additional money above and beyond that.  By bringing your SSDI benefit (and your child’s corresponding Dependency Benefit) to the attention of the court, you may be able to substantially decrease, if not eliminate entirely, your weekly obligation.

*Note that where the Dependency Benefit is greater than the amount owed under the guidelines, your child will continue to receive the full benefit, and you will not be entitled to the difference between these amounts.

The standard used to modify child support is that there must be a significant change in circumstances.  Something significant must have happened between the last order of child support and the new order you’re trying to obtain by a Complaint for Modification.  A significant change can be a dramatic raise in the other parent’s income or them winning the lottery, a big decrease in your income, or a big increase in the child’s needs (such as an accident or injury).

A request for modification will not be approved if there isn’t a significant change.  As you are asking the court to change the child support order, you must prove to the court that there is a significant change for the court to approve an increase (or decrease) in child support.

Sperm banks’ list of depositors are typically sealed tighter than a Swiss bank vault (although recently, that’s not so tight either).  This is to protect the possible children of the donors and more importantly the donors themselves.  The outcome of this case could jeopardize the entire sperm donation industry and therefore the hopes of a lot of women who wish to be artificially inseminated by anonymous donors.

If the identity of this donor were ordered to be disclosed – even if he ultimately would not be ordered to pay child support – it would put a chill on anyone who would even consider being a sperm donor.  They would fear the threat of having to be dragged into family court and established to be the father.

Legally, I don’t believe the donor’s identity should be revealed.  It would break the mother’s contract with the sperm bank and it would go against public policy.  Personally, I believe this is a very selfish and desperate action by the mother.

Alimony in Massachusetts is a mess.  That’s a simple statement with not so simple consequences.  Alimony in Massachusetts is a mess because there is no why and no how to it.  There is no rhyme or reason.  If no one ever articulated a reason for alimony or a “how” to calculate it, then the legal system is little more than a game of Judges picking favorites.

I’ve had opportunities to represent both husbands and wives in alimony cases.  Whether alimony gets awarded and how much depends mainly on the length of marriage, the earnings of both parties and the judge.  There are judges I’ve appeared in front of that I do not agree with and I believe has a wrong outlook on what alimony is suppose to accomplish.  Then there are judges that are extremely wise and contrary to the Boston Magazine article, do see the role of alimony as finite and they do impute income to the recipient spouse (usually the wife).  But despite the wisdom of these judges, they are restricted by statute and various case law on what they can do – and that is a shame.

There is a movement going on in Massachusetts right now to reform alimony and I believe in it.  Recently, child support was reformed in Massachusetts to take it more in-line with other states.  Child support now counts the contribution of both parents in supporting the minor children, not simply the payor as was the case in the past.  There is now a fair and fixed formula for child support.  Have all child support lawyers gone out of business because of it? No.  There will always be those cases where there are conflicts and that’s where lawyers come into play.  Alimony should be no different.  There should be a finite limit and there should be a formula to calculate it.

[Massachusetts Alimony Reform]