Designing a child support formula that addresses all concerns is very hard, if not impossible. We know this to be true, because no matter how much hard work child support taskforces have invested over the years in designing the child support formulae, each new formula inevitably has new limitations along with its good points.

What factors do the Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines permit a Probate Judge to take into consideration when the Judge is deciding the appropriate amount of a child support order?

The Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines define the gross income upon which a child support order will be based as being, “gross income from whatever source regardless of whether that income is recognized by the Internal Revenue Code or reported to the Internal Revenue Service or state Department of Revenue or other taxing authority.”

On November 5, 2008, the new Child Support Guidelines of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts went public with an effective date of January 1, 2009. These new Guidelines represent a substantive change since the interim Guidelines were first issued in 1987.