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Showing posts from March, 2013

How can the DOR help collect child support?

You may have seen that the latest New Jersey Powerball Winner who won $338,000,000 owes $29,000 in child support . If the mother who is owed child support was using the state government to help her collect that support, then that child support amount will likely be deducted from the winnings before he even receives them. This is just one reason that you might want the state to assist you in collecting your child support, especially if there are arrears. In Massachusetts, the agency that oversees the collection of child support is called the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) Child Support Enforcement (CSE) Division. The DOR CSE receives a copy of every child support order in Massachusetts, and when the order is created the child support recipient must decide if they want DOR to collect the child support from the payor. In many cases, recipients simply choose to have the amounts paid directly, and only involve DOR if there is a problem. However, every recipient has th

Who pays the child's uninsured medical expenses in a divorce?

While it is often typical for couples to agree to split the uninsured medical expenses in a divorce case, the Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines actually suggest a slightly different approach: "3) Routine Uninsured Medical and Dental Expenses:  The Recipient shall be responsible for payment of the first $250 each year in combined routine uninsured health and dental/vision expenses for all the children covered by this order. For amounts above that limit, at the time of entry of establishing or modifying the support order, the Court shall allocate expenses between the parties without adjustment to the child support order. 4) Uninsured Extraordinary Medical and Dental Expenses: The payment of uninsured extraordinary medical and dental expenses incurred for the children, absent agreement of the parties, shall be treated on a casebycase basis. (Example: orthodontia, psychological/psychiatric counseling, etc.) Where the Court makes a determination that such medical and dent