How are Charitable Contributions treated in a Divorce?

In any divorce case in Massachusetts, whether contested or uncontested, you are required by Massachusetts Supplemental Probate Court Rule 401 to file a Financial Statement.

The form of the financial statement which each party must complete is dependent upon his or her income. A party whose income equal or exceeds $75,000.00 must complete the long form financial statement. A party whose income is less than $75,000.00 must complete the short form financial statement.

The long form is 9 pages long and requires more details than the 4-page short form. The long form includes a line-item for Charitable Contributions deducted directly from your paycheck (on page 2) and a line-item for Charitable Contributions paid as part of your regular Weekly Expenses (on page 4). If you make regular contributions that are deducted from your pay then those should be entered on page 2. If you make regular contributions from your take-home income we suggest that you average those contributions over a year, divide by 52 and enter them on page 4.

Even if you are required to fill out the short form you can include any such charitable contributions in the "other" line-items on page 2.

Unless these amounts are significant, they are unlikely to have a major impact on your divorce case. If, however, you are claiming that you do not have enough money to pay your household bills when arguing for or against support, your ability to pay for non-essential items such as charitable contributions could be used to argue that you have a reduced need for support. I seldom see this issue raised however, as the amounts are usually minimal and even divorce attorneys are not likely to argue that charitable giving should be punished.

For more information about divorce contact Attorney Kelsey or call 508.655.5980.

Also, if reading this post put you in a charitable mood we invite you to donate to the One-Mission Buzz-Off, which is a charity to benefit Children's Hospital Boston and the vital programs and services they provide to help kids beat cancer. In support of this charity Attorney Kelsey will GO BALD on June 3, 2012 at their annual Buzz-Off.

Comments

What is the purpose of the Divorce Nisi waiting period?

In Massachusetts the statutory waiting period after a Judgment of Divorce and before the divorce becomes final (or absolute) is called the Nisi period. After a divorce case settles or goes to trial, a Judgment of Divorce Nisi will issue and it will become Absolute after a further ninety (90) days. This waiting period serves the purpose of allowing parties to change their mind before the divorce becomes final. If the Judgment of Divorce Nisi has issued but not become final yet, and you and your spouse decide you don't want to get divorced, then you can file a Motion to Dismiss and the Judgment will be undone. Although many of my clients who are getting divorced think the idea of getting back together with their ex sounds crazy, I have had cases where this happened. In addition to offering a grace period to change your mind, the Nisi period has three other legal effects: 1. The most obvious effect of the waiting period is that you cannot remarry during the Nisi period, be...

New Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines (2021): Big Changes, Little Changes, Typos & some Unexpected Results

UPDATE: The court has released a web calculating version of the 2021 MA Child Support Guidelines Worksheet . It resolves some of the typos referred to below, but the unexpected calculations still apply. Every four years, per federal mandate, the Massachusetts Probate & Family Court revisits the Child Support Guidelines through the work of a Task Force appointed by the Chief Justice. The 2021 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines were recently posted. They take effect on October 4, 2021. If you are interested in a training on all of these changes to the new Child Support Guidelines: DMTA Presents the 2021 MA Child Support Guidelines Update – Attend this event to learn the key updates you need to know for your mediation clients. Presented by Justin Kelsey of Divorce Mediation Training Associates and Skylark Law & Mediation, PC . For a full comparison of all the tracked changes between the 2018 and 2021 Massachusetts Ch...

Online Tool for Creating Parenting Plans

It is our hope that all families find a way to resolve conflict peacefully. This is especially true when children are involved. Divorced or separated parenting has many complications and the first is just deciding how to share time with a child from two separate households. Developing a schedule can result in a lot of tension, especially if parents have trouble picturing how this new schedule will interact with their work schedules and the schedules of their children. To help make this easier, we've created an online tool for creating parenting plans that is simple and easy to use: We encourage parents, regardless of the process they are using to divorce, to use this form to assist in evaluating and settling custody disputes. The form allows you to choose between the Model Parenting Plan proposals or customize your parenting plan over a four week period by clicking directly on the form. When you click on a section of the calendar it switches between ...

Search This Blog