Skip to main content

What is the Purpose of Section 3 on the New Child Support Guidelines Worksheet?


Asking why Section 3 is on the new child support guidelines worksheet is like asking why bad things happen to good people.  Everyone has a different theory and none of them are really satisfying.

The 2009 Child Support Guidelines Worksheet had two sections which broke the worksheet down into an Income Section and a Calculation Section, with a resulting recommended child support amount.  The new 2013 Child Support Guidelines worksheet changes these two sections and the calculations, which he have discussed previously.

In addition, the 2013 guidelines added a new section, Section 3 titled: AVAILABLE INCOME ABOVE $4,808 (If applicable.)

In cases where the combined household income is less than $4,808 per week ($250,000 per year), Section 3 will show all zeros.  However, if the family income exceeds this figure, Section 3 displays the proportional amount that each party has left-over in gross income after using the first $4808 per week in combined income to calculate the minimum presumptive child support order.

For example, if the payor has $7,692 in income per week ($400,000 per year) and the recipient has $1,923 per week ($100,000 per year), then the child support guidelines would use only the first $4,808 per week and assign 80% of the child support figure to be paid by the payor because the payor has 80% of the household income.  This means that the child support calculation in Section 2 of the worksheet only used the first $3,846 from the payor and $962 from the recipient (totaling $4,808 per week).

This leaves $3,846 and $962 left-over, unused for this calculation. Section 3 would then display these unused funds.

While the language of the Guidelines changed slightly relating to how the court should calculate child support in these high income cases, it really only clarified how to calculate the minimum presumptive order using a proportion of each parties income to the total income.  The Guidelines make no mention of Section 3 and what the court is meant to do with this information.

The worksheet itself indicates below the title of Section 3 that this section should be "(Considered at the discretion of the Court.)"  Without any guidance as to how this information should be used we are all struggling to know what to tell clients and how to prepare presentations for the court on this issue.

One Judge who was on the Task Force has indicated that Section 3 was for mostly informational purposes.  By providing the information directly on the worksheet it gives Judges the ability to decide whether there should be alimony (in appropriate cases) or additional child support.  Of course this information was available before, but the worksheet now saves the Judges from doing additional math.

In addition, there is a "suggestion" on page 68 of the Final Report of the 2012 Task Force regarding how we might uses this information:

"The Task Force was urged by the bar to provide guidance on how to calculate child support when the combined available income exceeds $250,000. Public input suggests that a lack of guidance leads to inconsistency in results throughout Massachusetts. In an efort to alleviate any inconsistency, the Task Force suggests that in cases where combined available income exceeds $250,000, the guidelines support amount should be applied on the first $250,000 and then applied to the combined available income above $250,000 ($4,808 weekly) in the same proportion for both the recipient’s and payor’s income as provided on line 1h of the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet." 
Essentially this recommends using the figures provided in section 3 and entering them back into the guidelines worksheet as Income in Section 1 to see what additional child support might be recommended.  In the example above, ($3,846 and $962 respectively left-over)  these figures would be plugged back into a new worksheet in the income section and yield a second child support amount.  Because I have conveniently used exactly $500,000 of total income in this example, the results will be double the minimum presumptive order (because the second worksheet will result in the same award as the first worksheet).

In cases where the total income exceeds $500,000 this could mean preparing even more guidelines worksheets, because there would still be additional income in Section 3 even on the second worksheet.

While informative, this is non-binding since this "suggestion" didn't end up in the final Guidelines.  The obvious practice tip for attorneys, though, is to include this additional calculation in their presentation to the court, along with this quote from the Task Force Report.  Even in mediation and collaborative divorce cases, I would suggest providing this information to the parties as it may assist them in reaching a reasonable settlement figure.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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 Child Support Guidelines you can download a pdf sho

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

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 Mom and Dad, an