The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Administrative Office of the Trial Court Boston, Massachusetts CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES ‘The attached CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES supersede any previous Guidelines and are effective January 1, 2009. ib falpan ef Justice for ‘Administration and ManagementCOMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE TRIAL COURT CIIILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES Preamble “These guidelines shall ake effect on January 1, 2009 and shall be applied to all child support orders and judgments entered after the effective date, There shall be a rebuttable presumption that these guidctnes apply in ll cases {stablshing or modifying a child support order. Existing orders and judgments tess than three years old as ofthe effective date ofthese guidelines shall not be modified unless the income of one or both partes has changed or other new ‘ireumstance warrants modification In recognition ofthe privity ofthe interests of the children of the Commonwealth, these child support guidelines ae formulated 1 be used by the justices ofthe Trial Court, whether the parents of the children are married or unmarried, in setting temporary, permanent ot final orders for current child support, in deciding whether to approve agreements for child suppor. and in deciding cases that are before the court to modify existing orders. The guidelines are intended to be of assistance to members ofthe bar and to litigants in determining what level of payment would be expected given the felative income levels ofthe parties, In all cases where an order for child support is requested, a guideline worksheet must be filed ou, regardless of the income ofthe pares. Principles In establishing these guidelines, de consideration has been given to the following principles: 1) tominimize the economic impact on the child's standard of living; 2) to encourage joint parental responsibility for child support in proportion to, of as a percentage of, income; 3) tomeet the child's survival need in the frst instance, bu tothe extent cither parent enjoys a higher standard of | living, to entitle the child to enjoy that higher standard; 4) to protect subsistence level of income of parents atte low end of the income range whether or not they are on public assistance; 5) torecognize the non-monetary contributions and extent of involvement ofboth parents; 6) __torecognize the monetary andr in-kind contributions of bth parents in addition tothe child support order; 7) topromote consistency in the setting of child support orders at all income levels whenever appropriate, 8) torecognize the importance, availability, and cost of health insurance coverage for the child, 9) tallow for orders and wage assignments thal can be adjusted as income increases or decreases; and 10) tominimize problems of proof forthe panies and to streamline administration for the cours. LINCOME DEFINITION A. Sources of Income For purposes ofthese guidelines, income is defined as gross income from whatever source regardless of whether that income is recognized by the Intemal Revenue Code or reported tothe Internal Revenue Service or state Department of Revenue or other taxing auhoriy. Those sources include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) @)salaries, wages, overtime and tis, (© income fom self-employment; 2) commissions; 3) severance pay; 4) royalties, 5) bonuses, 6) imterest and dividends;7) income derived from businesses/partnerships; 8) socal security excluding any benefit due toa child's own disability’; 9) veterans’ benefits; 10) military pay, allowances and allotments, 11) insurance benefits, incading those received for disability and personal injury, but excluding reimbursements for property losses; 12) workers" compensation; 13) unemployment compensation; 14) pensions; 13) annuities; 16) distributions and income from trusts, 17) capital gains in real and personal property transactions tothe extent that they representa regular source of income; 18) spousal support received from a person nota party to this order, 19) contractual agreements; 20) perquisites or in-kind compensation o the extent that they represent a regular source of income; 21) unearned income of children, inthe Couns discretion; 22) income from life insurance or endowment contracts; 23) income from interest in an estate, ether directly or through a rust; 24) lottery or gambling winnings received either in a lump sum or in the form of an annuity; 25) prizes or awards; 26) netrental income; 27) funds received ffom earned income credit, and 8) any other form of income or compensation not specifically itemized above. B. —_Overtime and Secondary Jobs Ifthe Cour disregards income, in whole or in part, from overtime or a secondary job, due consideration must {ist be given to czrain factors including but not limited tothe history of the income, the expectation thatthe income will continue tobe available, the economic needs ofthe parties and the children, the impact of the overtime on the parenting plan, and whether the extra work is a requirement of the job. If afer a child support order is entered, a payor o recipient ‘brains a secondary job or begins to work overtime, neither of which was worked prior tothe entry ofthe order, there shall be a presumption thatthe secondary jab or overtime income should not be considered ina fture support order. c séf Employment or Other Income Income ffom selFemployment, rent, royalties, proprietorship ofa business, or joint owmership ofa partnership of closely held corporation, is defined as gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses required to produce income. In gnera, income and expenses from self-employment or operation of a business shouldbe carefully reviewed to ‘determine the appropiate level of gross income available to the parent to satisfy a child support obligation, In many cases this amount will differ from a determination of business income for tax purposes. Expense reimbursements, in-kind payments or benefits received by a parent, persnal use of business property, payment of personal expenses by a business in the course of employment, self-employment, ox operation of business ‘may be inchided as income if such payments ae significant and reduce personal living expenses. 7 ra parent reoive social security benefits or SSDI benefits andthe child(en) of the paris reccives a dependency benefit derived from that parent's benefit the amount ofthe dependency benefit shall be added tothe gross income ofthat parent. ‘This combined amount is that parents 708 income for purposes ofthe child suppor calculation. ithe amount ofthe dependency benefit exceeds the child suppor obligation calculated under the guidelines, then the ‘Payor shall not have responsibil for payment ofcurent child support in excess ofthe dependency benefit, However, ifthe fuidclines are higher than the dependeney benefit the Payer must pay the difference between the dependency benefit and the ‘Seekly support amount under the guidelines. Rosenbesg v. Merida, 428 Mass. 182 (1998)