Child Support and Alimony Awards

ALIMONY

When a marriage between two people comes to an end, one of them may be eligible for spousal support.  If one party is financially stronger than the other, the court will consider a variety of factors and will order that spouse to pay alimony. This alimony award allows the other partner to maintain a financially sound lifestyle, transition into the job market or obtain an education in order to embark on a new career path. The main factor is need of once spouse and the ability of the other to pay.  For instance, the court will attempt to avoid an injustice from occurring by ordering the “bread winner” to continue to support the party who has remained in the home for the previous 10 years managing a household and performing childcare related duties, who may need time to obtain gainful employment and re-enter the workforce. The eligibility criteria for alimony are purely based on the financial condition of each partner, as well as the lifestyle and financial position each party was in prior to the divorce. Massachusetts no longer awards lifetime alimony, and the length of time which the award must be paid is based primarily on the length of the marriage. A payor spouse who was married for 20 years will be ordered to pay alimony for a longer time period than a spouse who was married for 2 years.

CHILD SUPPORT

If the couple filing for divorce have children together, then child support will also be ordered by the court.  A child is legally entitled to be supported by both parents, and it is not a right that can be bargained away. Child support is a fixed sum of money that the non-custodial parent pays to the custodial parent (the parent with physical custody) in order to financially provide for the child. The Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines is used by the court in determining the award.   Many people think that rent, utilities and car payment are deductible as expenses in determining a child support order, but this is not the case.  The Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines only figure limited expenses in calculating the final child support amount.  These expenses are health and dental insurance costs, childcare day-care expenses and other child support orders paid to any third party custodial parents or guardians.  The guidelines are rarely deviated from, however, if a parent can show a need to increase or decrease the award, a judge may make findings of fact to justify this action, but only if the circumstances show a need for the deviation.

MODIFICATIONS

The amount for child support can be modified if either parent can show that a material change in circumstances has occurred since the court issued the most recent order. However, modifications of alimony awards depends on whether the separation agreement survived as an independent contract or was merged into the judgment of divorce. When the surviving separation agreement has set the amount of alimony, and the need to balance the interests of the parties are not present, the opposing party should be able to use the agreement as a bar to the party seeking a modification. When the divorce judgment and the separation agreement have merged, giving the agreement no significance as a legal contract after the divorce, then the standard, that a material change in circumstances has occurred, would allow a party to modify the alimony award.

CONCLUSION

Although some of the factors in determining or modifying child support and alimony awards may seem similar, the purpose for the awards are vastly different. Child support orders are intended to create a system, whereby both parents are dividing the financial burden of raising and providing for a child between them, based on the parent’s prospective incomes. While alimony is an award which is paid by one spouse to the other based on the need of the receiving spouse and the other spouse’s ability to pay. The award is usually calculated by determining the income of each spouse and calculating a figure that is one third of the difference.