Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

My husband and I are going through a divorce. My children (12 & 15) want to stay with their dad. I want to have shared custody but don't want to push them back & forth between homes. If they choose to live with their dad 80-90% of the time would I be responsible for child support?


Asked on 1/18/11, 1:44 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Paul Lancia Attorney Paul Lancia

Yes. Look into shared custody with Dad that will eliminate child support.

You cannot leave the decision with the children.

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Answered on 1/23/11, 1:51 pm
Edward L. Amaral, Jr. Amaral & Associates, P.C.

If Dad had physical custody the majority of the time... He would be the primary caretaker of your children and you have to pay him child support unless the two of you can work out an agreement and he waives child support for some good reason ...which would be subject to the scrunity of the judge. If you get him to share physical custody...you would have to demonstrate to the judge that this was in fact true.... And child support would be calculated both ways with him paying you and you paying him...and who ever has the greater income would pay the other spouse the difference.

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Answered on 1/23/11, 2:04 pm
Laurie Martucci Wagner Law Associates LLC

While I agree with Attorney Lancia that you should look into shared custody, especially given the ages of the children, shared custody does not eliminate child support. Under the revised child support guidelines, as of January 2009, when parents share custody, child support is determined by calculating the guidelines twice, first with one parent as the recipient, and second with the other parent as the recipient. The difference in the calculations is paid to the parent with the lower weekly support amount. So, basically what this means is that when parents share custody, the parent who earns more pays some child support to the other parent.

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Answered on 1/23/11, 2:08 pm


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