How to determin child support payments

[jerry Lenihan]

Massachussetts

I am going to be getting divorced very soon and we are being very civil about it. We are both curious as to how child support is determined. I am the husband and currently make $52,000/year. I pay $188 every two weeks for family health care and $28 every two weeks for family dental care. My wife makes approx $25-30,000 per year. She is finishing up nursing school but does alot of freelance graphic work. We have one child that is 4. She is currently in day care 1 day a week and we have parents who watch her the other days.

Is there a formula or a web site I can go to to attempt to figure this out?

Thanks

[djohnson]

I know in Tn for one child its 21% of your pay before taxes. The custodial parent is typically who pays child care. All those other things are separate issues and varies depending on personal circumstances. It may be different in your state but I do not know. It shouldn't be much different though.

This site has an actual "Interactive Worksheet" for your calculations and more info than many states on child support. I was surprised by the quantity of info on CS for Massachusetts. Most state's CS info (on this and many generic divorce info sites) is very terse - just "based on the income shares model" (whatever that is). This worksheet has a date of Feb.15,2002 so it must be fairly accurate to give you at least an estimate .

That site again is [url]www.divorcenet.com[/url] and you want to "select" the state of Massachusetts. Drop the [URL] tags if you like to "cut and paste". My kudos to you and your stbx wife for trying to be civil and fair.

Good luck.

[jerry Lenihan]

Thats site is great! Just whay we were looking for.

Thanks!

Jerry

My best wishes for you and you family's future happiness and prosperity .