New Ruling Deals with Interplay of Child Support and Alimony

In Cavanaugh v. Cavanaugh, released in early August 2022, the Supreme Judicial Court has upended a number of common practices used in the Massachusetts probate courts by judges, lawyers, and mediators around child support and alimony calculations.??It had been an accepted practice of using only the child support guidelines to calculate child support where the total income of the parents does not exceed $250,000. Child support would be calculated on the first $250,000 of combined income, and then alimony would be calculated on any income above that, or all of the income up to $400,000 could be used for child support calculations. After the Alimony Reform Act in 2011, it was commonly understood by practitioners and courts that child support would be calculated first, and alimony only would be available if there were higher incomes involved. It seemed that the Alimony Reform Act prohibited the use of the same income to calculate both child support and alimony.

In the Cavanaugh ruling the SJC requires judges to follow a specific series of steps in calculating support where concurrent orders of child support and alimony may be available. Now judges will be required to calculate alimony first and then use the post alimony income in the child support guideline calculation. This will likely result in a higher total support amount.?Secondly, to calculate child support first and then determine if there is additional income to calculate alimony, then calculate the alimony. Thirdly, to compare these two calculations to determine which order would be more equitable in light of that particular family’s situation.

When an order is made that does not include alimony, the judge must articulate in the order specifically why there is no alimony.?There is a broad exception provided in a footnote:?a judge does not need to articulate why alimony is not warranted if it is pursuant to a valid separation agreement being approved.

Clearly this decision raises more questions than it answers.?It leaves divorce practitioners going back to the drawing board.?How does one determine which order is more equitable? Equitable to which party??Will this lead to more conflict in families because the range of possible support is now wider? We also don’t know how the judges in the probate court will handle these situations practically.?For now, it is important to know that parents are always able to work through the financial calculations together with a mediator and agree on support orders that will still be acceptable to judges.