The Massachusetts Child Support Laws make both the parents of a child responsible for taking care of its primary needs.

• The guidelines prescribe a hybrid form of the income shares and percentage of income models for determining the child support amount.
• The non-custodial parent will be required to make support payments to the custodial parent for maintaining a child’s standard of living. The custodial parent is presumed to spend such an amount on the child only.
• Based on the child support guidelines, the court determines and approves the support amount for the child’s education, health care, and recreational facilities.