Based on the COVID-19 – What should Happen if either my Income has Decreased based on Either Losing my Job because of COVID-19; Reduced Hours or Unemployment and What Should I Do if My Spouse or Ex-Spouse is No Longer Paying the Current Child Support?

Disclaimer:  This is a series of blogs related to the impact of COVID-19 on the court system; in particular, the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court.  This information may be outdated and it is important to look at the court’s website.  Also, different courts have different particularities.  I have gotten this from both speaking to other lawyers’ and the staff at the Probate and Family Court along with Zoom conferences and other articles along with reading the standing orders.

Again, you want to use your common sense and realize you will be going to court at some point or another; whether the court will consider that an emergency or not, I think as a general rule the courts would not consider child  support modification or contempt’s as an emergency, but always just depends on the circumstance.   It does make a tremendous amount of sense to file an action. If your income is going down and you are looking for child support to be reduced and to file modification and get the other party served so that the court can retroactively grant the relief to the day of the service.

In addition, filing a Contempt, Answer & Counterclaim or bringing whatever action that you might need to bring again, it might not be an emergency in terms on how the courts look at it although, every case is unique but getting the pleadings in are important. If there are ways to negotiate or work with a mediator or conciliator that also would make a lot of sense and you want to use common sense in terms of both a contempt action whether that party could pay and choosing not to pay anything.  It is important to look at that in a common sense standpoint for you but also the way the courts will eventually look at that as well.