developments in the law that have

increased the likelihood of a court

ordering alimony and child support in

the same case until quite recently in

cases involving children under the age

of 18 most courts would calculate child

support first under the child support

guidelines and only order alimony if

income exceeded the maximum amount under

the guidelines which is a combined four

hundred thousand dollars a year

recent cases have suggested that judges

should be calculating alimony first in

at least some cases and if they

calculate alimony first that can have a

profound impact on the total amount of

support the change in the law is the

result of a ruling from the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

which is now requiring judges in these

cases to calculate both alimony and

child support and then determine which

should be calculated first

one of the issues we’ve seen so far is

that judges in the probate and family

court appear to be reluctant to

calculate alimony first in many cases so

this is a very active area of Law and

litigation in which the sequence between

whether alimony or child support is

calculated first has a very big impact

on the overall amount of support and

we’re sure to see more developments in

this area of law in the years ahead