How Do You Change a Child Support Order?

These are step by step directions for changing a child support order.

See Changing a Child Support Order to learn about when you can change a child support order can be changed.

You can ask the court to change (or modify) a child support order by working with the Department of Revenue Child Support Enforcement Division or by going ahead on your own.

Working with the Department of Revenue

The Department of Revenue Child Support Enforcement Division is required to review each child support order at least every three years, upon request. If you want the Department of Revenue Child Support Enforcement Division to review your child support order, call your child support case worker. It does not matter if you are the parent who pays child support or the parent who receives it. You can contact your child support case worker at 1-800-332-2733. If you are calling from Chelsea, Charlestown, Everett, East Boston or Revere, you must dial 617-660-1234.

If your child support order is more than three years old, or you think that there might be any discrepancy or difference between your child support order and the amount that is required by the Child Support Guidelines
You can figure out the amount required by the Child Support Guidelines by using the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. It has a built-in calculator.

You can also start the process on line by visiting the DOR Child Support Enforcement website.

The DOR will send you the forms and instructions. After you return the forms, the DOR will look at the financial information you have provided and the financial information it has concerning the other parent, and file a Complaint for Modification, as appropriate.

Filing Your Own Complaint for Modification

You can also seek a modification of a child support order by filing your own case in the Probate and Family Court. You do not need the Department of Revenue file it for you.

For a court to modify or change a child support order, there must be a "material change of circumstances" since the last order was entered. You do not have to wait three before you try to change your child support order if you can show that a "material change of circumstances" has occurred.

To modify a child support order of the Probate & Family Court:

1. Go into the court that issued the child support order.
2. Fill out and file a Complaint for Modification form. You can get the Complaint and other forms in this article for free from the court. In the proper section of the Complaint write the facts that show that there has been a material and significant change in circumstances since the last child support order.
3. Obtain and fill out a Summons.
4. Serve the Complaint and Summons.
5. Arrange a court date for hearing on the Complaint - speak to a court clerk about how to arrange a court date for the hearing.
6. Fill out a Financial Statement form and give a copy to the other parent. Make sure your Financial Statement is in black ink on pink paper.
7. Send a blank Financial Statement form to the other parent with a written request that he or she fill it out and give you a copy. Make sure the blank Financial Statement form is printed in black ink on pink paper.
8. Fill out a Child Support Guidelines Worksheet .

Nearly all child support orders are issued in Probate and Family Court.

Parents who agree about how the child support order should be modified can together file a Joint Petition for Modification of a Child Support Judgment . The Probate and Family Court website also has instructions for filling out the joint petition. A Joint Petition does not have to be served.

There is a $50 filing fee for a Complaint for Modification of a child support order. If the Department of Revenue files the case, there is no filing fee.

The deputy sheriff or constable who serves the papers will charge you for serving the complaint and summons.

However, if your income is low enough, the court can order the state to pay the cost of serving the papers. The form to ask the state to pay these costs is an Affidavit of Indigency. It is a sworn statement that you make about your income. You can get the Affidavit of Indigency form from the court. A clerk at the court needs to approve it.