Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H2053 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1 of 1
2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 349 FILED ON: 1/8/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2053
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	Christopher J. Worrell
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act modernizing child support.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Christopher J. Worrell5th Suffolk1/8/2025 1 of 3
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 349 FILED ON: 1/8/2025
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2053
18	18	By Representative Worrell of Boston, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2053) of
19	19	Christopher J. Worrell relative to child support. The Judiciary.
20	20	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
21	21	_______________
22	22	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
23	23	(2025-2026)
24	24	_______________
25	25	An Act modernizing child support.
26	26	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
27	27	of the same, as follows:
28	28	1 SECTION 1. Section 3A of chapter 119A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022
29	29	2Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 10 and 11, the words “in accordance
30	30	3with rule 4(d)(2) of the Massachusetts Rules of Domestic Relations Procedure” and inserting in
31	31	4place thereof the following words:- by summons personally.
32	32	5 SECTION 2. Paragraph (3) of section 10 of said chapter 119A, as so appearing, is hereby
33	33	6amended by adding the following sentence:- Annually, not later than October 15, said report
34	34	7shall be published on the Mass.gov website or any successor website.
35	35	8 SECTION 3. Section 12 of said chapter 119A, as so appearing, is hereby amended by
36	36	9adding the following subsection:-
37	37	10 (n) If a noncustodial parent is incarcerated for a period exceeding 90 consecutive days,
38	38	11their child support obligation shall be automatically modified to reflect an income based on the
39	39	12state minimum wage, unless the custodial parent or the child support enforcement division 2 of 3
40	40	13presents evidence to the probate and family court that the noncustodial parent has alternative
41	41	14income or assets available to meet their support obligation.
42	42	15 SECTION 4. Subsection (b) of section 16 of said chapter 119A, as so appearing, is
43	43	16hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following sentence:- The division of
44	44	17child support enforcement shall not notify the licensing authority, for the purpose of suspending,
45	45	18revoking, prohibiting issuance or renewal of a driver's license, for any support obligor who is
46	46	19determined to be out of compliance with a judgment or order for support in a case enforced
47	47	20under Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, if the annual household income of the
48	48	21support obligor is at or below 70 per cent of the median income for the county in which the
49	49	22department or the local child support enforcement agency determines the support obligor resides,
50	50	23based on the most recent available data published by the United States Department of Housing
51	51	24and Urban Development or any successor agency.
52	52	25 SECTION 5. The second sentence of said section (b) of said section 16 of said chapter
53	53	26119A, inserted by section 4, is hereby amended by striking out the words “driver’s license” and
54	54	27inserting in place thereof the following words:- noncommercial driver’s license.
55	55	28 SECTION 6. Section 8 of chapter 209C of the General Laws, as most recently amended
56	56	29by section 37 of chapter 166 of the acts of 2024, is hereby further amended by striking out the
57	57	30words “in accordance with the applicable rules of court” and inserting in place thereof the
58	58	31following words:- by summons personally.
59	59	32 SECTION 7. Subsection (a) of section 9 of said chapter 209C, as most recently amended
60	60	33by section 39 of said chapter 166, is hereby further amended by striking out the words “In 3 of 3
61	61	34accordance with the applicable rules of court” and inserting in place thereof the following
62	62	35words:- by summons personally.
63	63	36 SECTION 8. The executive office of the trial court shall promulgate amendments to the
64	64	37child support guidelines to reflect the following:
65	65	38 (i) if the noncustodial parent earned a yearly income within the last 5 years of $100,000
66	66	39or more, and is currently making below that amount, a child support order may be established
67	67	40attributed to that previous income. Otherwise, income may not be attributed to potential earning
68	68	41capacity; and
69	69	42 (ii) if the obligor is unemployed at the time of the attribution, or employed but earning an
70	70	43amount less than the income attributed to them, the obligor shall be granted a grace period of 60
71	71	44days from the date of the income attribution determination to obtain employment or increase
72	72	45their earnings to reflect the attributed income. During said grace period, no enforcement action,
73	73	46including but not limited to license suspension, wage garnishment, bank levies or contempt
74	74	47proceedings, shall be initiated solely based on the attributed income, and the obligor shall
75	75	48provide reasonable documentation of job search efforts or employment status to the court or the
76	76	49division of child support enforcement of the department of revenue.
77	77	50 SECTION 9. Section 4 shall take effect January 1, 2027.
78	78	51 SECTION 10. Section 5 shall take effect January 1, 2028.