Massachusetts Alimony Calculator

Massachusetts applies a strict mathematical guideline.

Massachusetts caps alimony at the recipient’s need or 30–35% of the difference between the parties’ gross incomes (G.L. c. 208 § 53(b)), and excludes from that income base any gross income already considered in setting child support (§ 53(c)) — modeled here as 15% of the payer’s gross income for one child.

Because Massachusetts uses a formula, this calculator returns a precise point estimate or statutory band rather than a judgment call. The exact arithmetic is shown in the step-by-step math drawer of the calculator above.

Duration: G.L. c. 208 § 49(b) sets maximum terms of 50% of the marriage for marriages up to 5 years, 60% up to 10 years, 70% up to 15 years, 80% up to 20 years, and permits an indefinite term for marriages over 20 years.

Settlement planning

Lump-Sum Alimony Buyouts & Post-Support Cash Flow in Massachusetts

Most Massachusetts support awards are agreed as a set of monthly payments — but the same money can be settled in one payment up front. That trade is called an alimony buyout: instead of writing a check every month for years, the payer hands over a single lump sum today, often by letting the recipient keep more of the house or more of a retirement account, so both spouses can move on cleanly. Massachusetts’s own amount and duration rules (G.L. c. 208 §§ 49, 53) set how much is paid each month and for how long, and that monthly stream is the thing being bought out.

Why is one payment today worth less than adding up every future check? Because money in hand now can sit in a safe account and earn interest over the same years those checks would have arrived. This alimony buyout calculator shows the same payment stream at 3.5%, 4.5% and 6.0% — the higher the rate, the smaller today’s lump sum, and the wider the gap between “paid monthly” and “paid up front”. Taking the deal up front means accepting a lump sum spousal support payment today instead of years of monthly checks.

In the 12-year, $120,000 payer / $40,000 recipient scenario used above, the monthly checks add up to $218,817 over 101 months — but settled as one single payment today they are worth $181,869 at 4.5%, $189,294 at 3.5% or $171,472 at 6.0%. That difference is what a settlement is really negotiating: the payer pays less in total, and the recipient gets the money sooner.

After the estimated $2,167-per-month transfer, the payer keeps about $5,333 per month (53% of the combined post-transfer total) and the recipient has about $4,667 (47%). The question after support is the simple one: what does each household actually have left to live on? The take-home split shows both sides after estimated taxes and after the payment, and since 2019 alimony is neither taxable for the receiver nor deductible for the payer, every dollar moves across unchanged. Print the calculator above as a spousal support worksheet and the inputs, the step-by-step math and these settlement figures all come out together on one clean page.