Attorney Julia Rueschemeyer Divorce Mediation

04/26/2026

I have created a new “asset division calculator” for divorce at: https://www.amherstdivorce.com/divorce-asset-division-calculator. This calculator works in your browser and automatically calculates without downloading an awkward Excel sheet or .pdf. Simply enter your assets, their value, and any debts you have as a couple. After you indicate which spouse might keep which assets, the calculator shows you the total dollar each spouse is getting, the percentage of assets each spouse is getting, and the dollar value of the “equalization payment” that one spouse could pay to the other in order to achieve a 50-50 division of assets. You can use this to experiment with what different ways of dividing your assets and debts might look like. All of this occurs in an easy-to-understand table format. You can save the results to your computer or print them out. Like my child support, alimony, and pension calculators, this asset division calculator is intended to take away the mystery of how finances are handled in divorce in Massachusetts.

02/14/2026

Even as overall divorce rates in America have declined, the rate of "gray divorce"--divorce for couples over 50--has greatly increased over the last several decades. I have just created two blog posts on my website regarding gray divorce. One post summarizes research about it (https://www.amherstdivorce.com/blog/gray-divorce-what-the-research-says-about-divorce-after-50.html) while the other one spells out the special considerations you should take into account should you be divorcing later in life (https://www.amherstdivorce.com/blog/gray-divorce-special-considerations-for-couples-divorcing-after-age-50.html).

11/29/2025

Massachusetts child support calculations and worksheets have been updated, and all child support orders starting December 1, 2025 and all divorce filings involving child support starting December 1, 2025 must use the new forms and calculations. My user-friendly, child support calculator using the new December 1, 2025 calculations and forms is now available on my website at https://www.amherstdivorce.com/ma-child-support-calculator-html . My calculator offers unique, after-tax calculations of the effects of child support and allows court ready forms to be printed out right from the website. My user-friendly calculator for child support claims between October 4, 2021 and November 30, 2025 is still available on my website at: https://www.amherstdivorce.com/old-2021-to-november-2025-ma-child-support-calculator

User-friendly calculator, most up-to-date formulas, newest Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines + Tax Impact | Divorce Mediation Boston

01/30/2025

Free MBTA pension benefit calculator
I have just created a free Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority pension calculator that allows MBTA employees to calculate their future pension benefits instantly. It works for both Plan A and Plan B participants and for employees who joined both before and after December 6, 2012. You simply enter your age, years of service, projected retirement date, and your high three-year average salary. It is the only publicly available MBTA calculator. You can access it here: : https://www.amherstdivorce.com/mbta-pension-benefit-calculator
It also includes an inflation calculator that shows how the purchasing power of your annual pension payments will decline over time. You can choose the inflation rate, and you can download a .pdf report showing annual income by age, adjusted for inflation.

10/20/2024

Free Sample Massachusetts Separation Agreement.pdf

In September 2024, the Massachusetts State Probate Court finally released a Massachusetts Separation Agreement Form Sample as a free .pdf template. You can download the sample from this blog post: https://www.amherstdivorce.com/blog/massachusetts-separation-agreement-sample-template.html This is significant because the Separation Agreement is the most important divorce divorce form in Massachusetts–it is the divorce agreement. The state does not require that couples use this particular form, but they can. Most importantly, it finally lets people see all the basic issues that are addressed in an uncomplicated divorce, so that they can better understand and plan for the process.

07/27/2023

I have created a new webpage to reach clients in Worcester and Worcester county, including the larger towns of Leominster, Fitchburg, and Shrewsbury:

Divorce Mediation in Worcester, Leominster, Fitchburg, and Shrewsbury   I am a divorce mediation lawyer with a practice that is 100% mediation. I have helped over 1600 Massachusetts couples get divorced without fighting in court and hiring expensive litigation lawyers.   When I meet with you, I ed...

07/27/2023

New calculator to show income after child support and taxes

Child support—whether you pay it or receive it--has no effect on taxes. The child support payor pays taxes on full income, and child support is calculated on full income. The child support recipient does not pay taxes on the child support received—the payor has already paid taxes on that income.

Many couples want to know how much income they will have after child support is paid or received and after taxes have been paid. A new feature of my Massachusetts Child Support Calculator at https://www.amherstdivorce.com/ma-child-support-calculator-html allows you to figure this out with the click of a button.

You simply enter your income, number of children, and whether you care for your child 1/3 of the time, ½ the time, or 2/3 of the time. The calculator then calculates the standard child support amount. To see approximate after tax income, simply click the green button “Calculate Approximate After-Tax Income After Child Support.”

In the example given, one spouse takes care of the children 2/3 of the time and earns $900/week. That spouse is called 2/3CareGiver in the chart. The higher earner earns $2500/week and takes care of the children 1/3 of the time, so is called 1/3CareGiver. The guideline child support amount for this couple is $645/week. With the click of a button, you can see that the higher earner (named 1/3CareGiver, in this case) will pay about $37,501 in MA and Federal taxes, while the lower earner (2/3CareGiver) will pay only $8,506 in taxes. After child support and taxes, 1/3CareGiver has about $58,959, while 2/3CareGiver has about $71,834 per year. This is a significant reversal in their incomes as 1/3CareGiver starts from an annual gross income of $130,000 while 2/3CareGiver starts from an annual gross income of $46,800.

The calculator has a second feature, which allows you to see the results of a non-guideline child support (that the spouses might agree on). In this case the user has entered $500 as the weekly child support amount. This results in after-tax, after-child support incomes of $66,499 for 1/3CareGiver and $64,294 for 2/3CareGiver.

06/24/2023

New Calculator for Calculating Alimony Combined with Child Support

In August 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made a surprise ruling that has reshaped the way family court judges must calculate and evaluate alimony and child support orders. Until that point, it was unusual for judges to order a combination of alimony AND child unless a family’s household income was over $400,000. Since child support is “presumptive” (standard or assumed), judges would typically only order child support when family income was below this $400,000 threshold.

The August 2020 Cavanagh v. Cavanagh case and decision radically changed what judges must do. Judges must now do the following in making orders in 1b (contested) cases:
1. Calculate alimony first…..Then calculate child support using the parties’ post-alimony incomes.
2. Calculate child support first. Then calculate alimony…[on family income above $400,000]
3. Compare the base award and tax consequences of the order that would result from the calculations in step (1) with those of the order that would result from the calculations in step (2), above.

I have created a calculator that does all of these calculations for you in one step. The calculator can be found at https://www.amherstdivorce.com/ma-alimony-plus-child-support-calculator. It calculates all three of these steps, including tax consequences and allows you to experiment with different numbers and download your results as a .pdf.

03/01/2022

When will my divorce be final?

In Massachusetts, a “contested” (1B) divorce becomes final 90 days after the divorce hearing. An “uncontested” (1A) divorce becomes final 120 days after the divorce hearing. You are therefore no longer married on the 91st or 121st day after your hearing.

I have created a calculator on my website at https://www.amherstdivorce.com/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-divorce-to-be-final-in-ma that allows you to calculate this date based on your divorce type and your hearing date. Remember that you are still married until this waiting period has passed!

08/13/2021

NEW CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES AND FORMULAS
Massachusetts will use new formulas and calculations for all child support orders made on or after October 4, 2021. The new formulas substantially increase the dollar amount of orders for 2 or more children; they apply to the first $400,000 of family income (as opposed to the first $250,000 in the 2017 formula); and they share child care costs in a more transparent and logical way. The state has released a .pdf of the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet, but not one that can do calculations. I have created an online calculator that can do these calculations, the only one in the state as of now. You can see it at: https://www.amherstdivorce.com/beta-child-support-calculator-october-4-2021