BOSTON (AP) - A federal judge on Monday rejected a bid to stop
state family court judges from using new child support guidelines
that a fathers' rights group claims are unfair.

Fathers and Families Inc., a Boston-based group that pushes for
reform of child custody and support policies, last month sued the
state's chief administrative Judge Robert Mulligan and state trial
court judges over the new guidelines - which the group claims are
burdensome to fathers and do not take into account the costs of
raising children.

Judge Douglas Woodlock denied the group's request for an
injunction to stop the new guidelines from being used, saying it
would be inappropriate for the federal courts to get involved in a
battle over state guidelines.

Ned Holstein, the executive director of Fathers and Families,
said the group will likely refile the lawsuit in state court.

In its complaint, the group said the new guidelines call for
support payments to be calculated based primarily on income, not
the expenses incurred by the parents to raise the child. The group
said the new guidelines also fail to take into account factors
affecting income such as tax status, marital status, employment
status and obligations to support other children.

Todd Sandahl, a father from Walpole who is one of the people
suing Mulligan, said his weekly child support payments for his
11-year-old daughter will jump from $353 per week to about $403 per
week under the new guidelines.

"They are absolutely more extortionate than the old
guidelines," Sandahl said.

"We're not saying child support payments should be eliminated.
We're saying it should be fair."

A spokeswoman for Mulligan declined immediate comment.

In a statement issued in November, Mulligan said the new
guidelines were based on a review by a 12-member task force
appointed in 2006. He said they include provisions that consider
the increase in health insurance costs and the requirement of
mandatory health insurance in Massachusetts and provide greater
guidance to judges for when a child support order should be
modified.

But Holstein, who was a member of the task force, said the
revised guidelines will increase the financial burden on many
divorced fathers who are already struggling to make support
payments.

"Somewhere there has to be relief for people who are going to
be driven into poverty by the actions of a single judge who is
unelected and not accountable to the public," Holstein said.