Prior to walking down the aisle in 2014, celebrity power-couple Kanye West and Kim Kardashian entered into a prenuptial agreement, a fact that was far from surprising given that Forbes pegged the parties' respective net worths at $100 million and $40 million dollars,...
Month: March 2016
China v. the Philippines: Can Countries Ignore International Arbitration?
As President Obama meets with Asian leaders this week, his conversations with Chinese president Xi Jinping will surely touch on what has become a contentious topic with deep implications in the international community - namely, the rise of Chinese expansionism into...
U.S. District Court Dismisses Claims Arising From Check Fraud Scheme
In Armenian Missionary Association of America, Inc. v. TD Bank, N.A., et al, 87 UCC Rep. Serv. 2d 766 (D.N.J. 2015), the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed check fraud claims brought against TD Bank N.A. ("TD"). Plaintiff Armenian...
The Benefits of Practicing in the Massachusetts Land Court
A silver lining to finding oneself involved in a property dispute is the opportunity to resolve the issue in one of the Commonwealth's specialized courts, the Massachusetts Land Court. The types of legal disputes that Land Court judges decide vary in type and scope,...
Mandatory Self-Disclosures in Family Court: What Do the Finances Look Like?
In any divorce, the division of assets and support calculation (if any) will be one of the main, if not the main, focal points of the divorce process. In order to accomplish this task, both parties and their counsel should have a thorough understanding of the parties'...
Connecticut Supreme Court Upholds Mortgage Recording Fees for MERS
The Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld state legislation imposing an aggregate fee increase of approximately $5 million for mortgages recorded in Connecticut registries by Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. ("MERS"). See MERSCORP Holdings Inc., et al. v....
Alimony: Understanding What Qualifies As Alimony, And “Alimony Recapture” Rules
Alimony is the payment of money (i.e., cash) made to, or on behalf of, a former spouse provided that: a. such payment is made pursuant to a written divorce or separation instrument; b. the divorce or separation instrument does not designate the payment as one that is...
Of Jurors and Jury Instructions
I attended a recent Federal Bar Association breakfast that was hosted by a thoughtful member of the federal bench in Massachusetts. He raised an important question about juror comprehension: Should each juror have a personal copy of the Court's jury instructions and...
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