In contested custody cases where a child rejects contact with a parent, the rejected parent often accuses the aligned parent of engaging in alienating behaviors that are intended to sever the attachment between the child and the rejected parent. But aligned parents...
Divorce & Family Law Blog
Massachusetts Prenuptial Agreement Signed One Day Prior to Wedding Upheld: Size and Formality of Wedding and Prior Divorce Matters
The Massachusetts Appeals Court has issued a Rule 1:28 Memorandum and Order in a divorce case entitled Roof v. Abelowitz upholding the validity and enforceability of a prenuptial agreement that the wife signed only one day prior to the wedding. The court considered...
What a Financial Statement Is and Why You Need One
Many clients describe the Rule 401 financial statement as "a giant pain," "putting square pegs into round holes," or "the most annoying thing I've ever done in my life." While filling out a financial statement can often be fairly simple, sometimes it can take days or...
Alternative Dispute Resolution In Massachusetts: What Is Conciliation?
Supreme Judicial Court Rule 1:18 encompasses the Uniform Rules on Dispute Resolution ("Rules"). The Rules govern court-connected dispute resolution services provided in civil and criminal cases in the Commonwealth's trial courts. One of the express purposes of the...
As a Trustee, Can You Partition Real Estate Owned by a Trust?
Trustees sometimes face beneficiaries disagreeing about how to maintain real estate owned by a trust, such as a family vacation home. But does a trustee have standing to bring a partition action to sell Massachusetts real estate? Likely not. Under Massachusetts's...
Parenting Plans for Special Needs Children
Two renowned psychologists who work with children in the context of divorce and separation, Daniel B. Pickar, PhD, ABPP and Robert L. Kaufman, PhD, ABPP, presented a seminar at the 50th Anniversary Conference of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts in Los...
“Self-Modifying” Alimony Provision Struck Down by Massachusetts Appeals Court
In a recent Appeals Court case of Hassey v. Hassey, a provision in a divorce judgment requiring a husband to pay thirty percent of his anticipated future gross income to his former wife was struck down as inconsistent with the terms of the Alimony Reform Act of 2011....
Rights of First Refusal in Parenting Plans
One of the main issues facing divorcing and separating parents is to establish a parenting plan when each party provides care and custody for his or her children. There are a number of different parenting plans that can be negotiated or ordered. Under any such plan,...
Comic Demonstrates Child-Centric Approach to Divorce
Louis C.K., one of my favorite standup comics, and the star of the FX series, "Louie," has a serious side. It stems in part from his experience as a divorced dad of two young girls and the effective co-parenting relationship that he has with their mother. In a recent...
Proposed Bill Prohibits Sex in Marital Home
A Massachusetts state senator has filed a bill that could prohibit a divorcing parent from having sex in his or her own home. The bill states: "In divorce, separate, or 209A proceedings involving children and a marital home, the party remaining in the home shall not...
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