You can site in Massachusetts the fault grounds such as adultery, desertion, gross and confirmed habits of intoxication, cruel and abusive treatment, non-support, impotence or imprisonment of five (5) or more years. That is rare that fault grounds are listed on the Complaint for Divorce. If there are issues either about child custody or asset […]

You would want to have a Sheriff or Constable to try and serve the Defendant at the last place you knew where the Defendant resided or worked. If that was not found there is a process to do a “Summons by Publication” which is doing it in the newspaper, but you just cannot do that […]

Service of Process is a way to tell the other side in writing what the case is about and giving them notice of this and notifies them of what they must do, if there is a court hearing, when and where to go to court. There are exceptions to this, if there is something that […]

The fees can change. There is a $220.00 filing fee that you would pay the court. There is $200.oo fee for the divorce filing fee, a $15.00 filing surcharge and $5.00 for the court to issue a Summons. This can change and so it could be $220.00 total. The Summons is something that you would […]

Some of the paperwork is like the 1A Divorce. You do still need a certified copy of the Marriage Certificate, a Complaint for Divorce under Section 1B, Record of Divorce Absolute which is a R-408 form, Military Affidavit, Financial Statement, Affidavit of Care or Custody again explaining if there have been any other court actions […]

If you lived in this state for one (1) year or that the reason that the marriage ended happened in Massachusetts and you lived in the state as a couple even if not for the year.

A 1B Divorce is more typical than the 1A.  A 1A is a Joint Petition which is where everything is agreed to.  A 1B is either if one spouse believes that the marriage has ended but the other spouse does not, even if both spouses believes that the marriage has ended and they are not […]

You will need a certified copy of your Marriage Certificate and you cannot give a photocopy.  The Marriage Certificate needs to be from the Town Clerk rather than from the religious ceremony.  A Separation Agreement which is like a Divorce Agreement that must meet certain requirements.  There is a form called a “Joint Petition for […]

The court sometimes call it a 1A but it is also a Joint Petition for Divorce where both parties are co-petitioners and doing this together rather than one person being a Plaintiff and one person being a Defendant.

This is one where there can be a lot of different arguments about based upon the length of the marriage, whether separate property might be marital assets that were owned by a spouse prior to the marriage and therefore the spouse with those assets would argue that it is not a martial asset and it […]