In Massachusetts if you decide to hire a new attorney, typically what happens is that new attorney files something called a “Notice of Appearance” providing that to your prior attorney and that attorney would file a “Notice of Withdrawal”.  I would send all the relevant paperwork in your file to your new attorney. So, you […]

In general, the cases that I have had have all have been by video conferencing similar to Zoom where you receive a link and are able to have the hearing. Everything is certainly subject to change, but the cases that I have had, have not appeared that they are having in-person hearings for Fair Hearing […]

Who Gets Fido or Kitty? I recently had a case involving a contentious dispute over the custody of a dog and a cat. After coming close to going to trial, we were finally able to resolve the matter between the two parties through negotiation.

The best practice is simply not to stop parenting time on your own unless it is an emergency, but to file what is called a “Complaint for Modification” explaining the circumstances of the risks.  You can always file an Emergency Motion along with that and an Affidavit as well. It can be particularly persuasive if […]

The answer is yes you can. There are some different steps that you might need to take. You would need to file a Complaint to Seek Custody and Child Support.  If you are not able to locate where the other parent is, you can file something in court asking for an alternate way to have […]

It really depends significantly on the court and what the court might make as a ruling and the Judge. However, the more time in advance that you can provide that to both the opposing side and ideally the court, the better. Sometimes you can do such a thing as emailing it both to a clerk […]

It can be different in every court and with every paid supervisor this is paid by either one or both of the parties.  Usually, the supervisor will monitor the visit and will write visitation notes for the positives and negatives, if any, that have occurred during the visits.  You can try and either have those […]

The answer unfortunately is it has occurred where many times in terms of not needing to get a Guardian ad Litem (“GAL”) which can be very costly or sometimes the court not being willing to appoint an attorney for the children. They will have what is called “Family Service Officer or Probation Officer” do a […]

If the court is making a gatekeeper provision that can be to a certain degree problematic for the people that are litigating the case because it means that the court feels like people are going into court too often and the court will put restrictions before the parties are able to file a variety of […]

Nesting in Massachusetts for custody cases involves somewhat a unique situation where the idea that the children would remain in the former marital home and the two parties would live somewhere else for a period of time.  So, for example, it could be a joint legal and joint physical custody situation where the mother might […]