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 […]

The short answer is that you can choose to not go forward at any point with the Fair Hearing.  The best practice is to put that in writing to the Fair Hearing office and the local area office.   It usually does not have a negative impact on your case.  It can always depend on the […]

The purpose of supervised visitation is to provide a safe and neutral environment for children to have a relationship with parents and is often used in high conflict situations. Many courts take the position that it is better to make an error that protects the child as opposed to leaving a child at risk. Supervised parenting time may occur in […]

It is the same.  The court still calls “parenting time” “visitation” in many of the forms and in the law but most of the time Probate and Family Court have begun to use parenting time as a better term.  It can be confusing in terms of physical custody, legal custody or physical joint or legal […]

In Massachusetts the court can order the parenting time; particularly during COVID-19 but at any point it can be monitored at a visitation center. However, there is normally a cost associated with that as the visitation centers in Massachusetts usually charge for both in person visits at the center along with virtual or zoom visitation. […]

In Massachusetts a child needs to be 18 before they are the sole decider about where they would live.  In Massachusetts it’s what is in the child’s best interest. However, if the child is mature enough their input can be part of the decision-making process for what is in that child’s best interest.

There is a lot of confusion about what the waiting period is in a divorce and what it means after a binding divorce agreement (called a “separation agreement” in MA) is approved by the court. In Massachusetts, a spouse must wait for the “Nisi Period” of either 90 days or 120 days before the divorce […]

Both state and federal laws require if children are in and out of a home state placement be reviewed periodically and not less at least once every six (6) months.  Interested individuals can participate in a meeting; which focuses on the child’s placement and the appropriateness of that.  The individual’s participation and completions are what […]