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.

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 […]

(Copy and paste the link above into your web browser for a YouTube video on this subject) With relief packages from the federal government being supplied during the pandemic, I have had people ask questions about what happens with the money in a divorce case. There has been a dispute about whether this money should […]

There has always been a lot of controversy about college contribution responsibilities for divorced or divorcing parents. As it is getting more and more expensive for students to attend college, parental financial contribution can end up being a crucial element in the divorce settlement and in a further modification after the settlement. The courts have […]

In marriages, it is not uncommon for couples to have conflicting views about their children participating in sports. Such disputes can be based on factors like finances, time constraints, and concern about injury. With divorce these disagreements can be magnified and lead to litigation and addition emotional upset. The best way to avoid such problems […]

The spouse paying alimony has been able to deduct the amount paid on his/her tax return and the spouse receiving it must report as income. However, for future divorce actions beginning in 2019 the spouse paying the alimony will not be able to deduct it and spouse receiving it will not have to report alimony […]

There are several steps to file divorce in MA:  Jurisdiction- generally it is easy to show jurisdiction with generally live together as husband and wife in MA and residency requirements but if grounds for divorce occurred outside of MA the plaintiff needs to have lived in MA for at least a year prior to filing […]

If you do not know where your spouse lives or how to serve them paperwork in a divorce and you have made some reasonable attempts to try and locate them you can file a motion for publication and have the notice listed in newspaper where he or she was last known to live( there is […]

An uncontested divorce means that there is no dispute and the parties agree to all terms of the divorce including child custody, support, alimony, division of marital assets and debt and so forth.  This can be done by a joint petition for divorce with related paperwork including a divorce agreement( called a ” separation agreement”

In past the only way to get a divorce was to find that your spouse was at fault such as adultery, abuse and so forth.  Now MA( and most states) allow no fault divorce simply because one spouse does not want to be married.  This avoids showing that your spouse was at fault and makes […]