After the emotional, and often expense, experience of going through a divorce, the Judge's gavel has dropped and the marriage is over. Now what happens? First, make sure you actually divorced. There are many procedural and internal matters that must occur before a...
It is sometimes argued that the parent paying child support should be able to claim the Dependant Child Exemption. According to the 1985 Deficit Reduction Act, as amended by Regulation in July of 2008, the parent with whom their child under the age of 19 resides for...
While Massachusetts does not recognize "common law" marriage, living together can have an effect on each party's legal rights and obligations should they later legally marry and then divorce. When determining alimony and property division in a divorce case, one of the...
Do I need a parent coordinator? When representing clients in family related matters, often the most difficult issue is child custody. In many situations, the issues that caused the marriage to break down in the first place related to disagreements around parenting,...
When we meet with a new client who is facing the possibility of a divorce or paternity action, we are asked many of the same questions about the process. In many aspects the divorce or paternity process will be the same, although there will be differences based upon...
There may be changes coming to the way child custody decisions are made by courts in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts if a proposed bill is passed into law by the state legislature. Bill S.834 has been presented to the legislature to replace the existing statute...
During summer school break, the questions of "what do to with the kids" is often a more difficult challenge with divorced or separated parents. There are several issues that arise with issues of both the parenting schedule as well as legal custody that should be...
Rental properties are often considered a good long-term investment with potential for income each month from the tenants. However, during a Massachusetts divorce process, rental income can present problems. This is because the properties are assets that must be...
People are much more mobile today than they were just a few years ago. This frequently creates a situation post-divorce where the parent who is the primary caretaker of the children, or who has "physical custody," needs to relocate due to job opportunities,...
In some cases of divorce the court will order one spouse to pay the attorneys' fees of the other. This is most likely where there is the large disparity between the income levels of the parties, or if one of the parties unnecessarily escalates the attorneys' fees in...
