Ken and Kora are going through a divorce in Massachusetts. They were married for a short time. During the marriage, Ken racked up substantial credit card debt. Ken and Kora both work full-time, but Kora makes significantly less money than Ken. She worries about the...
Audra and Adam, married for fifteen years. In that time, Audra has supported Adam while he finished medical school, underwent a medical residency, and established his practice. Audra also took care of the couple’s children. The couple enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle...
Generally, the court will consider matters of custody by examining what is in the best interests of the child. The best interests of the child standard includes many factors. The court evaluates all relevant factors when making custody orders. It weighs each factor...
For most of us, taxes are generally unavoidable. Many events in life impact what taxes we pay, and divorce is one of them. In fact, there are various issues in a divorce case with potential tax implications. Here, we'll focus on one of the main categories: support,...
The probate and family courts are very busy places. Each judge has about 1,000 cases. Sitting in a courtroom and observing the various cases—along with their arguments, emails, text messages, and emotional outcries—reveals the complexity of the situation. In these...
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court weighed in today on how to determine the length of a marriage for the purpose of establishing an alimony award when the parties have married, divorced, and then remarried . . . and then divorced again. Yes, this actually...
The third case issued by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on January 30, 2015, was Doktor v. Doktor. As in Chin and Rodman, this case dealt with the issue of an existing alimony award, merged into final judgment, and the application of the retirement...
When lawmakers reform a section of law, they generally rewrite a large body of its provisions. When that happens, accounting for every possible application of the law becomes impossible. As a result, the law evolves through judicial interpretation. The most recent...
In January 2015, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued three major cases on the interpretation of the Alimony Reform Act of 2011. Here, we take a look at the second of those cases. The case, Rodman v. Rodman, deals with the question: "Does Mass General Law,...