Massachusetts Divorce and Family Law Blog
Divorce & Family Law Answers from Experienced Attorneys
Does My Spouse Have A Personality Disorder?
The decision to end a marriage is painful. A spouse with a personality disorder often extends the divorce process. Resolution and recovery may take longer than usual. People entering a divorce often find that their spouses have never been formally diagnosed with any...
What are the Tax Implications of a Divorce, Specifically Child Support and Alimony?
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,...
Can Income of a Significant Other be Considered when Calculating Child 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...
What Will Happen to Stored Embryos after Divorce?
Frieda and Fred, married for eight years and in that time have unsuccessfully tried to conceive a child. Last year, the couple underwent in-vitro fertilization and have stored for implantation six fertilized embryos at a Massachusetts clinic. However, shortly after,...
2016 Co-Parent Halloween Survival Guide
Co-parenting through the holidays can be easy or frustrating and Halloween is no exception. Some parents prioritize making the other parent's life difficult over their children's needs. While unfortunate, you can reduce or eliminate this by following these simple...
Filing Taxes after Divorce
When married, most every couple files taxes jointly. They claim both children as dependency exemptions. This allows them to maximize the tax benefits of being a family in the United States. When that party divorces, they raise these once simple tax decisions for...
Am I Taxed on Property I receive in My Divorce?
As I've previously discussed on this blog, taxation is relevant to divorces in three main categories. The first relates to support, including child support and alimony. The second is about property distribution, called equitable distribution in Massachusetts. The...
Bankruptcy and Its Impact on Divorce
This past week, I attended a two-day training by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. It covered various topical issues in our profession. Programs like this are always great to refresh memory regarding issues we don't necessarily deal with in every case. One...
How does Property Distribution Work in a Massachusetts Divorce (in Plain English)?
Massachusetts has long adopted the equitable distribution approach to property division in divorce. Equitable distribution is the most popular approach in the United States, with a primary focus on achieving "equity" or fairness. How fairness is determined, however,...
Is a Trust Interest Part of the Marital Estate?
Is a trust interest part of the marital estate? The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently answered this question in Pfannenstiehl v. Pfannenstiehl. In this important case, the court concluded that the distribution of a trust as "marital property" depends on...