Divorce and Family Law Blog
Written by an experienced Divorce and Family Law Attorney with offices in Boston | Andover | Newburyport | Newton
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...
Child Support End When My Child Goes to College?
In Massachusetts, the short answer to the question above is probably—but not necessarily. Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 208, Section 28, parents must support children aged 18 to 21. This applies if the child lives with a parent and depends on them for...
Can I Lower My child Support if I deviated from the Guidelines?
People settle their divorce and child custody cases, resolving many issues in the process. Child support must be calculated whenever there are minor children involved, or emancipated children up to the age of 23. This applies if they are dependent on the child support...