Legal Blog

This post concludes the two-part series on the 2017 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines (“2017 Guidelines”). This post focuses on the changes made relating to the relationship between a) child support and parenting time and b) child support and health care/childcare costs.

On July 18, the 2017 Child Support Guidelines were released with an effective date of September 15, 2017. Many changes were made under these new guidelines. This post will focus on changes made relating to adult children between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three.

Upon filing a Massachusetts complaint about divorce, you will receive a summons that you must have served on your spouse. The summons serves several purposes. 1) It informs the non-filing spouse that you have filed for divorce. 2) It then instructs your spouse to file an answer to the complaint with the Court within twenty …

Continue reading “Automatic Restraining Order: Massachusetts Supplemental Probate and Family Court Rule 411”

Often times, the decision of whether or not to file for divorce is a tough one. Once you file and the complaint and summons are served on your spouse, you may feel a sense of relief but also a feeling of panic: what do I do next? According to Massachusetts Supplemental Probate and Family Court …

Continue reading “I Filed for Divorce, Now What? Complying with Massachusetts Supplemental Probate and Family Court Rule 410”

This post concludes the three-part series on the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court’s recently released Parenting Coordinator Standing Order 1-17. Below is a further discussion of Bower v. Bournay-Bower and whether Standing Order 1-17 successfully implemented the advice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”)