Legal Blog

Thinking outside the box about mediation

Clients and family law attorneys are by now very familiar with using mediation as a technique to settle divorce cases. What is less well understood is that there are a myriad of ways to use mediators to make litigation of divorce cases more efficient and streamlined without giving up the right to have their trial or their “day in court”

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Mediating or Arbitrating Temporary Orders

The traditional start to a divorce case in Massachusetts is the filing of a complaint, service of a summons and scheduling of temporary orders. The temporary orders are designed to tide over the parties with custody and financial orders that maintain the status quo, or at least the peace, until the case is ready for trial. In Massachusetts a contested

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Hassey v. Hassey, 85 Mass.App.Ct. 518 (June 25, 2014)

This case involves an 21-year marriage in which Husband was the primary wage earner and Wife, excluding a brief stint in the late 80s, worked solely in the home. During the marriage, Husband invested in and obtained a greater interest in his dental practice – creating a difficult to estimate income stream which could continue to grow in the future.

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BBA Talk on Income from Pass-Through Entities

On Tuesday November 3, 2015 at 5:30pm (at the Boston Bar Association on Beacon Street in Boston) I will be giving a talk with financial expert Robert Stankus from CBIZ Tofias about the implications of income from a pass-through entity. This is a challenging but interesting topic that can cause fits to practitioners and the Court as they try to address the interplay

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Award Winning Book on Collaborative Practice

Proud to announce my participation as one of the co-authors of this award winning book on Collaborative Practice published by Massachusetts Continuing Education (MCLE NEW ENGLAND). Thanks to all of the co-authors who participated and to MCLE for their help. The International Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) has announced that Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE New England) received three

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Divorce Is Going to the Dogs, Literally

Custody battles over the kids? So old school. Melanie and Antonio are just one of thousands of couples going to war over their pets. When Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas announced the end of their nearly two-decade marriage, they vowed to finalize things “in a loving and friendly manner.” But according to reports it is possible that could change, as a

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Temporary Alimony is NOT General Term Alimony

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court added new clarification today in its opinion in the Holmes case (see full opinion here). In Holmes, Husband was ordered to pay temporary alimony during the pendency of the divorce modification case.  The SJC held that the 2 years Husband paid “temporary alimony” (during the pendency of the modification case) would not be deducted from

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Child Support is Becoming More Complex

I used to tell my clients that child support was a straight forward issue.  Prior to the August 2013 Child Support Guidelines, I believed that it was.  If one parent had primary custody of the child/ren then to determine income, simply input the data into the child support calculator and whatever the number was, would likely be the resulting child

Read More ➔

Massachusetts man discusses how he got divorced for only $1,500.

One of the most important discussions that I have with my clients is the financial cost of getting divorced.  The reality is that litigation of a divorce is cost prohibitive for a lot of people.  The good news is that there are other options besides going to court to resolve tough conflict. Tim McLaughlin’s article describes his divorce and how

Read More ➔

Thinking outside the box about mediation

Clients and family law attorneys are by now very familiar with using mediation as a technique to settle divorce cases. What is less well understood is that there are a myriad of ways to use mediators to make litigation of divorce cases more efficient and streamlined without giving up the right to have their trial or their “day in court”

Read More ➔

Mediating or Arbitrating Temporary Orders

The traditional start to a divorce case in Massachusetts is the filing of a complaint, service of a summons and scheduling of temporary orders. The temporary orders are designed to tide over the parties with custody and financial orders that maintain the status quo, or at least the peace, until the case is ready for trial. In Massachusetts a contested

Read More ➔

Hassey v. Hassey, 85 Mass.App.Ct. 518 (June 25, 2014)

This case involves an 21-year marriage in which Husband was the primary wage earner and Wife, excluding a brief stint in the late 80s, worked solely in the home. During the marriage, Husband invested in and obtained a greater interest in his dental practice – creating a difficult to estimate income stream which could continue to grow in the future.

Read More ➔

BBA Talk on Income from Pass-Through Entities

On Tuesday November 3, 2015 at 5:30pm (at the Boston Bar Association on Beacon Street in Boston) I will be giving a talk with financial expert Robert Stankus from CBIZ Tofias about the implications of income from a pass-through entity. This is a challenging but interesting topic that can cause fits to practitioners and the Court as they try to address the interplay

Read More ➔

Award Winning Book on Collaborative Practice

Proud to announce my participation as one of the co-authors of this award winning book on Collaborative Practice published by Massachusetts Continuing Education (MCLE NEW ENGLAND). Thanks to all of the co-authors who participated and to MCLE for their help. The International Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) has announced that Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE New England) received three

Read More ➔

Divorce Is Going to the Dogs, Literally

Custody battles over the kids? So old school. Melanie and Antonio are just one of thousands of couples going to war over their pets. When Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas announced the end of their nearly two-decade marriage, they vowed to finalize things “in a loving and friendly manner.” But according to reports it is possible that could change, as a

Read More ➔

Temporary Alimony is NOT General Term Alimony

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court added new clarification today in its opinion in the Holmes case (see full opinion here). In Holmes, Husband was ordered to pay temporary alimony during the pendency of the divorce modification case.  The SJC held that the 2 years Husband paid “temporary alimony” (during the pendency of the modification case) would not be deducted from

Read More ➔

Child Support is Becoming More Complex

I used to tell my clients that child support was a straight forward issue.  Prior to the August 2013 Child Support Guidelines, I believed that it was.  If one parent had primary custody of the child/ren then to determine income, simply input the data into the child support calculator and whatever the number was, would likely be the resulting child

Read More ➔

Massachusetts man discusses how he got divorced for only $1,500.

One of the most important discussions that I have with my clients is the financial cost of getting divorced.  The reality is that litigation of a divorce is cost prohibitive for a lot of people.  The good news is that there are other options besides going to court to resolve tough conflict. Tim McLaughlin’s article describes his divorce and how

Read More ➔

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