And It's All Your Fault! MA "Fault" Based Divorce #3: Imprisonment

This "fault"-based ground for divorce goes hand-in-hand with a finding of "guilty" in a criminal matter, followed by a sentence of five years or more in prison. It is not the amount of time that is actually served, but rather what the sentence is that matters. Proving this grounds for a fault divorce is generally straightforward.

Interestingly, if after a divorce, the imprisoned spouse is pardoned for his or her crime(s), the marriage is not restored.

As with most grounds for divorce, there is no advantage over "no fault" divorce. Proving that a spouse has been sentenced to five or more years in prison is slightly more difficult than meeting the evidentiary burden required in a "no fault" divorce (only that one spouse is able to tell the court that his or her marriage is irretrievably broken down with no chance of reconciliation).

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What is the purpose of the Divorce Nisi waiting period?

In Massachusetts the statutory waiting period after a Judgment of Divorce and before the divorce becomes final (or absolute) is called the Nisi period. After a divorce case settles or goes to trial, a Judgment of Divorce Nisi will issue and it will become Absolute after a further ninety (90) days. This waiting period serves the purpose of allowing parties to change their mind before the divorce becomes final. If the Judgment of Divorce Nisi has issued but not become final yet, and you and your spouse decide you don't want to get divorced, then you can file a Motion to Dismiss and the Judgment will be undone. Although many of my clients who are getting divorced think the idea of getting back together with their ex sounds crazy, I have had cases where this happened. In addition to offering a grace period to change your mind, the Nisi period has three other legal effects: 1. The most obvious effect of the waiting period is that you cannot remarry during the Nisi period, be...

New Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines (2021): Big Changes, Little Changes, Typos & some Unexpected Results

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Online Tool for Creating Parenting Plans

It is our hope that all families find a way to resolve conflict peacefully. This is especially true when children are involved. Divorced or separated parenting has many complications and the first is just deciding how to share time with a child from two separate households. Developing a schedule can result in a lot of tension, especially if parents have trouble picturing how this new schedule will interact with their work schedules and the schedules of their children. To help make this easier, we've created an online tool for creating parenting plans that is simple and easy to use: We encourage parents, regardless of the process they are using to divorce, to use this form to assist in evaluating and settling custody disputes. The form allows you to choose between the Model Parenting Plan proposals or customize your parenting plan over a four week period by clicking directly on the form. When you click on a section of the calendar it switches between ...

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