"Let the Judge Decide!"   How often have I heard that in my career as a divorce attorney and mediator?  Too many times to count. In many cases, when a spouse or their attorney feels that they are unable to reach an agreement with the other side, they simply decide to put the issue to the Judge.  After all, that's the Judge's job.  The whole reason we have a civil legal system is to resolve disputes in a civilized way between adults, but that system is far from perfect. Have you really been told the truth about what it means to "let the Judge decide?" The Probate and Family Court as a division of the trial court is an (almost) free service available to all members of the public over whom they have jurisdiction.  They will not provide you with a free attorney in most cases, but there are free law libraries throughout the state, and the court will provide you with the necessary forms and an interpreter if you have the need.  If you have a civil dispu...

from Wikipedia The Middlesex Probate & Family Court already has a very successful and convenient "Fast Lane" program for so-called uncontested divorce petitions (Section 1A Joint Petitions for Divorce).  It saves time for both the courts and the parties to be able to walk an uncontested matter in to the courthouse and, if all of their paperwork is in order, be heard the same day. According to a press release dated July 9, 2014 ( available here ), the Court will now be expanding this type of procedure to include Informal Estate Administration Petitions: "Tara E. DeCristofaro, Register of the Middlesex Probate and Family Court, has announced that she will be piloting a walk-in session for informal petitions. The walk-in session will be available in the Registry every Tuesday afternoon from 12:00 pm. - 3:00 pm., beginning August 5, 2014. If the program is well received, plans are to expand it to multiple days per week." As with joint petition divorce walk-...