The Alimony Reform Act of 2011  took effect on March 1, 2012 and significantly changed the law in Massachusetts relating to awards of alimony. Today, the Massachusetts Appeals Court released an opinion that addresses some of the questions still surrounding the Act.  Hassey v. Hassey,  No. 13-P-864 (2014,  available for download here ). In Hassey , the Appeals Court addressed four primary issues in the lower court's decision: Base Alimony of $8,500 per month - VACATED Self-Modifying Alimony of 30% of Husband's gross income in excess of $250,000 - VACATED Termination of Alimony on ""retirement as defined in the Act Reforming Alimony of 2011, as it may be amended." - REMANDED FOR AMBIGUITY Exclusion of Wife's inherited interest in vacation home from marital estate - VACATED We've summarized the take-away points from this decision: 1. The Basic Definition of Alimony and its Purpose HAS NOT CHANGED While there are numerous provisions deali...

The following is a joint Blog Post prepared by Justin Kelsey, Esq. of Kelsey & Trask, P.C. (co-author of Scaling the Summit: A Family Law Blog ) and Danielle G. Van Ess, Esq. of DGVE law , LLC (author of the Massachusetts, Wills, Trusts, and Estates blog). The Judges in the Probate & Family Court have a lot of discretion to decide what constitutes income when the Court is considering child support or alimony. According to M.G.L. c. 208 s. 34 , the court can consider "amount and sources of income... and the opportunity of each for future acquisition of capital assets and income" when dividing property or awarding alimony. This language obviously leaves a lot of leeway for the court to consider all "sources of income" including potential "future" income. Similarly, the Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines indicate that the court can consider "gross income from whatever source regardless of whether that income is recognized by the I...

Every state (and every country) has standards for jurisdiction that decide whether or not you can bring a divorce case to their courts. Where you can file for divorce is an important question because the laws of the state or county where you will file will control how your divorce case is resolved, and those laws can differ significantly. A British woman was recently denied access to file divorce in the United Kingdom courts because her and her Husband last lived together in France. According to The Daily Telegraph , this decision will result in her losing any rights she might have had to her Husband's £1.2m pension. The laws can also differ greatly by state. In Massachusetts, for instance, the court can consider potential inheritance as an opportunity "for future acquisition of capital assets and income" and award alimony or assign property to one spouse or the other based on that consideration. In many other states inheritance or potential inheritance cannot be co...