In a recent opinion, in which the Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed the trial court's divorce judgment, a very expensive bachelor party in Las Vegas turned into an even more expensive divorce. In a marriage as short as Frank the Tank's  marriage in Old School (and 21 days shorter than Kim Kardashian's second marriage ), a physician ended up paying one year of alimony for a two month marriage. The story-line of T.E. v. A.O is right out of the movies  involving a husband who went to Las Vegas five days before his wedding in October 2008 and while there charged over $20,000 at a "men's club" and met a woman who he then began an intimate relationship with.  Upon his return from Las Vegas, the parties were married on October 4, 2008 in a wedding that cost approximately $150,000.  In clear violation of the Vegas marketing campaign , soon after the wedding, the wife learned of the extravagant Las Vegas charges and of the husband's ongoing relationship ...

NO. That was easy, next blog post... No, you want more than that? Okay: Divorce is by definition about the failure of a plan. You got married, you took vows, and it didn't work out. Whether or not you are about assigning blame (and there is usually enough to go around), divorce is about picking up the pieces of a failure. Accepting that disappointment is as important a step in moving on as accepting that the marriage was over in the first place. If you take that failure personally, you should discuss those feelings with friends, family or a professional therapist. You shouldn't ignore them because you need to find a way to move past them in order to deal with the practical realities of dividing up a marital life. With respect to finances, divorce means dividing up a business partnership, and there is no perfect or ideal way to do this. In Massachusetts, the court can consider numerous factors in how to do this ( M.G.L. c. 208 s34 ), but in practice most cases set...

M.G.L. 208 s 34 provides a list of factors for the court to consider in dividing marital property and/or assigning alimony awards. One of these factors is "the conduct of the parties during the marriage." Quite often this is the factor that clients want to talk about the most, but is the least important factor to the court. Although adultery and other offensive behavior may have led to the divorce, the Judges are used to seeing this behavior in so many cases that they become jaded to it and prefer to focus on the financial factors most of the time. This means that bad conduct which affects the finances (such as spending money on an extra-marital affair or gambling) will be taken into account, but often bad conduct which does not affect the finances will not. However, this does not mean that non-financial bad conduct has no effect at all, and sometimes if it is egregious enough the court may consider its effect on the marriage itself. Especially if the conduct is sig...

The short answer is that Judges in Massachusetts can consider inheritance or potential inheritances when dividing property in Massachusetts. This does not mean that inheritances are split equally but they will play a part in how property is divided and may affect support orders as well. Whether an inheritance has been received or not can make a big difference in how it affects the division and support. Inheritances Received During or Before the Marriage In Massachusetts the division of marital property in a divorce case is controlled by M.G.L. Chapter 208 Section 34 , which states in pertinent part: "In addition to or in lieu of a judgment to pay alimony, the court may assign to either husband or wife all or any part of the estate of the other, including but not limited to, all vested and nonvested benefits, rights and funds accrued during the marriage and which shall include, but not be limited to, retirement benefits, military retirement benefits if qualified under and t...

The short answer is YES! Whether or not they are divided will depend on a number of factors. For divorce purposes, Massachusetts gives very broad definition to "marital assets". Absent a pre-nuptial agreement every asset and liability owed by either party is considered by the Court in a division. The Court can consider the source of the asset but that is just one of the factors in whether or not to divide it. Under M.G.L. ch. 208 § 34 , the Court can assign the division of property based on the following section: "In addition to or in lieu of a judgment to pay alimony, the court may assign to either husband or wife all or any part of the estate of the other, including but not limited to, all vested and nonvested benefits, rights and funds accrued during the marriage and which shall include, but not be limited to, retirement benefits, military retirement benefits if qualified under and to the extent provided by federal law, pension, profit-sharing, annuity, deferred co...