On May 18, 2011, a public hearing took place at the Massachusetts State House before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. The bills that garnered the most attention involved human trafficking, redefining joint custody, and the Massachusetts Alimony Reform Act of 2011 (S0665) . While efforts to reform alimony in Massachusetts have fallen short in the past, the atmosphere was one similar to watching an athlete jog a victory lap. In a forum designed to encourage debate and dissenting opinions, there was no notable opposition to the bill, as the Joint Task Force established by the Judiciary Committee seems to have crafted a bill that expected to pass this session. Steve Hitner, the co-founder of the Mass Alimony Reform group, received a standing ovation and a round of applause just prior to testifying. Usually, such welcomes operate against the rules of decorum, but Committee co-chairs Eugene O'Flaherty (D-Chelsea) and Cynthia Stone Creem (D-Newton) allowed it, recognizing the e...

Mesmo que não fale inglês, o probate & family courts de Massachusetts tem sido acessível a todos. Se você não fala inglês suficiente e tem dificuldade de entender o juiz, ou preencher algum formulário, a court apontara um interprete para estar presente em qualquer audiência Pela Secretaria de Serviço de Interprete. Lembrando que, se sua língua nativa e português ou espanhol (como representa 86% que não falam inglês das pessoas na court de Massachusetts), a court tem liberado formulário e declaração com instrução nas línguas citadas,que poderão ser acessadas para download aqui. Versão Inglês / English Version Versão em Espanhol / Spanish Version

Even if you don't speak English, the Probate & Family Courts in Massachusetts have made an effort to be accessible to all. If you do not speak English well enough to be comfortable understanding a Judge at a court hearing or to complete the forms, notify the court staff and they can arrange for an Interpreter to be present at any court hearing through the Office of Interpreter Services. In addition, if your native language is Spanish or Portuguese (which represents 86 percent of the non-english speaking litigants in Massachusetts), the Court has released a short form Financial Statement and Instructions in each of those languages, available for download here. Unless the irony of this blog title is lost on you, you're probably wondering how someone is supposed to read this who doesn't speak English. For that reason, we are re-posting this Blog in both a: Spanish Version / Versión española Portuguese Version / Versão Português (with special thanks to the friends of our ...

Incluso si usted no habla Inglés, la Tutela y los tribunales de familia en Massachusetts han hecho un esfuerzo para ser accesible a todos. Si usted no habla Inglés lo suficientemente bien como para entender cómodo un juez en una audiencia en la corte o para completar los formularios, notificar al personal del tribunal y hacer arreglos para un intérprete de estar presente en cualquier audiencia de la corte a través de la Oficina de Servicios de Intérprete. Además, si su lengua materna es el español o portugués (que representa el 86 por ciento de los litigantes que no hablan lnglés en Massachusetts), el Tribunal ha publicado un breve formulario de Estados Financieros e instrucciones en cada uno de esos idiomas, disponible para su descarga aquí. Versión Inglés / English Version Versión en Portugués / Portuguese Version

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...

The Alimony Reform Act of 2011 has had a lot of buzz in the past few months. Since it's filing, over 130 legislators have signed on as Petitioners and many family law practitioners have expressed their support for the bill. Despite some reservations we at Kelsey & Trask, P.C. have about the bill, we believe that it is a significant improvement over the current alimony law in Massachusetts. In addition, we recognize that some of the provisions that we think could be improved (such as the child support integration) were the result of significant compromise from all of the interested parties (lawyers, judges, citizens and advocates). Therefore, we at Kelsey & Trask, P.C. support the efforts of Bill Sponsor Gale Candaras and the numerous petitioners to have this bill entered into law as soon as possible. If you agree, voice your opinion to your state legislators. The Joint Committee on the Judiciary is holding a hearing this Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 1:00 P.M. i...

To Rent or Buy? That is the question. Trulia.com shows us, with some neat graphics , that the answer depends on where you live. If you're in Phoenix of Jacksonville: Buy, Buy, Buy. But not so fast in New York City or Boston. No matter where you live, one of the most expensive parts of a divorce is changing your lifestyle from supporting one household on your current incomes to supporting two households. Whether or not the current home is sold or one person stays there, in the end both parties are faced with the question: is it better to buy or rent? Traditional thinking is that it is better to buy. It is the American Dream to own your own home, and the government assists you by offering a mortgage interest deduction on your income taxes. But as Trulia.com's graphics demonstrate, that may not be enough in todays market. Let's use Natick, Massachusetts to test an example: The average rent for a 2BR home or apartment in Natick in 2010 was $1400. The cost of l...