Posts by Jon Fields
Abraham Lincoln’s Advice to New Lawyers: Discourage Litigation
Abraham Lincoln has been in the popular culture a lot recently. A summer hit reimagined him as a vampire hunter; the current Spielberg film casts him as a shrewd and effective politician whose deft maneuvering helped move the 13th Amendment through the House. After seeing the movie, I went on the Internet and, by chance,…
Read More“Talking about the Law” with Bob Flynn on WRCN
Join Sheryl and Hugh this Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11, from 10 – 11 on “Talking about the Law”, an excellent WRCN radio show hosted by family law mediator Bob Flynn. The topic they’re discussing is “Navigating the VA System: Claims for Compensation, Pension and Medical”, and will be extremely interesting stuff. About “Talking about the Law“ Host and attorney Bob Flynn talks about the…
Read MoreMCFM President's Letter: The Genius of Family
On September 13, as most of you know, MCFM marked an important milestone – our 30th anniversary. We honored the occasion with an event at the Endicott House in Dedham. Thanks to the organizers (in alphabetical order – Lynn Cooper, Barbara Kellman, Diane Spears, Laurie Udell, and Fran Whyman,) it was a well-attended and unqualified…
Read MoreAppeals Court Overturns Joint Legal Custody Award
It’s not often that the Appeals Court overturns a Probate Court judgment of joint legal custody, which is why this case caught my attention. The Probate judge acknowledged that there was great conflict between the parties but found they “were not totally incapable of maintaining a cooperative relationship.” The conflict, according to the judge, was…
Read MoreFleshing Out Best Interest Standard
A recent SJC opinion made headlines by finding that a California registered domestic partnership was equivalent to a marriage, and that the biological mother and her “partner” were both parents to the child born during their partnership through in vitro fertilization. The case, too, contains an excellent review of the standards of primary physical custody…
Read MoreHusband Receives No Part of Wife’s $12,000,000 Inheritance
The Appeals Court upheld a Probate judgment in which the judge did not award husband any part of the wife’s $12,000,000 inherited interest in various trusts. The decision does not indicate the precise extent of the marital estate but infers that the wife was left with substantially greater assets than the husband. The parties lived…
Read MoreIs Income Equalization Dead?
The Probate Court equalized the incomes of two parents with a child support order. On the father’s appeal, the Appeals Court affirmed. On further appellate review, the SJC vacated the support award, holding that “income equalization is inconsistent with principles that inform child support orders in the Commonwealth.” Such orders, said the SJC, should not…
Read MoreMore questions than answers for mediators after ‘Bott’
The following letter to the editor of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly was published on August 23, 2012. Please click here to download the PDF. To the editor: The recent Supreme Judicial Court opinion, In the Matter of Bott, 462 Mass. 430 (2012), has attracted widespread attention in the local mediation community. Because of its potential ramifications, many…
Read MoreThe Bott Case: Mediation, Public Perception, and the Unauthorized Practice of Law
This quarter, rather than a case review, I want to focus on the recent Supreme Judicial Court opinion, Matter of Bott, 462 Mass. 430 (2012) which has attracted wide attention in the local mediation community. Because of its potential ramifications, many of us have been anticipating this case with great interest and even a certain…
Read MoreMCFM FPresident's Message
Dear Mediators: I am so honored that you, my peers, have elected me President and hope that, over the next two years, I prove worthy of the choice. For those of you who don’t know me, I have been practicing law for 21 years and the last 16 have been in the family law area.…
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