Children
Case Law Updates from Family Mediation Quarterly, October 2013
PC Agreement Held Enforceable. A recent Appeals Court decision held that an agreement to use a parenting coordinator (PC) was enforceable, even where one party does not want to use one anymore. The father had sought the appointment of a new PC after the PC’s initial one-year term ended; the Probate and Family Court judge…
Read MoreMA Family Law: Inconsistency Standard v. Material Change of Circumstances
What standard must a Probate and Family Court use when faced with a modification of a child support order when the case is within the Child Support Guidelines? The trial judge in this case dismissed the modification complaint because, although the ex-husband’s income had increased, she found there was not a “substantial and material change…
Read MoreMA Family Law: Modifying Age of Emancipation of an Out-of-State Child Support Order
As mediators and lawyers, we are often confronted with out-of-state divorce judgments. Since Massachusetts has the most generous emancipation statute in the country, those out-of-state judgments often provide that support ends long before a child’s 23rd birthday, depending on the state. Steve and Mary Ellen Freddo had four children and were divorced in Florida. Following…
Read MoreMA Family Law: Court Must Consider Tax Consequences if Presented
Court Must Consider Tax Consequences if Presented. Under the Internal Revenue Code, alimony cannot be contingent on a child-related event lest it be re-characterized as non-deductible support. Here, the Probate and Family Court entered a judgment requiring the Father to pay alimony until the youngest child graduated from high school at which point it would…
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 MoreVery Happy Spouses Usually Don't Divorce
A recent column in The New York Times Magazine affirms the age-old notion that generosity is a positive character attribute, especially in marriage. So for those of us who have not achieved the ratio of “at least five positive things for each negative interaction” with our partners, it’s worthwhile to note the difference between being…
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