Divorce
The Importance of Keeping Beneficiaries Updated
The importance of updating your beneficiary designations, specifically for policies which fall under Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (“FEGLI”) for life insurance policies has just been highlighted by the Supreme Court’s 9-0 decision in Hillman v. Maretta. During the marriage of Mr. Hillman and Ms. Maretta, Mr. Hillman named Ms. Maretta as the beneficiary of his…
Read MoreArt Student Aces Exam with Divorce Paper Wedding Dress
A fifteen-year-old student in the small town of Crawley, England recently created an art project that has gone viral on the internet. Hoping to symbolize the tendency of people to rush into marriage and end up divorced, she created a wedding dress completely out of divorce papers. The dress used divorce papers, arranged in a…
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 More"Gray Divorce" on the Rise
While the circumstances of each divorce vary from couple to couple, there has been a recent influx in “Gray Divorce,” or divorce involving couples over the age of fifty. This growing phenomenon poses its own set of complications. Most of these issues involve alimony and retirement, things which younger married couples sometimes haven’t even begun…
Read MoreExtreme Divorce Avoidance: Man Jumps from Window to Avoid Divorce
Divorce is a difficult decision, one that is not came upon lightly, and it is hard on everyone involved. This proved especially true for one couple in Jerusalem. In early March, a man actually jumped out of a courthouse bathroom window to avoid divorce proceedings. This sounds extreme and it is safe to say that…
Read MorePrenup: No Longer Binding?
After spending nearly half a million dollars and three years fighting a bizarre prenuptial agreement, a Long Island woman has won an “unprecedented” case against her estranged millionaire husband, Peter Petrakis. Elizabeth Cioffi-Petrakis had to prove in court that she was coerced into signing the prenuptial agreement that her husband threw at her only four…
Read MoreAmerican Girl Dolls and Divorce
American Girl dolls have been a staple with children since they first debuted in 1986. They initially presented historical characters at various tumultuous stages in history, surmounting obstacles and overcoming odds. There was the Colonial American Girl facing the Revolutionary War, the young pioneer whose family was settling the West, and an Eastern European immigrant…
Read MoreSocial Media, Marriage and Divorce in China, 140 Characters at a Time
Marriage and divorce are huge decisions and both are not made hastily. At Fields and Dennis, we deal with the repercussions of divorce on a daily basis, finding resolutions to some of the most difficult situations. Divorce is not something easily decided upon by our clients, but sometimes it is the only solution. In our…
Read MoreMassachusetts Most-Divorced Towns – 2012
New data released by the United States Census Department in December 2012 reports that on average 9.2 percent of Massachusetts residents have reported themselves at one time as being divorced. Conveniently published by WCVB Boston on January 7, 2013, this date is released just in time to encourage any Valentine’s Day cynics that love might…
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…
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