Family Law
Attorney Jon Fields Elected to the Board of Directors of the MA-AFCC
On Friday, April 5th, Attorney Jon Fields was elected to the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (MA-AFCC). Mr. Fields has always been deeply involved in the family law arena, and he has over 22 years of experience representing clients. Family law can be a complex…
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 MoreJonathan E. Fields elected president of the MCFM
On May 1, Jonathan Fields was elected President of the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation for a two-year term. He is honored to have been chosen by his peers in an organization in which he has served as an Executive Board member since 2005. The MCFM is a non-profit organization established over twenty-five years go…
Read MoreMarriage Foundation Recommends Mediation
“Judges do not traditionally speak out about the social issues that manifest themselves in their courts,” wrote Lesley Garner, Telegraph journalist and former advice columnist. So it’s somewhat surprising that Sir Paul Coleridge, a senior family court judge in the UK founded the Marriage Foundation, a campaign that promotes, among other things, mediation prior to…
Read MoreKeep your Children Healthy, Keep your Children
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal calls obesity the new second-hand-smoke in child custody cases in the U.S. Families with an overweight child, or in which a parent is morbidly obese, are seeking guidance from the court system. If a parent claims his or her child is only offered fast foods and doesn’t…
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