Marriage
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 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 MoreSkype Aids in Proxy Marriages
Proxy marriages are on the rise. Web chat programs such as Skype allow for these marriages to occur more easily and for the bride and groom to exchanges vows from around the world. In the United States this practice is used, but infrequently and most often by members of the military in order to ensure…
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 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 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…
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