Family Law

         Family Law consists of the areas of Marriage, Divorce and Paternity. It includes divorce, property division, child custody and visitation, alimony (where applicable), prenuptial agreements, modifications of judgments, contempt, and determination of paternity.

        This is one area of the law which is laden with emotionalism. Divorce is never pleasant, and it is especially difficult when there are children involved. It is extremely important for the parties to put their feelings aside and try to work out what they can, especially as regards the children.  The Courts do not care who caused the divorce, or who was the "better spouse". The general view is that it takes two to tangle, and any spouse who goes to trial looking for vindication will generally spend a lot of money only to be disappointed.

        Parents generally place the best interests of their children first. In a divorce, however, the best interests of the children sometimes takes a back seat to the parents' emotional needs. For this reason, in Massachusetts parents are not permitted to finalize their divorce unless they take special Parenting Classes to teach them to not use the children as pawns in their conflict with their spouse, and to teach them the impact of the divorce and their conduct on their children. Some Courts are now requiring parties to attend during the first sixty (60) days after filing and service.

        There are so many different aspects to divorce that it is impossible to do them justice in an initial one-hour consultation. For that reason, at every initial consultation we give each prospective client a free copy of "The Survival Guide for Men in Divorce" or "The Survival Guide for Women in Divorce".