Alimony Reform and the Business of Divorce

The Boston Business Journal continues to cover the controversy over the competing Massachusetts alimony bills, and in Friday's article by Lisa van der Pool, Dueling alimony bills raise hackles in legal circles, the focus was on the question of whether Senator Cynthia Creem, chair of the Senate's Judiciary Committee, has a "conflict of interest" on account of her sponsorship of the alimony reform

Of Two Alimony Reform Bills, House Bill is Far Better

There are two competing alimony reform bills currently pending in the Massachusetts legislature: Senate Bill 1616 and House Bill 1785. The Senate bill, backed by influential members of the Boston Bar Association, essentially would preserve the status quo. It would merely add language to the statute so as to give judges the explicit ability to set a duration for alimony - i.e. to set a term of

"Till Death Do Us Pay" - More on the Need for Alimony Reform

Finally, a little slice of la vida real in our Massachusetts family court system: Till Death Do Us Pay - Boston Magazine. I'm encouraged to see such critical words from a local media source, in this case Boston Magazine. You definitely will not get such truth from the Boston Globe. And what a shame that is, as the Boston Globe is still the best newspaper we have in this state. Yet, by its

A Fool for a Client? More on DIY Divorce

Now it is often said that he who represents himself has a fool for a client. But is that always true? When something very important is at stake, the answer is usually yes.However, I was just quoted in today's Boston Globe, by relationship columnist Meredith Goldstein, in her short piece DIY divorce: Is it a good idea? - The Boston Globe. I appear in the article as the attorney who surprised

Massachusetts Alimony: Time for Reform?

In yesterday's Boston Globe appeared an op-ed article by novelist Elizabeth Benedict, critical of the Massachusetts alimony law and application of that law by courts in this state: Elizabeth Benedict: Boston Globe Op-Ed: The chilling effect of state's divorce laws. I actually know Elizabeth Benedict, and as one of the lawyers she talked to before writing that article, I must say that I welcome

Indigent Parents In CHINS Cases Now Get Free Attorneys

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently looked at two CHINS (children in need of services) cases, one from Worcester County and the other from Essex County, in both of which a juvenile court judge had denied a mother legal right to court-appointed counsel. The SJC ruling in this consolidated case In the Matter of Hilary has now established that parents in these cases do indeed

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Oral Arguments Available

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has webcasts of oral arguments previously broadcast, from September of 2005 to date, at the following Suffolk University Law School SJC Webcast Archive. As stated on the website: "Here you may review all Supreme Judicial Court arguments that have already been broadcast. You may locate oral arguments by date, case title or docket number. Archives of

Same-Sex Divorce Challenges the Legal System, Washington Post Reports

The Washington Post just published the following article, Same-Sex Divorce Challenges the Legal System - washingtonpost.com, by Dafna Linzer about the peculiar problems same-sex couples face, both here in Massachusetts and elsewhere, when they split. Given the topic, the article naturally had a big focus on Massachusetts, and it includes quotes from interviews of family law specialists here who

Massachusetts Appellate Cases of Last Twenty Years Now Free Online

The Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries blog, Massachusetts Law Updates, reported here today that the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries now provide online, for free to all, each and every Massachusetts appellate case, from 1986-1996, here at Masscases.com, in supplement to the effort of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, which already provides all Massachusetts appellate cases from 1997 to

Joanna Grossman on Rhode Island Supreme Court's Denial of Same-Sex Divorce

For an excellent article critiquing the majority decision of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, in Chambers v. Ormiston, which ruled that a lesbian couple, married in Massachusetts, cannot get a divorce in Rhode Island's Family Court, for lack of jurisdiction, see Hofstra Law Professor Joanna Grossman's findlaw article of today, "The Rhode Island Supreme Court Denies a Divorce to a Same-Sex Couple

Rhode Island Supreme Court Decides Lesbian Couple, Married in Massachusetts, May Not Divorce in Rhode Island

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has just ruled that the Rhode Island courts may not grant a divorce to a lesbian couple married as a same-sex couple in Massachusetts, but now living in Rhode Island (see below). The high court found that its state's Family Court has no jurisdiction to grant the divorce, based on the fact that Rhode Island does not itself recognize this "same-sex marriage" as a "

Legal Briefs of Supreme Judicial Court Cases Now Available on the Internet

As the Massachusetts Bar Association reports, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is now making legal briefs filed in cases filed with the full court easily accessible to the public on the internet.Massachusetts Bar Association : Legal briefs of SJC cases available on court Web site: "Legal briefs of SJC cases available on court Web site As part of a continuing effort to make the court

Natural Parents, De Facto Parents, Psychological Parents, and Confusion in the Courts

Natural parents get custody of their children if they are fit parents. It's a pretty simple rule, and it is a basic rule of family law. But sometimes even the judges get confused on this one.I just read the post West Virginia Mother Wins Back Legal Custody From … Babysitters in the Florida Divorce Law Blog, which described an unusual West Virginia Supreme Court case (for more, see the West

The Battle for Same-Sex Marriage in California

Andrew Koppelman, in the blog Balkinization, recently discussed efforts to bring same-sex marriage to California. In his post Bad same-sex marriage strategy in California(Tuesday, November 13, 2007, 11:01:29 AM Andrew Koppelman), Koppelman states his fear that a pending lawsuit before the California Supreme Court challenging Proposition 22, a law initiated by ballot initiative in 2000 ("Only

Amici Briefs in the Rhode Island case-Having married in Massachusetts, may a lesbian couple now get divorced in Rhode Island?

I just found the following amici curiae briefs for the Rhode Island case, available on the website of the Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), including GLAD's own brief, authored in part by Mary Bonauto, who was lead counsel in the Goodridge case; another brief by various conflict of laws, civil rights and family law professors, with California's Barbara Cox, Erwin Chemerinsky and

Having married in Massachusetts, may a lesbian couple now get divorced in Rhode Island?

The Rhode Island Supreme Court is about to decide whether its courts can approve the divorce of a lesbian couple who were joined in marriage in Massachusetts three years ago. This case appears to be the first case in which a state outside Massachusetts has had to deal with the issue of whether it can grant a divorce to a couple previously married in a same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, even

Judicial Activism on the US Supreme Court - Two Recent Views Posted in the LA Times

Judicial activism is alive and well, not just here in Massachusetts in our Supreme Judicial Court, but also in the conservative U.S. Supreme Court. Recently, there appeared an interesting debate in the LA Times on judicial activism in the U.S. Supreme Court.First, Thomas Miles and Cass Sunstein of the U. of Chicago Law School discussed the judicial activism of the right in Scalia et al. (you know