Legal Blog - Children

You would not buy a house without giving it careful thought and consideration, the same applies when entering into a post judgment agreement. Post judgment agreements are agreements between the parties after a case has ended. These agreements can be verbal or written. Often these agreements are reac…

This post concludes the two-part series on the 2017 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines (“2017 Guidelines”). This post focuses on the changes made relating to the relationship between a) child support and parenting time and b) child support and health care/childcare costs.…

On July 18, the 2017 Child Support Guidelines were released with an effective date of September 15, 2017. Many changes were made under these new guidelines. This post will focus on changes made relating to adult children between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three.…

This post concludes the three-part series on the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court’s recently released Parenting Coordinator Standing Order 1-17. Below is a further discussion of Bower v. Bournay-Bower and whether Standing Order 1-17 successfully implemented the advice of the Massachusetts Su…

Two and a half years ago, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued a decision regarding the ability of judges to appoint parenting coordinators to assist parties with their parenting plans. …

Often times, custody situations change but parties do not immediately explore the potential effect on previous child support orders. Under Massachusetts case law, it is clearly established that a child support order cannot be retroactively modified without a pending complaint for modification. See M…

In the fall of this year, the FBI released its annual compilation of reported crimes from across the country. According to the FBI’s report, there were approximately 1,197,704 violent crimes committed in the United States in 2015, representing a 3.9% increase from the previous year.[1] Violent cri…

Massachusetts has child support guidelines. The guidelines were created to determine the amount of financial support the non-custodial parent pays to the custodial parent for the support of the child(ren). Frequently parties involved in a this matter believe that support per the guidelines is either…

Right To Choose Child’s Religion – If you and your spouse are getting a divorce, make sure to think about into what religion the children will be raised. This is especially true if both of you come from different religious backgrounds. The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that both parents …

Establishing a Child Support Order – Child Support is money paid by one parent to the other parent for support of the children. On January 1, 2009 Massachusetts enacted new child support guidelines. The state listed eight factors why they implemented the guidelines click here to review the gui…