Legal Blog - Divorce - Finances

A lawyer in Ohio made national headlines a short while ago after she was held in contempt for refusing to obey a judge’s order to remove a political pin from her suit. While the term contempt is familiar to most people, few understand when and how it should be used, especially in the context of &h…

Effected litigants and attorneys throughout the Commonwealth breathed a sigh of relief when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) provided clarity in the matter of Pfannenstiehl v. Pfannenstiehl. The matter was remanded to the probate court for further consideration. The Court ruled…

Following Part I in this three-part series on the Pfannenstiehl v. Pfannenstiehl case, this post discusses how the majority opinion as well as the dissenting opinion handled a spendthrift trust interest in relation to the marital estate and its subsequent division.…

Trusts are instruments typically relied on by the elite to keep family assets within the bloodline. Currently, the fate of these powerful tools is in the hands of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”). On April 5, 2016, the SJC heard oral arguments regarding the inclusion of a spouse�…

A great tech blog, Gizmodo, recently featured an article titled Virtual Assets Are Not Community Property. For those who do not know, online gaming worlds have virtual goods for sale that cost real money. The article discussed a recent divorce ruling in China addressing whether virtual assets are in…

Finances or the lack there of can be a major strain on a married couple’s relationship. In general people are funny about money and that is why it is so important that couples keep an open dialogue about their finances. An online survey of Canadian couples [a similar culture to Americans] found th…

Legal fees can add up quickly. An extreme case of outrageous legal fees is the divorce of Simon and Chana Taub. The Taubs have racked up over one million dollars in legal fees. The attorney fees for economical divorce are so high because they refuse to be reasonable. Right from the start they both r…

Legal fees can add up quickly. An extreme case of outrageous legal fees is Simon and Chana Taub ’s divorce expenses. The Taubs’ racked up over one million dollars in legal fees. The attorney fees were so extreme because they refused to be reasonable. Neither party was agreeable to move out of th…

When drafting a divorce agreement it is important to think about how the terms related to real property will affect the future ability of the owners to transfer or refinance the property. Mortgage underwriters require that a divorced party have the right to transfer or refinance the property stated …

Divorce Lessons Via Baseball – So what has baseball taught us about divorce? Baseball has reminded us how divorce can destroy a business. The Dodgers, a Major League Baseball (MLB) team in Los Angeles, is owned by Frank McCourt. Mr. McCourt is going through a highly publicized divorce. Ms. McC…