Best Divorce Lawyers Boston, MA Of 2024 – Forbes Advisor

If you’re considering ending your marriage, it’s important to know about the different divorce laws and regulations in Massachusetts. The following section offers an overview of the process itself, covering crucial topics such as child custody, property division and other key aspects of dissolving your marriage. This information will help you set realistic expectations and prepare for the journey ahead.

Massachusetts Divorce Requirements

All states have their own set of requirements you must meet to be able to file a divorce petition. Here’s what looks like in Massachusetts:

Residency requirement. To file a divorce petition in Boston, one or both of the following must be true:

• You must have resided in the state for 12 consecutive months immediately before filing for divorce. This is to prevent people from moving to Massachusetts just to divorce.
• The grounds for terminating your marriage occurred in Massachusetts and you have lived together in the state as a couple.

Legal separation. Massachusetts does not recognize legal separation. However, you can live separately from your spouse without the court’s permission. You can seek court assistance for issues such as child support, a parenting plan or spousal support by petitioning for separate support and maintenance.

To file for separate support, you must prove your spouse has failed to support you, they have deserted you, you are living apart for a justifiable reason or you live together but have a justifiable reason to live apart.

Filing for divorce. To file for a divorce in Massachusetts, you need legal grounds to do so. This could be a reason based on fault, such as adultery, impotence, abandonment, imprisonment or substance abuse. Or it could be a no-fault divorce, which means your marriage is irretrievably broken beyond repair.

To begin a divorce, you file a petition with the Probate and Family Court in the county where you and your spouse last lived together. The court charges a filing fee, typically $200 plus a surcharge, totaling $215. If you cannot afford the fee, you can submit an Affidavit of Indigency to request to have the fee waived.

Types of Divorce and Separation in Massachusetts

If you’re looking to terminate your marriage, Massachusetts gives you a few options to do so.

No Fault Divorce

Most divorces that happen in Massachusetts are no-fault, where you don’t have to prove that your spouse did something wrong. You need only show that your marriage is broken beyond any possibility of reconciliation.

Fault-Based Divorce

This type of divorce requires proving that your spouse did something wrong. Here are some acceptable grounds for divorce.

• adulters: voluntary intercourse by your spouse with someone else
• impotence: physical or psychological inability to copulate
• abandonment: Your spouse deserted you with no contact for at least a year before filing.
• substance abuse: Excessive use of alcohol, narcotics or drugs
• cruel and abusive treatment: intentional conflict of physical or mental harm by your spouse
• failure to provide support: Your spouse has the ability to support you but refuses to do so.
• imprisonment: Your spouse has been sentenced to prison for at least five years.

Uncontested or Contested Divorce

There are situations where you both may want a divorce, but you don’t agree on certain terms. To accommodate this possibility, Massachusetts allows for two types of no-fault divorce.

• 1A divorce. Also known as uncontested divorce, here both spouses agree the marriage is irretrievably broken and have a written agreement on all terms, including spousal support, child support, parenting time and marital property divisions.
• 1B divorce. This is also known as contested divorce and applies in situations where one or both spouses believe the marriage is broken, but they cannot agree on separation terms. You can switch from 1B to 1A if an agreement is reached after filing.

Annulment

A legal annulment nullifies the marriage as if it never happened. There are certain situations where annulling a marriage is permissible:

• One spouse was already married to someone else.
• The marriage was with a close relative, such as a stepparent, grandparent or stepsibling.
• One spouse lacked the mental capacity to consent to the marriage.
• One spouse is physically incapable of consummating the marriage.
• One spouse was under 18 at the time of marriage and did not have parental permission to marry.
• One spouse had fraudulent motives when entering the marriage.

Child Custody, Support and Visitation in Massachusetts

Massachusetts recognizes four types of child custody arrangements.

• Sole legal custody. One parent makes major decisions about the child’s education, health, religion and emotional development without input or agreement from the other.
• Shared legal custody. Both parents are involved in the decision-making responsibilities for the child.
• Sole physical custody. The child lives with one parent, and the other parent is granted visitation rights.
• Shared physical custody. The child splits time living with each parent.

The court may also require the noncustodial parent to pay the other parent child support to help with their financial needs. The exact payment is calculated based on both parents’ incomes using the state child support guidelines. The approved amount is automatically deducted from the noncustodial parent’s paycheck and sent to the Department of Revenue, which then forwards it to the custodial parent.

Property Division in Massachusetts

Massachusetts follows the principle of equitable distribution when it comes to dividing assets. Under this rule, property and debts are divided fairly between the spouses, but not necessarily equally.

Note that equitable distribution law in Massachusetts usually applies to all property, regardless of which spouse acquired it and even if the property was acquired before marriage.

The court considers various factors when fairly dividing assets and debts. This includes the length of the marriage, each spouse’s contributions and the nature and timing of the property acquisition. If there are legally sound pre and postnuptial agreements stating how certain assets should be divided, the terms of the agreement will supersede equitable distribution law.

Filing and Serving Your Divorce Papers

First, you must decide whether you are seeking a fault-based, no-fault, contested or uncontested divorce. Then complete the paperwork relevant to your divorce, which you can find at the official website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

If you have children with your spouse, you must fill out additional forms such as an affidavit of care and custody and a child support guidelines worksheet.

You can submit your forms in person, by mail or online at eFileMA. If filing in person, file with the Probate and Family Court where you and your spouse lived together or in the county where you currently reside.

After filing, the court will mail you a summons. You’ll then have to serve the complaint for divorce and summons to your spouse through a sheriff or constable, or your spouse can accept it directly from you by signing the summons in front of a notary public.

If you have children, you must attend co-parenting classes.

Once your spouse is served and returns their response, both parties must exchange financial statements and write a separation agreement covering all divorce-related issues. If you cannot agree on all terms, a pretrial hearing is scheduled by the court and the case will go to trial.

Finalizing Your Divorce

You must wait at least six months for a hearing from the filing date. At the hearing, the judge will review and, if necessary, amend the separation agreement. If there are still unresolved issues, there will be a trial to determine the final terms.

The divorce becomes final 90 days after the judgment is entered. For a 1A divorce, the finalization period is 120 days from the judgment date.