Monthly Archives: August 2009

Star of the Day – Norfolk County Family and Probate Court

On Thursday, August 27, 2009 I served as the Lawyer of the Day at the Norfolk Family and Probate Court in Canton, MA. (Mistakenly, I thought I had actually been selected to be “Star of the Day” like the old show Community Auditions with Dave Maynard I watched as a kid and had thus prepared a number of musical selections to perform in the rotunda of the courthouse.  The acoustics were great and all was well until the Court Officers arrived)! Actually, I volunteered through the program administered through the Norfolk County Bar Association.  I have heard recently that there [...]

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Is Your Lawyer Adding to Your Stress?

Below  is a picture of a client waiting for their lawyer or mediator to call them back.  I was going to edit out their skull to protect their identity, but I guess that is not really necessary.  I think they have waited a pretty long time for a call back,  perhaps a little too long! It seems as though almost every week I speak with someone who tells me about a person they know who had a lawyer for something and the lawyer failed to return the client’s telephone calls.    Of course, they are not referring to me because I [...]

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More on the Massachusetts Alimony Reform Issue

My last post concerning the Boston Magazine article on alimony in Massachusetts received quite a few comments.  Thanks to everyone that posted on this blog and also emailed me about their own alimony experiences in Massachusetts.  Many of the comments – all of which were thoughtfully written -  were from folks affiliated with the Massachusetts Alimony Reform Group. From their website you can also link directly to the recent special report that Fox 25 News did about the alimony issue, and read about some “alimony horror stories” as well as review the group’s sponsored legislation regarding alimony reform, House Bill [...]

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You Snooze – You Lose!

After your divorce, it is important to change your beneficiary information on your accounts and policies to reflect your then-current intentions, so long as you are not violating any parts of your Divorce Agreement by doing so. There is a good post about this issue by Boston Attorney Lisa Cukier, as a guest blogger on the Massachusetts Divorce Law Monitor blog.  Click here to go to the post. As pointed out in the post, language in your Divorce Agreement concerning your ex-spouse’s waiver alone will likely be ineffective, so don’t forget to update your beneficiary designations on your accounts and [...]

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Comments on Boston Magazine’s July Article: “Till Death Do Us Pay”

My regular readers perhaps (hopefully) noticed I have not posted for about a month or so.  It is good to be back!  I started a new law firm The Divorce Collaborative LLC in Medway, MA earlier this summer and have been working with my favorite website/blog guy Jim Spencer of JBS Partners in Winchester, MA on morphing the blog into a full website.  There is still a little work to be done, but it is just about complete.  I would certainly appreciate your feedback on the site. …Now, let’s get back to blogging! I am lucky in the fact that [...]

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