Boston Divorce Lawyer – Boston Divorce & Family Law Attorney Blog

Divorce, custody, support and probate cases in Massachusetts will go even slower than the past few years not only because of budget cuts, but due to an unprecedented number of judges retiring in 2011.  In total, 10 judges will be leaving the bench in 2011.  That amounts to about 20% of the judiciary.

In the past few years, cases in probate court has been administered slower, court dates has been assigned later, and motion hearings has been pushed back more and more due to budget cuts.  The court is severely understaffed by court personnel and clerks that take in the cases, dockets them, and puts them in front of judges to hear.  Judges have had to work overtime in order to push out cases in a fair manner up until this point.  However, with 20% of the judges leaving, we will start to see a significant slow-down in court procedures.

Uncontested cases, before 2007, used to take about 5 months from start to finish.  Now, they take about 7 months or longer from start to finish due to the court not being able to give final hearing dates as quickly.  Contested cases, though it depends on the complexity of the matter, will now mostly like take a lot longer than 9-months.

The hardest decision in a divorce is not about child custody; it’s not about the parenting schedule; it’s not even how to split up the marital property.  The hardest decision in a divorce is the initial decision to get a divorce – asking yourself, do I really want a divorce?

I often speak with clients that bring up concerns about how to split custody of the children or property but the longer I speak with these clients, the more clear it becomes that they are focusing on the little details of the divorce instead of dealing with the big questions.  Children and property, though they are difficult issues, can and will eventually be resolved.  We have laws to do that.  What cannot be answered with the law is personal decisions.  Do you want to get a divorce?  That question cannot be answered by the lawyer, the law or anyone else but you.

So when thinking about a divorce, don’t think about the minute details.  The details will come later and is much easier to resolve once you’ve made up your mind to do something.  Concentrate on the big questions.

I had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with Maureen Flores, a domestic violence advocate who works for Dove, Inc.  Dove is the only domestic violence agency serving the Norfolk county area of Massachusetts, which includes Quincy and the South Shore.

We talked about the different types of domestic violence, what family and friends should say to someone who they suspect is being battered, and the different types of services that Dove offers.

A large portion of my divorce clients either come from India or were married in India.  And a large portion of those clients wishing to get a divorce was paired in an arranged marriage.  Sometimes the other spouse is here in the United States through a visa and sometimes they’ve already gone back to India or were never here in the first place.

Conducting a divorce of an Indian couple, especially of an arranged marriage, poses some cultural issues.  First off, legally, they can get divorce either in India or here in Massachusetts if one of the spouse has lived here for the past year.  In these international divorce situations, it’s often a lot easier to try to get the couple to come together to file an uncontested divorce because initiating a contested divorce internationally is very difficult.  If the couple decides to divorce here in Massachusetts, it simply proceeds as usual.

When the divorce is granted, nothing needs to be done in India.  If the spouse that lives here eventually wants to go back to marry again in India, he or she simply has to get a Divorce Certificate and register it in India so that they can get married again.  If they don’t intend on getting married again in India, registering the divorce in India is not necessary.

The cultural issues is that since it was an arranged marriage, both the husband and the wife’s family has to be involved in the divorce process as well.  Most of the time, there was a dowry paid by the wife’s family to the husband’s family and if there is a divorce, it needs to be given back.  These cultural issues needs to be negotiated and completed before a legal divorce here in Massachusetts can occur.

If you have an international divorce situation, it’s a good idea to have an attorney that has dealt with the countries before and knows the process.  In the alternative, you could get an attorney in the other country to make sure your divorce in Massachusetts will ultimately be valid overseas as well.

Here are the facts:  A couple who doesn’t live or reside in Massachusetts, comes to Massachusetts solely for the purpose of getting married.  They are allowed to be married because Massachusetts allows same-sex couples to get married.  They return to their home state where same-sex marriage is not allowed.  Now, time passes and their marriage breaks down and they want to get a divorce.  Can they get a divorce in Massachusetts?

The simple answer is no.

In order for a couple to get divorced in Massachusetts, they have to have lived here in the Commonwealth for 1 year prior to filing for a divorce OR the grounds for the divorce must have occurred in Massachusetts.  Simply put, it doesn’t matter where you get married, it matters where you live that determines where you get divorced.

So what does that mean for gay couples who are married yet live in a state that doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage?  Several things are possible.  They either can not get divorced or their state can be one of the few states that don’t allow same-sex marriage but will grant a same-sex divorce.  Their last option is for one of them to move to Massachusetts for 1 year and then file for divorce here.

This definitely places a tremendous burden on same-sex couples but as long as the Defense of Marriage Act is in place, states can continue to refuse divorces for same-sex couples despite another state legally recognizing their marriage.