Of all the family law cases I deal with, those cases dealing with parents separated by distance are the hardest, legally and emotionally.  Mostly the families I see have two great parents.  It might be joint custody or one parent might have sole custody, but regardless, both are great parents.  So it’s all that much heart-wrenching when we have to decide which parent gets the child for the majority of the year and live a plane ride away.  There is no good way to do it.

Legally, there are standards to be met.  The best interest of the child has to be looked at in all cases.  The question has to be asked, “is it in the best interest of the child for him to stay or to go?”  Then depending on whether it’s a sole custody or a joint custody situation, you might also have to ask the question, “why is the parent moving?”  Is there a real advantage to the move?

But these are just legal jargon and standards that don’t fully encapsulate the enormity of the final decision.

These days, because of technology, we routinely set up Skype for parents so that they can hear and see their kids through video chats.  It is definitely a step forward but you still cannot hug your children over the internet.  That’s a shame.

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.

In this video, I talk about the basics of Massachusetts child support laws.  I discuss when child support is to be paid and how much support is paid by using the child support guidelines.  For parents wishing to obtain child support, I talk about the different types of services available, both free and paid.