Turco Legal Blog
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Blog posts on Divorce and Family Law topics such as Adoption, Prenuptial Agreement, Equitable Distribution, Guardianship, and more. Turco Legal is a private law firm focused on helping clients through divorce and family law matters in Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk Counties.
Turco Legal Blog
1w ago
The post Deviating from the Durational Limits on Alimony: New Case appeared first on Turco Legal, P.C ..read more
Turco Legal Blog
6M ago
A new Massachusetts Appeals Court case, Michael A. Trethewey v. Rosalia F. Trethewey, highlights the risk of “double dipping” in divorce matters involving marital asset division and alimony (or other support) orders. In Trethewey, the probate and family judge treated the husband’s employment “bonus” as both a divisible asset for equitable distribution and as income for alimony purposes.
The Appeals Court found that this amounted to impermissible “double dipping” and reversed the Probate and Family Court’s decision on this issue. The wife must now return the portion of the “bon ..read more
Turco Legal Blog
8M ago
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently decided Openshaw v. Openshaw, a case that changes how we think about alimony specifically in regard to the need for support to accumulate savings. The issue in Openshaw was whether a probate and family judge was right to factor in a divorcing couple’s practice of saving money during their marriage when he made an alimony award in the case.
Under Massachusetts law, alimony is “the payment of support from a spouse, who has the ability to pay, to a spouse in need of support for a reasonable length of time, under a cou ..read more
Turco Legal Blog
10M ago
The valuation date for marital property can be a significant issue in a divorce because asset value is rarely static. Oftentimes, property appreciates after the separation or divorce process has commenced and before the divorce is final. When there are larger assets, such as real estate or business interests, the shifting of one or more such assets makes it more challenging for a marital estate to be divided equitably.
What point in time should a judge use for valuation purposes when dividing the marital estate? Should the judge use the value of the marital estate at the time of the par ..read more
Turco Legal Blog
1y ago
The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently decided Rabinowitz v. Schenkman, a case with shocking facts. The parties in Rabinowitz, former spouses, executed a separation agreement, which a probate and family court judge approved and incorporated into a 2014 amended divorce judgment. Per the separation agreement, the ex-husband made monthly payments to the ex-wife for purposes of property division. In 2015, however, the ex-wife attempted to murder the ex-husband with a hatchet. He then stopped paying her.
In response, the ex-wife sued the husband for breach of contract. In Rabinowitz ..read more
Turco Legal Blog
1y ago
The valuation of real estate and other assets is an issue that arises in divorce–and it’s often a contentious one. In a divorce, the Probate and Family Court judge needs a complete picture of the parties’ assets and the assets’ value to determine an equitable division of the marital estate. This holds true even for assets located abroad.
The valuation of foreign assets is the central issue in the Massachusetts Appeals Court case, Ayca Celikkol Gazelle v. Guy Scott Gazelle. This case highlights the potential for complexity in asset valuation and distribution. It also illustrates the ..read more
Turco Legal Blog
1y ago
A prenuptial agreement can eliminate much of the guesswork from the divorce process and save divorcing spouses time and money. Also known as an “antenuptial agreement” or a “prenup,” it is a written contract engaged couples sign prior to marriage that clearly outlines how a couple will divide their assets and liabilities if they later decide to divorce. While a prenuptial agreement can favor one party to a degree—reserving more assets for one spouse should the couple divorce—there are instances in which a Massachusetts court won’t enforce the agreement. For a prenuptial agreement to be enfor ..read more
Turco Legal Blog
1y ago
What to do with the marital home can be a major point of contention for divorcing spouses. Some spouses decide to sell the marital home and split the proceeds. Others decide that one spouse will keep the home after the divorce and buy the other out of their interest in the property, almost always refinancing the property in the short term to remove the other from the related loan. Both are more clear-cut approaches to the division of the marital home.
In rare instances, divorcing parties agree that they’ll continue as co-owners of the marital home long after the divorce while one party remai ..read more
Turco Legal Blog
1y ago
We’ve encountered this issue repeatedly. A parent seeks a 209A restraining order in the district court. Notice is given to the alleged abuser that the district court will hold a restraining order hearing. At that hearing, the parent seeking the order asks for child support as well. While the district court issues the restraining order, the judge declines to order child support. Instead, the district court judge directs the parties to the probate and family court, telling the parent seeking child support to ask for it there.
In such a scenario, the Massachusetts Appeals Court recently determi ..read more
Turco Legal Blog
1y ago
Financial security in retirement takes years of planning and saving. Married couples may do this retirement planning together. Perhaps each spouse has their own retirement account or pension. Or maybe one spouse is a stay-at-home parent or cannot work. So, the couple plans to live off of one spouse’s retirement assets when that time comes. But what happens to those retirement funds in a divorce? Can a party just keep all the money they personally have been investing and saving for retirement? Maybe not—at least not all of it.
Whether it be an IRA or 401K, or another type of retirement plan ..read more