Family Law

Child custody is governed by state law (Massachusetts General Law Chapters 208 and 209) with cases heard in heard in the Probate & Family Courts of Massachusetts.

Legal custody gives you the right and responsibility to make major decisions regarding your child’s welfare, including education, medical care, and their emotional, moral, and religious development. The court can grant you sole legal custody or shared legal custody.

Physical custody or parenting time gives you the right to house and supervise your child in your home. In most cases your child’s other parent will have parenting time) rights unless the court determines that is not in the best interest of the child.

Shared physical custody allows your child to live in both parents’ homes, which ensures frequent and regular contact with both parents.

Family court judges will award full or shared custody according to Massachusetts law.

Among married couples seeking a divorce or legal separation, both parents have a right to shared legal custody and parenting time unless there are proven issues of substance abuse, intimate partner violence, or mental health issues.

Among unmarried couples, the mother by default has sole legal custody and physical custody. However, the parents can negotiate and agree to shared physical custody or else ask the judge to determine physical custody based on who held the role of primary parent during the couple’s relationship. Also, if you are the father and your name is not on the birth certificate, you must prove your paternity before petitioning the court for custody.

For all custody matters, family court judges first and foremost consider the best interests of the child. Judges have leeway in making this determination and will consider:

• Who was the historical primary caretaker of the child(ren)
• The child’s relationship with each parent
• Each parent’s ability to meet the child’s basic needs, such as clothing, shelter, food
• The child’s record at home, school, and the community
• Any history of neglect or abuse by either parent
• Each parent’s physical and mental health
• Each parent’s moral fitness
• Each parent’s willingness to support and encourage quality relationship between the child and other parent

Massachusetts law allows for a court review of child support agreements every three years or after a change in circumstances. Contact us to discuss filing a Complaint for Modification. If your financial situation has changed, you may be entitled to a review of the child support order.

In Massachusetts, child support payments are based on state-issued child support guidelines that define sources of income and the factors to be considered in setting the child support order. The guidelines allow for reasonable child care costs. For more information on calculating the child support you should pay or collect, see the Massachusetts child support guidelines.

Child support guidelines apply to the care of children who are:

• Under age 18
• Age 18 or older and attending high school or post-secondary education
• Under age 21 and principally dependent upon the residential parent
• Age 23 and younger enrolled at least half time in college pursuing an undergraduate degree

Both parents have the right to review child support agreements every three years or after a substantial change in circumstances.

If your child’s other parent does not pay child support as required by the court, you can file a Complaint for Contempt. You must complete a form and file it by mail or in person at the court where the child support order was made. The court will schedule a hearing and serve the other parent with a summons to appear.

Our family law attorneys can guide you through the process, complete paperwork, and represent you at the court hearing.

Before you can secure parenting time, you must establish with the court that you are the child’s biological father. If your name is listed on your child’s birth certificate, you may file a “complaint for support-custody-visitation” immediately.

However, if your name is not listed on the birth certificate, you first must petition the court to adjudicate (declare) your paternity. If the mother will not acknowledge you as the father, you must get a genetic marker test as proof of paternity. Only after paternity is established can you petition the court for parenting time. Your attorney can counsel you through the process.

The unmarried mother of a child has full legal and physical custody by default unless and until the father files in court to establish his custodial rights. This is the case even if the parents lived together and the child has a relationship with both parents.

This means unmarried fathers do not have the same default rights and responsibilities as married or divorcing fathers. If the father’s name is not on the birth certificate, the father or mother may petition the court for custody, parenting time, and child support. The court first must establish the father’s paternity or biological connection to the child.

If you and the other parent agree on the father’s paternity, each of you can sign a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity.

If either parent questions the child’s paternity, either of you can seek a court order to establish paternity through DNA testing.

You can petition the court to review child custody and support orders after a substantial change in circumstances. The petitioner must prove there has been a material and substantial change in circumstances and that the modification is in the best interests of the child.

A few examples of “material and substance change in circumstances” are:

• A parent has moved out of state without prior consent of the other parent or court order
• A parent is neglecting or abusing the child, or has begun dating someone who poses a danger to the child
• A parent’s home has become unsafe
• The child has developed a medical condition that one parent is better equipped to manage
• The child wishes to change a custody agreement (happens rarely, and only with older teens)

Contact us if you have questions about petitions to modify custody or support orders (either you wish to change the arrangement or you oppose changes). Our family law attorneys can help you evaluate your options and represent you in court.

Spousal support, also known as alimony, is a court-ordered financial payment between former spouses. You may be entitled to alimony if you are going through a divorce or legal separation.

Massachusetts family court judges will award alimony based on a number of factors, including:

• How long you were married
• Both parties’ age and health
• Both parties’ financial resources and separate estates
• Both parties’ ability to meet their needs independently
• What each party contributed to the marriage financially and non-financially
• Lost economic opportunity due to the marriage
• Child custody and child support orders
• Other factors

Alimony generally should not exceed 30 to 35 percent of the difference between the two parties’ gross incomes. If the initial court order allows for modification, the court may adjust alimony due to a change in circumstances.

Here is an alimony calculator.

Adoption law is immensely complex, and the filing procedure depends on the circumstances of the adoption.

If you are a stepparent or other family member seeking to adopt a child in Massachusetts, your case likely will go through the Probate and Family Court. You must file a petition for adoption, an affidavit, and, if applicable, a marriage certificate or divorce judgment. You must pass a criminal background check, and a home study may be required.

(Adoption cases stemming from a termination of parental rights are heard in Juvenile Court and involve the Department of Children & Families.)

Contact the family law attorneys at Jessica Doucette and Associates to learn more about filing for adoption as a stepparent or other family member.

Mediation is one way to negotiate any family law or guardianship matter, including divorce, custody, child support, and parenting time. The mediator acts as a neutral party and oversees negotiations in the privacy of an office. This method is generally less expensive and confrontational than litigation, and it usually minimizes stress on any children involved.

However, mediation may not be a good choice in certain circumstances. It may be better to go to court if your matter involves addiction or abuse, a serious imbalance of power between the parties, or an unwillingness by one or both parties to be forthcoming about finances.

Jessica Doucette is a certified mediator and family law attorney. She can advise whether mediation or litigation is the most appropriate path for your particular case.

Massachusetts requires that all residents be covered by health insurance. The father’s health insurance company will not add the child to the policy unless a court has adjudicated (declared) that he is the biological father. If he is listed on the birth certificate, you may petition the court for your child to be added to the policy. If the father’s name is not listed on the birth certificate, you first must establish paternity.