In order to get divorced in Massachusetts, one must either have lived in the state for at least one year or the couple lived in the state and the facts giving rise to the divorce occurred in the state. In other words, you must have either lived together with your spouse in the state or you have lived in the state for at least one year prior to filing for divorce. In reality, your spouse doesn’t even need to be currently residing in the state for you to be eligible for a divorce here. However, just because a court can grant a divorce does not mean they have the ability to order the other spouse pay support if that court does not have jurisdiction over that other spouse.

If you have questions on whether you are eligible for a divorce in Massachusetts, please contact us for a free consultation.

If you have ever been around a divorce case or if you have spoken with an attorney, you may have heard the terms “1A” or “1B” divorce. These terms actually relate to the divorce statutes in Massachusetts. A 1A divorce relates to the M.G.L. ch.208 § 1A and a 1B divorce is, you guessed it, M.G.L. ch. 208 § 1B. While these two statutes may look closely related, they mean very different things.

A 1A divorce is where the spouses agree on every single thing that they are presenting to the court. This means you and your spouse have spoken about how you would like to divide the marital assets and how you would like to proceed with the custody of your children. This is generally obtained through mediation, but sometimes spouses can come to an agreement on their own and have their attorneys draft the agreement. It is important to note, that in this form of divorce, both parties must agree to absolutely everything prior to their filing.

A 1B divorce is what we generally think of when we think about divorce. This occurs when the parties cannot agree to the terms of the separation agreement and need a neutral third party to make determinations for them. However, the parties are free to come to an agreement at anytime of this process and are often encouraged to by the court.

Massachusetts allows for both fault and no-fault divorces. This means that you are free to bring fault divorce actions when there has been adultery, desertion, gross and confirmed habits of intoxication, cruel and abusive treatment, non-support, impotency, or a prison sentence of 5 or more years. However, there is very little to gain, if anything in a finding of fault grounds and can often be quite difficult to prove. All of these things add up to a much more costly and exhausting process.

In order to obtain a no-fault divorce, or “irretrievable breakdown” grounds for divorce, one spouse must believe that there was a moment in time where the couple suffered irreconcilable differences and the marriage was irretrievably broken. Essentially, this means that there was a point that you or your spouse concluded that staying married was impossible. Unlike, the days of old, consent to a divorce under this type of divorce is not required. You have the right to a divorce if you have reached this breaking point.

 In Massachusetts there are four types of alimony, and the eligibility and calculation of each type are very different.

General term alimony is what most people think of when they think of alimony. This is to support a spouse who is economically dependent on the other. However, unlike what most people think, this type of alimony does not last indefinitely unless the couple has been married for at least 20 years. If you have not been married for at least 20 years, it does not mean you cannot receive general term alimony, it will just mean that you will only be able to receive it for a shorter period of time. This type of alimony is terminated at the time of the death of the payor spouse (unless they have provided for the recipient spouse in the event of their death) or the remarriage of the recipient spouse. In some cases, the monetary value may be reduced or even terminated upon cohabitation of the recipient spouse and another.

Rehabilitative alimony is for a recipient spouse who will eventually be expected to support themselves without the support of the payor spouse. This type of alimony can be used to pay for training, education, or can be a sum determined by the court. It is important to remember for this type of alimony that it is temporary unless the recipient spouse can make a showing that unforeseen circumstances prevented them from becoming self-sufficient.

Reimbursement alimony is appropriate where one spouse has supported the career of the other spouse through either economic or non-economic means. This type of alimony is for marriages that are five years or less. If you have helped your spouse pay for schooling or training, this type of alimony might be appropriate for you.

Transitional alimony is to help assist a recipient spouse to get settled into their new lifestyle and is only for marriages that lasted less than five years. This can include things like assisting the recipient spouse in finding suitable housing.

This question is an understandable one as this process can seem like it takes very long. The best estimate that you can be given relates to the “track assignment”. When a case is filed, it is given a track assignment which is an aspirational time for when the case will go to trial. These are not set in stone, and nothing will come of it if they are missed, they are merely estimates. For most divorce and child custody related issues these tracks are between 8 and 14 months. However, they are much shorter for issues of contempt and joint petitions.

Limited Assistance Representation (LAR) works to keep the cost of representation down without sacrificing a great deal when it comes to representation. This process allows for a client to be responsible for certain parts of their divorce while their attorney remains responsible for others. This is an agreement between the attorney and yourself which clearly layout which one of you is responsible for which part of the divorce. For instance, say you feel that you need preparing and reviewing documents but do not need assistance in the courthouse. Your LAR will state clearly that the attorney is responsible for preparing and reviewing documents and that you are responsible for your own representation in court.

As you can imagine, cutting down on the amount of things that an attorney is responsible for will reduce the cost of your divorce. This process allows for people who cannot afford to have an attorney with them throughout the entirety of their divorce still get the representation and legal opinions necessary for protecting themselves and getting what they need from the process.

Once a divorce is granted in Massachusetts, it does not become permanent for a certain period of time. You will instead receive a Judgment of Divorce Nisi, which means not yet final or absolute and essentially is a waiting period. During this Nisi period neither party can get remarried because it allows the parties to change their minds with a Motion to Dismiss.

Once the Nisi period has run, the divorce will then automatically become absolute. The Nisi period varies depending on the type of divorce. If you have a 1B divorce (contested) the Nisi period is 90 days. However, if you have a 1A divorce (joint petition) the Nisi period is 120 days. This means you must wait 90 and 120 days respectively before your divorce becomes absolute and you can remarry.