I have been representing clients in Massachusetts who are involved in uncontested as well as contested divorces for thirty eight years. In that time period I have experienced different types of cases that might fit into categories, but each case is unique based upon its own set of facts. What I mean by this statement is that your case might be contested, because you and your spouse cannot agree upon custody/visitation of your children, or you and your spouse cannot agree upon child support/alimony, or you and your spouse cannot agree upon the removal of your child to live permanently in a foreign state. By this time, you should understand that there are many reasons why a divorce is contested including but not limited to the reason recited above. The events of your lives, the facts surrounding your marriage, relationship with your children, and all the factors expressed in Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 208, section 34, are the facts that make your situation unique. This uniqueness of facts is relevant to uncontested divorces as well. For instance, physical health is a factor that is recited under section 34, and even though you and your spouse have an understanding about matters, if one or both of you are impacted by illness, the written agreement which each of you would sign to commemorate your agreement and which would be incorporated into the divorce judgment would have to take the health issue into account. For instance, debilitating illness of a spouse can impact amount and duration of alimony.
So when you come to meet with me for your initial consultation, go ahead and review the statute beforehand so you can familiarize yourself with the factors that I would want to consider in analyzing your divorce agreement or your unresolved divorce situation.
If I raise issues that are different from what you considered, please realize that I am looking at your situation now but also in the future. Hopefully once you are divorced you will not have to return to court thereafter for issues that should have been dealt with at the time of the divorce. You want a resolution that is fair under the factual circumstances of your case on the day we meet, on the day that the divorce judgment issues, and years thereafter.
PhilipJByers
Philip J. Byers, Attorney 