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You're Thinking about Conflict All Wrong
Today is the third Thursday of October, which also happens to be Conflict Resolution Day. While that may not seem as fun as International Pancake Day, Conflict Resolution Day is an opportunity to...
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What is the difference between a Memorandum of Understanding and a Divorce...
To settle a divorce case in Massachusetts, the Probate and Family Court requires that the spouses file an agreement resolving all terms related to dissolving their marriage. This is typically called a...
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Parenting Plan Provisions - How Rigid or Flexible should You Be?
When drafting a parenting plan for separated parents of minor children, there are some basic things that should be in every plan. These include answering the following questions:Who has decision...
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Can't we all just get along? The biggest misconception about Mediation and...
One of the more common comments I hear when I tell people that I'm a mediator is"It sounds great, but it wouldn't have worked for me." When mediation has been shown to be about 85% successful in most...
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Divorce Options - an Update for 2020
In 2014, we didn't know yet who was running for president in 2016, the Guardians of the Galaxy had just arrived, Pharrell Williams was "Happy", and the Ebola virus outbreak was reaching epidemic...
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The Difference between Disclosure and Division in Divorce
We encourage our clients to use non-adversarial joint problem solving to resolve conflict. A simpler way of saying that is that we work with people to talk about and solve their problems together. We...
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Top 5 Reasons to get Trained in Mediation
Mediation is a process for resolving disputes with an impartial facilitator. The mediator helps open and improve dialogue between two or more individuals in hopes of finding an acceptable resolution...
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The Variations of Closeness: How would you draw your marriage over time?
Olivia De Recat created the amazingly simple but impactful image below. There are multiple types of relationships depicted, and yet many more that could be added. There is beauty in both the...
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Co-Parenting in a Crisis: COVID-19 and Beyond
UPDATE: Chief Justice John D. Casey sends an Open letter regarding co-parenting during COVID-19:"It is times like this, when society faces threats once thought unimaginable, that the rule of law is...
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Replace your cancelled Court Hearing with a Mediation
If you have a court hearing scheduled in the next few weeks, most likely you've been told it's postponed. While some hearings will be scheduled telephonically and by video conference, the COVID-19...
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In Mediation, Sometimes a Number Isn't a Number
In many settlement negotiations, the two sides narrow their disagreement to a small gap in their positions, a gap so small it pales in comparison to the total amount of money being discussed. This...
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A Template for Avoiding Court
"We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that'justice too long delayed is justice denied.'" - from the Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.Seeking and obtaining...
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Are Mediators in Massachusetts Certified?
I get this question from lawyers a lot who are wondering if a particular training will "certify" them to be mediators. In fact, I just received an inquiry today related to the upcoming 40-hour online...
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Easier than Ever to be Collaboratively Trained!
The Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council's Introduction to Collaborative Law Training won't be stopped by COVID-19. The training is September 23-25 from 8AM - 2PM via Zoom. Flyer: Collaborative Law...
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2020 U.S. Presidential Platforms - What do they say about Families?
In 2016 we shared what each presidential platform stated about families and given the upcoming election we want to update our post with the latest information. There are significant differences...
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Collaborative in a time of COVID
by Beth AaronsWhen a former family law colleague of mine told me about Collaborative Law Process sometime around 2008, conceptually it sounded much like a series of traditional four-way meetings, but...
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Justice App - a Resource worth Downloading
Skylark's online Massachsuetts Child Support Calculator was recently added as a resource on JusticeApp - a free downloadable resource from co-founders Damian Turco and Melina Munoz Turco. This is the...
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Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines News
Every four years, per federal requirements, the Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines must be reviewed. To that end, the Trial Court Chief Justice Paula M. Carey has announced the formation of the...
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Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines News - Part 2
Since we first posted about the upcoming update to the 2020-2021 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines Task force there have been a few additional updates:On December 15, 2020, the Massachusetts...
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Are divorce lawyers doing harm?
While the Hippocratic Oath is no longer required for doctors, we often hear the principle attributed to that ancient Greek oath for healers to "first, do no harm." The translation is actually closer...
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