“Mean” Provision Means Something
According to the Appeals Court, it is unequivocally mean for an ex-husband to tell an ex-wife that her son wished she would die. A judgment (incorporating an agreement) prohibited interparty communications that were “negative or mean.” The Probate and Family Court found the ex-husband in contempt for sending a letter alleging that his ex-wife suffered ...
Continue ReadingMerger / Survival
The basis of the malpractice claim in DiPietro is also instructive for mediators. The client alleged that the attorney negligently failed to advise him on the difference between “merger” and “survival” as they relate to the subsequent modification of the agreement. Note, too, the client’s statements during the judge’s colloquy that he understood the agreement ...
Continue ReadingLimits of Attorney-Client Privilege
A recent Superior Court case held that a divorce lawyer who was sued for malpractice by a client could depose the successor counsel who represented that client in a modification action. That the client waives attorney-client privilege when malpractice is asserted is black-letter law. Here, the court extended that waiver to the successor counsel hired ...
Continue ReadingAutomatic Restraining Order
During the pendency of a divorce action, the Barnstable Probate and Family Court found that the wife’s restatement of her revocable living trust so as to longer provide the husband with a life estate in the marital home was not a violation of the automatic restraining order, Rule 411. Central to the holding was that ...
Continue ReadingRetained Earnings in a Sub-S Corporation
The treatment of Sub-S retained earnings that pass-through to the parent-shareholder’s tax return has long vexed mediators and lawyers in support cases. When calculating support, do we include the income which is taxable to the recipient but undistributed to him ? In a case of first impression, the Supreme Judicial Court has weighed in with ...
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