Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

Re: What is required for a simple uncontested divorce in MA, no children ?

A divorce is one way to terminate a marriage, and the legal procedure is initiated by the filing of a complaint for divorce. An attorney can evaluate your situation, and tell you if a divorce is the best legal remedy, and if so under what legal grounds. If you are granted a divorce, the court will make a final determination of how your assets and liabilities will be divided. The court may determine alimony, and it can be final, or not. Child support is never final, no matter what the two parents say about it.

Terminating a marriage is a lot trickier than getting married. I get involved often in divorces where a party did not have an attorney, and found out that they lost a benefit, or a lot of money, because of the way they went about getting divorced. For example, if you do it wrong, you could trigger a tax liability, and end up owing the government a lot of money. The Courts do not tell you about these things, it is assumed that you will get an attorney, or that you do not care about the outcome. I hope if you try this on your own, that you are happy when you complete the process -- I do not meet many people who "do it themselves" who are happy with the result. I would never advise you to try this without an attorney.... Good luck!!

Re: What is required for a simple uncontested divorce in MA, no children ?

If you and your spouse can come to an agreement then you would only need to formulate a separation agreement. Often, it is best to have an attorney draw up the agreement though to insure that it covers all necessary areas. The only other fee would be the filing fee of $110.00.