Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

Re: Vaughn affidavit in divorce case

Generally, the separate assets of a spouse are not reachable by the other spouse in a divorce unless the assets were used for the benefit of the marriage.

Re: Vaughn affidavit in divorce case

First, the Vaughan affidavit comes from a case called Vaughan v. Vaughan, an unpublished Appeals Court case in which one party attempted to take the deposition of a divorcing party's parents and obtain other discovery. Although the Appeals Court did not rule out this other discovery, it stated that the Court should consider an affidavit from the parents so that they are not drawn into the litigation. Usually, that suffices. If there is reason to believe that the Vaughan affidavit is faulty or otherwise incorrect, one can pursue other discovery, but I would make the other side go to the judge and put forward their case as to why the affidavit is insufficient. I don't know what agreements have been made concerning the affidavit, though.

My opinion is that a court cannot force the resurveying of property in which your sister does not have a present interest. If, however, the property is not merely to be an inheritance, but it is part of the trust, the court could force your sister to order a resurvey. That would be unusual, again, and would be triggered only if there were something very wrong with existing surveys.

The Court can force the sale of your sister's share once she gets it, but usually you look to some other existing property in your sister's name to satisfy the property division.

I am available for consultation if need be.

Jerome Aaron