Springfield MA Family Law Blog

Unlike many other states, Massachusetts has no formal process for legal separation. If a married couple wants to have a formal breakup, then their option is, generally speaking, to obtain a divorce.

Otherwise, a couple who wishes to separate, but still remain married, may be left with sorting out their financial affairs and even their child custody and support issues themselves. This is not always an ideal situation, but people often have moral, financial and legal or even emotional reasons for remaining married even if they choose to live apart.

As this blog has discussed on previous occasions, there are many people in Springfield who know children whose parents are simply not willing or not able to care for them properly.

Things like drug addiction or mental illness can easily handicap a parent to the point where they can no longer safely provide for their children. However, these parents may not be willing to just agree to let someone else take care of their kids, perhaps because they fear losing them permanently or because they are just not thinking clearly.

The idea of an offshore account may connote some sense of mystery or even inherently illegal activity. However, the reality is that offshore accounts are simply bank or investment accounts that are held in foreign countries. Residents of Springfield, Massachusetts, even if they are of relatively modest means, can and often do own these sorts of accounts for a variety of reasons.

Offshore accounts will generally be treated as any other asset being divided in the course of a divorce or legal separation. Since Massachusetts is an equitable division state, the starting point would be to split the property in half in some way, assuming the bank account is marital property in the first place. Of course, a fair division of property does not always imply a perfect 50-50 split.

A child with special needs can come in many different shapes and sizes and can have a number of different issues. The vast majority of the time, these kids are able to attend school but may need a little extra help to get a good education.

This is where an Individualized Education Program comes in to play. While there a lot of federal laws surrounding an IEP, the basic idea is that the law requires educational institutions to supply education on a basis tailored to the needs of the student. The goal is to prevent a child suffering with a disability or other special need from slipping through the cracks of what might otherwise be a one-size-fits-all education system.