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General Laws of Massachusetts - Chapter 208 Divorce.
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Massachusetts Laws > Divorce > General Laws of Massachusetts - Chapter 208 Divorce.
Causes for Divorce.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Divorce; general provisions - Chapter 208, Section 1
A divorce from the bond of matrimony may be adjudged for adultery, impotency, utter desertion continued for one year next prior to the filing of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Irretrievable breakdown of marriage; commencement of action; complaint accompanied by statement and dissolution agreement; procedure - Chapter 208, Section 1A
An action for divorce on the ground of an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage may be commenced with the filing of: (a) a petition signed...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Irretrievable breakdown of marriage; commencement of action; waiting period; unaccompanied complaint; procedure - Chapter 208, Section 1B
An action for divorce on the ground of an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage may be commenced by the filing of the complaint unaccompanied by...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Confinement for crime - Chapter 208, Section 2
A divorce may also be adjudged if either party has been sentenced to confinement for life or for five years or more in a federal...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Absence; presumption of death - Chapter 208, Section 3
A divorce may be adjudged for any of the causes allowed by sections one, one B, or two although the defendant has been continuously absent...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Domicile of parties - Chapter 208, Section 4
A divorce shall not, except as provided in the following section, be adjudged if the parties have never lived together as husband and wife in...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Exceptions - Chapter 208, Section 5
If the plaintiff has lived in this commonwealth for one year last preceding the commencement of the action if the cause occurred without the commonwealth,...
Libels for Divorce.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Libel for divorce; venue - Chapter 208, Section 6
Actions for divorce shall be filed, heard and determined in the probate court, held for the county where one of the parties lives, except that...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Repealed, 1931, 426, Sec. 88 - Chapter 208, Section 6A
Chapter 208: Section 6A. Repealed, 1931, 426, Sec. 88
- Massachusetts General Laws - Filing of action; statistical report - Chapter 208, Section 6B
An action for divorce shall be commenced in probate court by the filing of a complaint. Said complaint shall be accompanied by a statistical report,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Repealed, 1975, 400, Sec. 13 - Chapter 208, Section 7
Chapter 208: Section 7. Repealed, 1975, 400, Sec. 13
- Massachusetts General Laws - Commencement of actions - Chapter 208, Section 8
Actions for divorce in the probate courts shall be commenced in accordance with the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure applicable to domestic relations procedure.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Repealed, 1975, 400, Sec. 15 - Chapter 208, Section 8A
Chapter 208: Section 8A. Repealed, 1975, 400, Sec. 15
- Massachusetts General Laws - Repealed, 1975, 400, Secs. 16, 17 - Chapter 208, Section 9
Chapter 208: Section 9. Repealed, 1975, 400, Sec. 16
- Massachusetts General Laws - Repealed, 1922, 542, Sec. 3 - Chapter 208, Section 9A
Chapter 208: Section 9A. Repealed, 1922, 542, Sec. 3
- Massachusetts General Laws - Repealed, 1975, 400, Secs. 16, 17 - Chapter 208, Section 10
Chapter 208: Section 10. Repealed, 1975, 400, Sec. 17
- Massachusetts General Laws - Ex parte hearing; allowance or denial of motion to insert name of third person - Chapter 208, Section 11
The evidence produced at such ex parte hearing shall not be reported or made a part of the record in the case and the motion...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Spouse's property; attachment - Chapter 208, Section 12
Upon an action for divorce by either spouse for a cause accruing after marriage, the real and personal property of the other spouse may be...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Attachment; manner - Chapter 208, Section 13
The attachment may be made upon the summons issued upon the action, in the same manner as attachments are made upon writs in actions at...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Attachments; laws applicable - Chapter 208, Section 14
The laws relative to attachments of real or personal property shall apply to attachments herein provided for, so far as they are consistent with the...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Mentally ill defendant; appointment and compensation of guardian - Chapter 208, Section 15
If during the pendency of an action for divorce the defendant is incapacitated by reason of mental illness, the court shall appoint a suitable guardian...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Investigation of divorce case - Chapter 208, Section 16
Any judge of a probate court wherein any action for divorce is pending may appoint an attorney to investigate and report to the court in...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Pendency of action; allowance; alimony - Chapter 208, Section 17
The court may require either party to pay into court for the use of the other party during the pendency of the action an amount...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Pendency of action for divorce; protection of personal liberty of spouse; restraint orders authorized - Chapter 208, Section 18
The probate court in which the action for divorce is pending may, upon petition of the wife, prohibit the husband, or upon petition of the...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Pendency of action for divorce; custody of children - Chapter 208, Section 19
The court may in like manner, upon application of either party or of a next friend in behalf of the minor children of the parties,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Continuance of action; temporary separation - Chapter 208, Section 20
The court may, without entering a judgment of divorce, order the action continued upon the docket from time to time, and during such continuance may...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Judgment denying divorce; living apart for justifiable cause; authorization - Chapter 208, Section 20A
If, after a hearing, the allegations of an action for divorce are not sustained, the court may, if the facts warrant, enter a judgment denying...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Divorce judgments; entry - Chapter 208, Section 21
Judgments of divorce shall in the first instance be judgments nisi, and shall become absolute after the expiration of ninety days from the entry thereof,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Desertion; proof - Chapter 208, Section 22
In order to establish grounds for divorce for desertion, the plaintiff shall establish that the defendant left voluntarily and without justification and with intent not...
General Provisions.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Resumption of former name by woman - Chapter 208, Section 23
The court granting a divorce may allow a woman to resume her maiden name or that of a former husband.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Divorced parties; remarriage - Chapter 208, Section 24
After a judgment of divorce has become absolute, either party may marry again as if the other were dead.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Certificate of divorce; contents - Chapter 208, Section 24A
The court, in issuing a copy of, or a certificate relating to, a decree of divorce entered by it, shall cause to be printed or...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Divorce for adultery of wife; legitimacy of issue - Chapter 208, Section 25
A divorce for adultery committed by the wife shall not affect the legitimacy of the issue of the marriage, but such legitimacy, if questioned, shall...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Repealed, 1949, 76, Sec. 1 - Chapter 208, Section 26
Chapter 208: Section 26. Repealed, 1949, 76, Sec. 1
- Massachusetts General Laws - Curtesy or dower after divorce - Chapter 208, Section 27
After a divorce, a husband or wife shall not be entitled to curtesy or dower in the land of the other spouse.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Children; care, custody and maintenance; child support obligations; provisions for education and health insurance; parents convicted of first degree murder - Chapter 208, Section 28
Upon a judgment for divorce, the court may make such judgment as it considers expedient relative to the care, custody and maintenance of the minor...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Temporary care, custody and maintenance of minor children - Chapter 208, Section 28A
During the pendency of an action seeking a modification of a judgment for divorce, upon motion of either party or of a next friend on...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Minor children; foreign divorces, care and custody - Chapter 208, Section 29
If, after a divorce has been adjudged in another jurisdiction, minor children of the marriage are inhabitants of, or residents in this commonwealth, the probate...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Minor children; removal from commonwealth; prohibition - Chapter 208, Section 30
A minor child of divorced parents who is a native of or has resided five years within this commonwealth and over whose custody and maintenance...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Custody of children; shared custody plans - Chapter 208, Section 31
For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meaning unless the context requires otherwise: “Sole legal custody”, one parent shall...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Child; bringing before court; writ of habeas corpus - Chapter 208, Section 32
Any court having jurisdiction of actions for divorce or nullity of marriage, separate support, or maintenance, or of any other proceeding in which the care...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Jurisdiction; procedure - Chapter 208, Section 33
The court may, if the course of proceeding is not specially prescribed, hear and determine all matters coming within the purview of this chapter according...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Alimony; assignment of estate; rights and funds accrued during marriage; determination of amount of alimony or value of property; health insurance - Chapter 208, Section 34
Upon divorce or upon a complaint in an action brought at any time after a divorce, whether such a divorce has been adjudged in this...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Alimony judgment ordering conveyance; effect - Chapter 208, Section 34A
Whenever a judgment for alimony shall be made in a proceeding for divorce directing that a deed, conveyance or release of any real estate or...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Order to vacate marital home - Chapter 208, Section 34B
Any court having jurisdiction of actions for divorce, or for nullity of marriage or of separate support or maintenance, may, upon commencement of such action...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Orders to vacate marital home and orders of restraint; notice to law enforcement agencies; procedures; violations - Chapter 208, Section 34C
Whenever a division of the probate and family court department issues an order to vacate under the provisions of section thirty-four B, or an order...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Request for restraining order or order to vacate marital home; information provided to petitioner upon filing; domestic violence record search; outstanding warrants - Chapter 208, Section 34D
Upon the filing of a request for a restraining order pursuant to section eighteen or for an order for a spouse to vacate the marital...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Alimony; enforcement - Chapter 208, Section 35
The court may enforce judgments, including foreign decrees, for allowance, alimony or allowance in the nature of alimony, in the same manner as it may...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Security for payment of alimony or support; enforcement of judgments or orders - Chapter 208, Section 36
When alimony or support is adjudged for the spouse or children, the court may require sufficient security for its payment according to the judgment. Each...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Continuing jurisdiction to enforce alimony, support and maintenance or child support; order for trustee process - Chapter 208, Section 36A
(1) In any case in which an obligor is under court order to pay alimony or support and maintenance or child support in an action...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Alimony; revision of judgment - Chapter 208, Section 37
After a judgment for alimony or an annual allowance for the spouse or children, the court may, from time to time, upon the action for...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Costs - Chapter 208, Section 38
In any proceeding under this chapter, whether original or subsidiary, the court may, in its discretion, award costs and expenses, or either, to either party,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Foreign divorces; validity - Chapter 208, Section 39
A divorce adjudged in another jurisdiction according to the laws thereof by a court having jurisdiction of the cause and of both the parties shall...
Criminal Provisions.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Cohabitation after divorce - Chapter 208, Section 40
Persons divorced from each other cohabiting as husband and wife or living together in the same house shall be held to be guilty of adultery.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Personation - Chapter 208, Section 41
Whoever falsely personates another or wilfully and fraudulently procures a person so to do, or fraudulently procures false testimony to be given, or makes a...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Procurement of unlawful divorce - Chapter 208, Section 42
Whoever knowingly procures or obtains or assists another to procure or obtain any false, counterfeit or fraudulent divorce or judgment of divorce, or any divorce...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Advertisement to procure divorce - Chapter 208, Section 43
Whoever writes, prints or publishes, or solicits another to write, print or publish, any notice, circular or advertisement soliciting employment in the business of procuring...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Certificate of divorce; unlawful issuance - Chapter 208, Section 44
Whoever, except in compliance with an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, gives, signs or issues any writing purporting to grant a divorce to...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Criminal offenses; notice to district attorney - Chapter 208, Section 45
If a divorce is granted for a cause constituting a crime, committed within the commonwealth and within the time provided by law for making complaints...
Statistics of Divorce.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Statistical reports; additional information - Chapter 208, Section 46
The registers of probate shall receive the statistical reports filed pursuant to section six B; and shall, upon a divorce becoming absolute, add to the...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Repealed, 1976, 486, Sec. 23 - Chapter 208, Section 47
Chapter 208: Section 47. Repealed, 1976, 486, Sec. 23
Last modified: March 17, 2010
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