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The Massachusetts 3StepDivorce™ Help Center
3StepDivorce offers the highest level of customer support in the entire online divorce industry. Our goal is to answer your phone calls within one ring! If you have questions about how it works, please call us toll free at 1-800-680-9052 Mon.- Fri. 9am to 5pm EST. We provide unlimited support for all of our customers. We take great pride in being able to respond to our customers in a "human" to "human" approach (as you can see, we do not hide our toll free number 1-800-680-9052). We understand the need a customer may have to talk to a person rather than the typical automated voice or e-mail support system. Please keep in mind that we are not lawyers and we do not give out legal advice. If you need legal advice we recommend that you contact a lawyer in your area.
In almost all cases, you file for a divorce in the state where you reside. This means that if you are a resident of Massachusetts, you file in Massachusetts and are governed by Massachusetts's divorce laws even if you were married, for example, in California. You must meet Massachusetts's residency requirement for a Massachusetts court to have jurisdiction over your divorce.
Massachusetts 3StepDivorce™ works as long as both you and your spouse agree about everything, and both of you are willing to sign the divorce paperwork. You do not have to sign the papers together, at the same time and place, but the Massachusetts 3StepDivorce™ requires both spouses to sign.
It sure does. The Massachusetts 3StepDivorce™ deals with all issues regarding children, including but not limited to, physical and legal custody, visitation and support, care, health insurance and tax deductions.
Not with Massachusetts 3StepDivorce™. Thousands of people divorce in Massachusetts every year without hiring a lawyer. Massachusetts 3StepDivorce™ gives you all the divorce documents required by the court. When spouses cannot agree about the terms and conditions of their divorce, they sometimes end up in court where a judge makes decisions for them. This is called a contested divorce, and hiring a lawyer is a good idea in this case. But when a case is uncontested - when you and you spouse agree about everything - filing your own divorce cuts legal costs and leaves both spouses with more money each can surely use when they begin their new lives as single people.
The residency requirements for a divorce in Massachusetts are as follows: One of the spouses must be a resident of Massachusetts if the grounds for the divorce happened in Massachusetts. If the grounds happened outside of Massachusetts, one of the parties must be a resident for at least one year.
Yes. The divorce paperwork requires a signed authentication that you have been a resident of Massachusetts for at least a year. This is a state law. Signing false statements is perjury. If the court requires proof for some reason, typically a Massachusetts driver's license or state identification is sufficient. An affidavit of a corroborating witness testifying about your residency also works.
Your spouse does not need to live in Massachusetts to use 3StepDivorce™. After you have printed all the divorce paperwork, you simply mail the documents to your spouse and he or she signs them. After your spouse returns them, you file in your local county court. Very often divorcing spouses live in different states.
You must choose one of the following grounds to divorce in Massachusetts. Without instructions to the contrary, Massachusetts 3StepDivorce™ automatically selects the most common ground used for uncontested actions. However, if a different ground is desired, our support team makes the changes upon request. The grounds for divorce in Massachusetts are as follows: No-Fault: Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, filed in one of two ways: 1) in conjunction with the Massachusetts simplified divorce procedure which requires one of the following: a) petition signed by both spouses jointly or by their attorneys; b) a sworn affidavit that is executed jointly or separately by the petitioners that an irretrievable breakdown exists; c) a notarized separation agreement executed by the parties; or 2) with a signed statement and dissolution agreement. Fault: 1) adultery, 2) impotence, 3) utter desertion for one year prior to filing the complaint, 4) gross and habitual habits of intoxication caused by alcohol or drug addiction, 5) cruel and inhuman treatment, or 6) nonsupport "whereby a spouse is able to provide support but grossly, wantonly and cruelly refuses or neglects to provide suitable maintenance for the complaining spouse."
Once the divorce paperwork has been filed in court, it usually takes 90 days for a divorce to be final. The start to finish time of the divorce may vary depending on the caseload of the court and the availability of judges to sign the final Certificate of Absolute Divorce. 3StepDivorce™ saves time because all lengthy delivery times are eliminated when you print your documents from your computer. You control revisions and reprintings as necessary.
In Massachusetts, a divorce hearing is not typically required unless you and your spouse have children. If there are children involved, a short hearing, generally about 15 minutes, gives the court an opportunity to make certain that you understand the parameters of custody, visitation and support that are ordered as part of your divorce. If there are no children, the process in very streamlined. Since you and your spouse are in agreement, there is nothing for the court to decide.
There is no mandatory waiting period in Massachusetts.
Yes. 3StepDivorce™ includes a protocol for the wife to take back her former or birth name as part of the filing. It is easier to effect a name change during the divorce rather than after the divorce is finalized. Name change questions are part of the account, and divorce documents are prepared appropriately.
Separate and marital property and debt is identified and addressed in your 3StepDivorce™ account. A series of questions itemizes property and debt, dividing and allocating both. The answers become part of the divorce documents, so it is clear to you, your spouse and the court how assets and liabilities have been divided.
Yes. You answer a few questions dealing with individual retirement accounts. You have the option of waiving rights to each other's account(s), or dividing any marital portion of an account by a specific percentage or a dollar amount.
Once again, a few questions inside your account deal with the disposition of the marital home. All possible scenarios are covered -- sale, planned sale, transfer from one spouse to the other, and co-ownership. A home is often the largest asset a married couple has, and a significant portion of the divorce documents deal with this asset.
A few questions in your account deal with temporary or permanent spousal support. Rights to spousal support may be waived, or a couple can agree to a specific amount for a set period of time. These questions define and limit the parameters of the desired spousal support, which often terminates upon remarriage or cohabitation.
Massachusetts requires that a support order be put in place for all children. You and your spouse have some latitude on the amount of child support based on your economic situation. If your situation warrants it, you can enter "O" as the support amount, and that is how the support order reads. Child support and visitation are separate issues, and a divorcing couple may not use one to leverage the other. 3StepDivorce™ provides the Massachusetts Child Support Guideline Worksheet, so you can easily calculate the state's recommendation for monthly support, but you have the option of taking these recommendations under advisement. The courts realize that you and your spouse know your situation better than they do, so they will approve any reasonable support amount, even if it is different from the one on the state worksheet.
We provide Massachusetts Child Support Worksheets inside your account. These worksheets make it very easy to calculate a monthly support amount. The support calculation is based on a number of variables, but the primary one is income. Once you have calculated the amount, you and your spouse decide if you want to deviate from it and the reasons for doing so.
Yes. Once you and your spouse agree to a monthly child support amount, a judge reviews your decision. He or she will accept it if it seems reasonable. However, if it seems too high or too low, the judge will want an explanation why the two of you came to amount so much at variance from the state guidelines. Your explanation and reasons for it determine whether or not the judge accepts your proposed child support amount.
Massachusetts permits deviation from its child support guidelines when the court deems it appropriate based on a consideration of a number of factors, including alimony, tax exemptions for the children, custody and visitation, child care, age of the children, health insurance obligations, attribution of income, prior orders of support and expenses for subsequent families.
Yes. Child support can be modified based on a change in circumstances. In Massachusetts, a change in circumstances means "a significant change in circumstances," generally, changes "not considered when the original judgment was entered" that are "permanent and substantial" and/or "affect one's current standard of living."
Yes. Child custody arrangements can be modified when, for example, they break down because of the conduct of one of the former spouses.
Yes. The terms and conditions of both sole and joint/shared custody are defined. You answer a few questions and your custody arrangements are prepared for you.
Yes. You can either use a standard schedule that we provide in your account, or you can use our option to customize your own.
Unless otherwise stated in a child support order, you are no longer required to pay child support in Massachusetts when the child turns 18, or when the child turns 21 if he or she lives with the parent, or 23 if the child is enrolled in an education program.
Yes. Some of the divorce papers need to be notarized. The step-by-step filing instructions explain who signs what and whether a particular document needs to be notarized. The documents requiring notarization contain notary clauses below individual signature lines.
No. If desired, each of you may sign and/or notarize a document at a different time and/or place. As mentioned, very frequently spouses sign and notarize the documents at different times and places because they live apart in different states. This happens often, for example, when one of them has moved or is in the military.
In Massachusetts, the divorce papers are filed in the Trial Court, the Probate and Family Court Department ____________, Division, which is the local county courthouse, where the Domestic Relations or Family Law department accepts the divorce filing. The divorce documents are submitted to the Clerk of the Courts. You pay a filing fee, and the clerk assigns the case a case number.
In Massachusetts, the fees may vary by county, but roughly the fees are about $215. If you want to know the exact amount, you can call the courthouse and ask. Filing fees underwrite the cost of the court system, but in the case of indigent petitioners these fees may be waived.
Normally, an indigent petitioner completes a very short form at the time of filing. This form asks the court to waive the fees because of financial hardship.
Yes. If you have signed up but not filed any divorce papers, then nothing must be done. If you have initiated the action by filing the Joint Petition, your case can be dismissed by petitioning the court to do so. Normally, this can only be done by the filing spouse and must be done in writing. Often the clerk of the court can help a person remove a case from the court docket.
Yes, as long as you can mail (or deliver) the papers to your spouse and he or she signs them, 3StepDivorce™ will work for you.
The documents you receive vary depending upon your individual situation, for example, if you have children. The Massachusetts 3StepDivorce™ includes the following documents:
- Massachusetts Filing Instructions Copyright Notice: The above questions and answers regarding Massachusetts divorce is original material which is owned an copyrighted by Divorce Source, Inc. This material has been adapted from applicable state laws and unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. Violation of this notice will result in immediate legal action.
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FAQS About Massachusetts 3StepDivorce™