Harassment Prevention Orders (“HPO”) are similar to Restraining Orders (“RO”) in the sense that both orders require an offending individual to stay away and not contact the complaining victim. Generally both orders are issued for one year at a time, and then require that the complaining victim return to court and request that the order […]
Your Separation Agreement Says What?!
Last year, the Massachusetts Appeals Court rendered a decision which, among other, reiterated longstanding legal precedent regarding a custodial parent’s ability to remove a minor child from the Commonwealth. See Schechter v. Schechter, Mass. App. Ct. No. 13-P-1035. September 9, 2015. What sets Schechter apart from other cases dealing with removal isn’t the fact that […]
Responsibility to Protect Children from Abusive Co-Parents
Massachusetts law allows parents many rights in raising their children. However, parents also have responsibilities, including protecting children from abusive co-parents. This was illustrated by a recent Appeals Court case. In Adoption of Cecily, a mother’s parental rights were terminated after she was found to have left her child with the child’s father, knowing that […]