Now They’re Leaving Massachusetts – The Impact on Subsistence | Burns & Levinson LLP

As a long-time resident of Massachusetts, I find it difficult to understand people who move to Massachusetts from warm climates. While my colleague Jordan Bowne recently suggested that fall is a great time to be in Massachusetts, we all know what comes after fall. Here are some words and phrases that come to mind when I think of winter in Massachusetts: snow, sleet, freezing rain, black ice, frozen pipes, ice dams, blizzard, polar vortex, school cancellations, sub-zero wind chill, thunderstorms… Should I continue? After hours of digging and then placing a beach chair on the side of the road as a “space saver,” some people may think that a beach chair could be better used in a warmer location. If you were divorced in Massachusetts but have since moved to a location where your beach chair is only used on the beach, which state has jurisdiction to enforce or modify the support provisions in your divorce agreement?

the change: Support provisions that pass into a divorce decree may be modified if there is a substantial and material change in circumstances. In this case, a party wishing to change the terms of alimony must file a change complaint. A Massachusetts probate and family court may modify a support award only if the court has personal jurisdiction over both parties at the time the modification action is filed. If both parties remained in Massachusetts to weather another winter, Massachusetts has jurisdiction. If the defendant has moved out of Massachusetts, the Long Arm Statute must be used to determine whether Massachusetts can exercise jurisdiction. According to MGL c. 223A, Sec. 3(h), a court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person who was subject to the jurisdiction of the court when the original order was issued and the person seeking the modification is a resident of Massachusetts at the time the complaint for modification is filed . So if the defendant picked up his beach chair and left, but the plaintiff held on to her shovel, then Massachusetts has jurisdiction over a modification of child support case. However, if both parties traded in their four-wheel drive vehicles and drove their convertibles to other states, Massachusetts does not have jurisdiction. In such a case, the plaintiff must go to the state where the defendant now lives to request a modification.

contempt: If a party to a Massachusetts divorce has not complied with the alimony provisions of the divorce agreement, a contempt complaint may be filed to enforce the terms of the agreement. Again, the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court can only enforce a support agreement if the court has personal jurisdiction over both parties at the time the contempt action is filed. If both parties continue to reside in Massachusetts (under the mistaken belief that it will be a mild winter this year), Massachusetts will have jurisdiction to hear a contempt action. If the defendant got tired of shoveling off her roof and moved out of state, according to MGL c. 223A, Sec. 3(h), a court may exercise jurisdiction over that nonresident defendant regardless of where the moving party (the plaintiff) lives at the time the contempt action is filed. In other words, while a plaintiff must live in Massachusetts to file a modification action, a contempt action does not. A Massachusetts court has jurisdiction to hear an action for contempt of support if the court had jurisdiction over both parties at the time the support order became effective and notwithstanding the fact that both parties threw away their winter coats and moved away.

I dream of a white Christmas, but I’ve also heard that Key West is beautiful this time of year.

See you next time.