USA – MASSACHUSETTS LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Steven E Gurdin, Barbara L Drury, Carlos A Maycotte, Stephen A MacKenzie and Kelly A Schwartz, Fitch Law Partners LLP
2. Financial Proceedings 2.1 Choice of Jurisdiction
the request, such as incest, consanguinity, affin - ity, polygamy, or fraud. 1.2 Choice of Jurisdiction In broad strokes, Massachusetts will have juris - diction over divorce proceedings if one of the parties has been a Massachusetts resident for one year prior to filing. Alternatively, if one of the parties can provide that they were domi - ciled in Massachusetts at the commencement of the divorce action and the cause for divorce occurred in Massachusetts, the divorce pro - ceeding may proceed – assuming there is no evidence that the party intentionally moved to Massachusetts for the purposes of obtaining a divorce. Massachusetts has a residency requirement prior to commencing divorce proceedings. The nationality of the parties is not relevant for pur - poses of determining jurisdiction; however, if a party is not a resident or domiciliary in the United States and/or Massachusetts, it may be difficult to assert personal jurisdiction or to enforce a judgment or court order. A party to divorce proceedings who wants to contest jurisdiction can seek to dismiss the case by filing the appropriate pleadings in court. Those pleadings do not constitute admission of the court’s jurisdiction over the divorce and/or party. Assuming a foreign court arguably has juris - diction over the parties and the cause of the divorce, there could be cause to not proceed with the Massachusetts divorce proceeding.
For divorcing parties, jurisdiction to pursue financial orders (including, when applicable, ali - mony and child support) is satisfied when the jurisdictional requirements to initiate a divorce action (as outlined in 1.2 Choice of Jurisdiction ) are satisfied. For unwed litigants with a child, jurisdiction to pursue financial orders is avail - able when either an adjudication on an action to establish parentage is entered or voluntary acknowledgment of parentage, pursuant to the Massachusetts Parenting Act, is established. A party can initiate a complaint for separate sup - port pursuant to Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 209C, Sections 4 and 9 and petition the court to establish a child support order for the maintenance, support and education of a child in the county where one of the parents live or, in the event neither parent lives with the child, then in the county where the child lives. If neither parent remained in Massachusetts, a litigant could potentially challenge Massachu - setts’ ongoing jurisdiction in support proceed - ings if the child has a new home state. Spe - cifically, and subject to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s form of the Uniform Child Cus - tody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), in determining whether Massachusetts is the child’s “home state”, the court will look to wheth - er the child has resided with one of the parents in Massachusetts for at least six consecutive months prior to the inception of litigation. The courts can hear financial claims regarding a foreign divorce upon the domestication of the foreign judgment. Domestication of the foreign judgment can be by way of litigation upon the filing of a corresponding verified complaint seek - ing domestication of a foreign decree or order
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