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
constructive trust was necessary to avoid the unjust enrichment of one party over another. 2.7 Enforcement The Massachusetts contempt statute, Massa - chusetts General Law, Chapter 215, Section 34, provides the authority by which financial orders in Massachusetts, including alimony and child support orders, are enforced. Procedurally, if a party defaults on their obligation under a finan - cial order entered during or after a divorce, the aggrieved party may file a complaint for con - tempt. Available forms of relief against a party found in contempt include specific, further finan - cial orders, which may include sanctions and, in some instances, orders to participate in employ - ment searches or training, and/or or sentencing to jail or community service. A party’s failure to comply with a child support order may also be punishable through a criminal contempt. Provided that jurisdiction requirements are satis - fied, the enforcement of a foreign financial order is available in Massachusetts upon the domes - tication and/or registration of the foreign order/ judgment in Massachusetts. 2.8 Media Access and Transparency In Massachusetts, divorce cases filed in the Probate and Family Court are part of the public record and generally open to the public, includ - ing the press. Audio recordings of the hearing are also available by request. A particular judge may, at their discretion, decide to close the courtroom to the public and hold the hearing without anyone but the parties, their counsel, and court personnel present. However, that does not mean that an audio recording of the hearing is not available to the public upon request. Pleadings in the Probate and Family Court are also considered part of the public record and are
available either online or by requesting a case’s physical file at the registry in each courthouse. However, it is important to note that certain finan - cial documents are considered confidential and will not be made available to anyone except the parties and their respective counsel of record. Personnel at the registry are expected to extract these documents before providing a member of the public with the file and the documents are not available online. These private documents are the parties’ personal financial statements and child support guidelines. One should note, however, that the substantive pleadings them - selves may include financial details and those pleadings are not confidential. Either or both parties may seek that a portion of the file, or the entire file itself, be impounded and, as such, be made unavailable to the pub - lic. Generally, these requests are rarely awarded. The judge weighs the countervailing interests – the party or parties’ right to privacy against the public interest in an open and transparent judi - cial system. In order to seek impoundment, a litigant must file a motion to impound along with a sworn affidavit that outlines what they seek to impound and the reasons therefor. It is then up to the discretion of the judge as to whether a file, or portions of it, should be impounded and for how long, as there is typically a limitation on the length of time a file may remain impounded. 2.9 Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) ADR mechanisms are resources that parties and attorneys often look to in order to help resolve disagreements in a divorce. Many litigants look to mediation and conciliation before bringing a contested issue to court. In these forums, a neutral third party trained in dispute resolution will mediate or conciliate the case. These neutral third parties are often retired probate and fam - ily court judges or attorneys with experience in
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