Mother can not be forced to move to accommodate visitation

A mother who moved out of state can’t be legally required to move back in order to accommodate the father’s visitation rights, the Court recently decided.

The mother had given birth to a child out of wedlock. After the father’s paternity was established through biological testing, he filed a lawsuit seeking custody or visitation.

The mother had moved out of state while the case was pending. A judge awarded her custody, but ordered her to return so it would be easier for the father to visit the child.

But on appeal, the Court said this was wrong. It said a judge could consider parents’ plans about where they intend to live as a factor in awarding custody, but a judge has no right to force parents to relocate from their chosen place of residence.

Norfolk County MA divorce attorney Bruce Watson serves the entire South Shore region of Boston, including Braintree, Bridgewater, Brockton, Cohasset, Dedham, Duxbury, Hanover, Hingham, Marshfield, Milton, Needham, Norwell, Norwood, Pembroke, Scituate, Quincy, Wareham, Wenham, Weymouth and the entire Boston South region.

Beware of Social Media in the Midst of Divorce

A judge recently ordered a divorcing couple to give each other their passwords to Facebook, eHarmony, and Match.com, and not to delete any information from the sites.

While this is a highly unusual step, it shows how increasingly relevant social media and dating websites are to divorce cases…and it’s yet another reminder that people who are contemplating divorce shouldn’t post anything online that they wouldn’t want to be revealed during the divorce proceedings, because they might well be.

People who are thinking about divorce should never post anything online that they wouldn’t want to be revealed in court.

A husband claimed that he found some information on his wife’s computer that would be relevant to his argument that he should get full custody of the couple’s children. He asked for her passwords, believing that there might be additional information on password-protected websites, and he claimed she immediately began trying to delete information.

That’s when a judge got involved and told the pair to exchange passwords and not to remove anything from the websites.

Bruce Watson is a Greater Boston South Shore divorce attorney. He serves the entire South Shore region of Boston, including Braintree, Bridgewater, Brockton, Cohasset, Dedham, Duxbury, Hanover, Hingham, Marshfield, Milton, Needham, Norwell, Norwood, Pembroke, Scituate, Quincy, Wareham, Wenham, Weymouth and the entire Boston South region.