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Massachusetts does not allow you to create a common law marriage within the state, no matter how long you’ve lived together — but Massachusetts will recognize a valid common law marriage that was established in a state where common law marriage is allowed. This distinction matters enormously for unmarried couples, particularly when one partner dies, becomes […]

Even with marriage equality and the new Massachusetts Parentage Act, second-parent adoption — sometimes called confirmatory adoption — remains the strongest, most portable form of legal parentage for non-biological LGBTQ parents. A court judgment of adoption is entitled to full faith and credit in every state and every country that honors U.S. judgments. Marriage presumptions,

In the first week after a Massachusetts death, your priorities are: (1) get the death pronounced and the body cared for, (2) order multiple certified death certificates, (3) secure the home and pets, (4) locate the original will, and (5) avoid making any major financial decisions or distributions. Probate, accounts, and benefits can all wait. Most

If you leave your estate outright to your spouse and your spouse later remarries, that money becomes legally available to the new spouse — through joint accounts, marital property, the new spouse’s own estate plan, and Massachusetts spousal elective share rights — and it may never reach your children. This is one of the most common

The Hardest Estate Planning Conversation Most Families Will Have When you remarry, you bring a whole life with you — children, savings, a home, sometimes a business, sometimes complicated history. Your new spouse brings the same. And somewhere in the middle of building this new life together, a quiet question shows up: who gets what

When Your Spouse Dies, Here’s What Actually Happens to the Bank Accounts In the first days after losing a spouse, one of the most disorienting questions is also the most practical one — how do you pay for things? The mortgage is still due. The funeral home wants a deposit. The estate has bills that

In Massachusetts, a non-biological LGBTQ parent’s rights depend on which legal pathway has been established — second-parent adoption, the marital presumption of parentage, a court order of de facto parenthood, or, since 2024, a confirmatory adoption or judgment under the Massachusetts Parentage Act. A name on a birth certificate alone is not enough to guarantee parental

The short answer: yes, mostly — but the documents that can quietly fail are often the most important ones. A will that was validly executed in your old state will generally be honored in your new state. The real risk areas are health care directives, durable powers of attorney, the way your trust holds assets, your

You have spent time and money creating an estate plan that reflects your wishes. But what happens when a family member decides to challenge it? Will contests and trust disputes are more common than most people expect, and they tend to arise in predictable situations: when one child receives more than another, when a new

A buy-sell agreement is only as useful as the events it covers. If your agreement addresses death but ignores disability, divorce, or a partner’s bankruptcy, you have a plan with holes in it. And those holes tend to reveal themselves at the worst possible time. The “triggers” in a buy-sell agreement are the specific events