The other day my wife and I refinanced our home. My wife properly asked me, the attorney, is our Declaration of Homestead still good? A declaration of homestead is a type of protection from creditors in the equity of a person’s principal residence. I am pleased to say, YES! Effective on March 16, 2011, there… Continue reading »

Recently, a widow in Canada made news when Apple told her she needed to obtain a court order to access her late husband’s Apple account in order to continue playing a card game on their iPad. How can that be? Well, terms of service agreements and privacy policies govern access to social media and email… Continue reading »

Grandparents, take note. I expect that you will readily nod your head when reading: parents have a Constitutional right “to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their child[ren]” Blix v. Blixt, 437 Mass. 649, 651, 655 (2002), and yet not fully grasp the legal and practical implications of the Blixt holding. If… Continue reading »

When most of us think about adoption, the image of a child with an eager adoptive parent or couple comes to mind. The understanding is that this new parent will take the child in and raise him as his own, creating a bond between new family members. What many would be surprised to learn, however,… Continue reading »

There was a recent case which ruled that an employee can sue in the small claims session of the District Court (“Small Claims Court”) under The Massachusetts Weekly Payment of Wages Law (the “Wage Act”). The Wage Act is the most important protection for employees’ wages in Massachusetts. If your current or former employer has… Continue reading »

While searching for something on the internet we all have a personal gauge as to how trustworthy a website is. Information learned from the website of a highly respected medical institution would likely fall on the trustworthy side of the scale. But does that mean that those same webpages can be used at trial? The… Continue reading »