Massachusetts’ Rules on Spanking: The Parental Privilege Defense By Amanda Castro, Esq. A recent Supreme Judicial Court decision allows parents to use reasonable force in disciplining their children without being charged criminally. The Court ruled in Commonwealth v. Dorvil that the physical force used in disciplining a child must be “reasonably related to the purpose...Read More
By Melissa A. Levine-Piro, Esq. As a law firm, Hera Law does extensive estate planning for our clients, including the drafting of Special Needs Trusts (SNT’s). A Special Needs Trusts is a carefully drafted trust that allows someone with special needs (the beneficiary) to receive disbursements from the trust without jeopardizing their public benefits, specifically...Read More
Approved by Massachusetts voters in November of 2014, the Earned Sick Time law will go into effect on July 1, 2015. The new law allows for employees to earn and use sick time as long as they meet certain conditions. The law will impact all Massachusetts employers and employees. Who is eligible? If your primary...Read More
By Virginia A. Dyer, Associate Hera Law, PC On March 27, 2015 the Supreme Court in New York County made a decision that allowed a Wife to serve her Husband via Facebook. Ellanora Arthur Baidoo v. Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku, 2015 NY Slip Op 25096 by Matthew F. Cooper, Justice. Service of process in New York...Read More
By Virginia A. Dyer, Esq., Associate Hera Law The automatic restraining order relates to financial, health insurance, and beneficiary issues of parties to a divorce. When a Party files for divorce or separate support a Divorce/Separate Support Summons is issued. The Summons is required to be served with the Complaint on the other spouse. On...Read More
By Virginia A. Dyer, Esq., Associate Hera Law There are two types of divorce in Massachusetts. They are uncontested divorces and contested divorces. Uncontested Divorce. An uncontested divorce is where the parties have come to an agreement regarding the division of their assets and liabilities, child custody and visitation issues, if any, and the rights...Read More
General Information Regarding Child Support Generally speaking the non-custodial parent pays child support to the custodial parent. Child support is calculated by taking into account both parties gross weekly income, the number of children, and giving credits to the parent who pays health insurance and/or child care costs. You can calculate child support by using...Read More
There are many great benefits to being a landlord. It is a great way to make money if you are smart about it. Getting the rent every month can go towards paying off the property and eventually providing an income although being a landlord is not without some problems. Landlords and tenants can undergo many...Read More
The State of Massachusetts defines a lemon as a new or leased vehicle that impairs the use, the safety, or the market value and which has not been properly fixed even after a reasonable number of tries. Lemon law cases are very common in Massachusetts and the Lemon Law is designed in a way to...Read More
As with most major changes in life, divorce can be a time of stress and upheaval. However, with a little preparation, you can make the change a little easier and possibly help influence the odds to fall in your favor if you fear your spouse may try to make things difficult. A good divorce lawyer...Read More
