Issues of Custody, Parenting Time, and One Bad Haircut In a hair-raising decision this week, the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld the Probate and Family Court’s judgment in James Vander Salm v. Kara Fontenot (2025), addressing issues of custody, parenting time, appellate attorney’s fees – and perhaps most unusually, children’s haircuts. James Vander Salm appealed from...Read More

What are Second-Parent Adoptions? While Massachusetts has recognized second-parent adoptions since 1993, which allow for a non-biological parent to adopt the child of a sole legal parent, such adoptions have become even more accessible with the passage of the Massachusetts Parentage Act. Second-parent adoptions protect the child, the second parent seeking legal parentage, and the...Read More

Co-Parenting Course Mandate in Massachusetts  Massachusetts has reintroduced a mandatory co-parenting course named “Two Families Now”. Probate and Family Court Standing Order 3-2023 “Co-Parenting Education Course for Married and Unmarried Parents” effective November 1, 2023, has been amended and superseded by this Standing Order as of February 12, 2024. This shift gives judges of the...Read More

Oklahoma Court Decision Raises Concerns for LGBTQ+ Parents Highlighting the Importance of Confirmatory Adoptions By Keri Bruso In February 2023, an Oklahoma state court issued a decision that handed over a lesbian mother’s parenting rights to the child’s sperm donor. This case highlighted the importance of securing LGBTQ+ parenting rights through confirmatory adoptions. What happened?...Read More

One of the main issues which need to be decided during divorces is which one of the parents will get the custody over the child. It happens quite often that after the parents get divorced, one of the parents may seek relocation outside of the state of Massachusetts. This can affect both the relationship between...Read More