In this post, I’ll discuss what marriage means in this state – all the rights and responsibilities you get at no extra charge when you get that marriage license. 

First things first: Massachusetts is an equitable distribution state.   

More on this in the divorce post, but this is the first right/responsibility created by marriage in this state.  The responsibility to share all the goods with your spouse/the right to a share of all the goods.   

In Massachusetts, all property, no matter when or how acquired can be considered marital property and subject to division in divorce.  That means it doesn’t matter whether you earned/acquired it before the marriage, or due to an inheritance, or whatever… it all goes in the big pot called marital or community property, and can be divided in a divorce.

The second right/responsibility created by marriage is also a bummer… inheritance.  The right to inherit from your spouse (whether they want you to or not)/the responsibility to provide for your spouse at your death (whether you want to or not).

In this state, if you are married when you die, whether you died without a will (there will be much much more written in this) or disinherit your spouse in your will, they are entitle to take an inheritance.  If you leave no children but some family, your spouse is entitle to the first $200,000, and the remainder is split 50/50 between your spouse and your family.  If you leave children, your estate is split 50/50 between your spouse and your children.

The third right/responsibility is debt. 

As expected, both spouses are liable on debt for which they co-sign.  However, less expected, both spouses can also be liable even if one did not co-sign for debt incurred in benefit of the family.  You can imagine how flexible this standard is.    

Some other include:

The right to share government benefits – such as social security, veteran’s benefits, etc…

The spousal privilege.

Next-of-kin status for making health care decision or filing wrongful death claims.

Enjoyment of your spouse’s retirement benefits.

FMLA leave if your spouse is ill.

Filing taxes as married.

Being the presumed parent of children born in the marriage.

And many more…

Next time, we’ll discuss what Divorce means in Massachusetts.

This is a good time to interject that this is my little sister, she’s an adult, but she’ll always be my little sister.

“Is there a divorce license? what is the process and you know… cost of a divorce?”

Shes not married, shes still a college student, so right about now I’m in the tiniest bit of panic… my mom is out of town, so its my job to talk her out of whatever shes planning.  The good news is she was just curious, shes not looking to marry and divorce some guy the family hasn’t met yet, or anything.

When I explained the filing fees, attorney’s fees, and process she asked “why do they make it so easy to get married if its such an expensive ordeal to get divorced?”  It feels to me that this question is posed pretty often out there, I’m sure we’ve all heard someone comment that such a consequential move should be made harder – maybe classes, waiting periods, etc…  I answered that a divorce is attempting to sort out property rights, inheritance rights, parenting rights, and many other issues that do not need to be (but should be) sorted out before getting married.  Its like any contract, pretty easy to get into – just sign on the dotted line.  However, like most contracts, hard to get out of – just litigate/mediate/arbitrate every issue. 

After that call I spent a lot of time thinking about how such a simple question really spoke to so much.  If getting married is tying the knot, getting divorced is certainly untying an often complicated knot, and as we all know from tying our shoes, tying a knot is much easier than untying it.

Her question inspired me to write a series of posts that I hope will clarify all the questions that were included in such a simple question:

What does marriage mean in Massachusetts? We must first understand what marriage means to understand anything else.  For example, what rights and responsibilities does it create?

After we have an understanding of marriage, we’ll get into divorce.  Here we’ll understand how those rights and responsibilities get sorted out in Massachusetts.  Under divorce, we’ll get get into some of the options, litigation, mediation, cooperation, etc…

Lastly, we’ll take a look at prenuptial agreements, post-nuptial agreements, and other tools available to families to sort out these issues on their terms, and not the terms of a probate and family court judge. 

Her question inspired me because it really illustrated why family law can only be practiced in a holistic manner, and why I sit at the kitchen table with my clients ( I do have a kitchen table in my office, or can come to their kitchen table), to make sure they understand every little piece of what we are doing, and how it affects their family.  It illustrated this point well because you can only understand divorce if you understand marriage.  You can only understand prenuptial agreements or mediation if you understand marriage and divorce. 

I want to thak my sister Adrianna for inspiring this series of posts, I hope reading it help you understand the issues.