Massachusetts General Practice Legal Questions

Yes, we would be happy to assist you with your case. We handle cases in the United States and all over the world, so if you entered into a marriage with a foreign national and you are overseas, you would have to process at the US consulate there. The case process ends in a marriage interview at the US consulate, where you will be asked questions on whether the marriage is bona fide and entered into in good faith. Additionally, you have to convince the consulate officer interviewing you that you have made concrete plans to return to the United States with your wife, and produce evidence at the interview that you have taken those steps. Feel free to contact me by phone or email and either myself or my co-counsel will arrange to discuss your case with you. ... Read More

You are not required to leave anything to your daughter.  Moreover, certain assets, such as insurance proceeds, pass outside of a will based on who the designated beneficiary is.  If, for example, you have made your grandson your beneficiary under your life insurance policy, your grandson will receive the insurance proceeds, having nothing to do with any will.  This can also be true about certain types of deposit accounts - you can designate the beneficiary of the account, and those monies will pass outside of your will.... Read More

You don't need case law to support the obvious proposition that a case which is brought after the statute of limitations has expired should be dismissed, you just need to show that the case was brought too late.  HOWEVER, statutes of limitations relate to when an action is commenced, not when it goes to trial.  If the statute of limitations on your claim is 4 years, and you commence an action three and a half years after the claim accrues, it will be timely even if it takes ten years to get to trial.... Read More

First, there was a contract involved.  You loaned him $ and he agreed to repay it.  Even if you didn't set the terms for repayment, the law will presume that your friend had to repay you within a reasonable time. Second, as to what evidence you will need to provide, you should provide all the evidence you can.  Your testimony, the testimony of any other witnesses with personal knowledge (people who know about the loan only because you told them about it have no personal knowledge; people who know about it because your friend admitted it can testify as to his admission), copies of any repayment checks, copies of the check or other document evidencing the loan, copies of emails, texts, or letters between you and your friend with refer to the loan, etc.  Nobody can tell you whether the evidence you have will be enough; it all depends on whether, assuming your friend denies that he owes any money, the Judge believes you or him.  The more evidence you produce, the more likely that the Judge will believe you.  ... Read More

I am not familiar with Massachusetts law specifically, but damages for mental strain are generally not available in this type of case, and also generally require more proof than just your testimony, like the testimony of a treating psychiatrist.  In addition, small claims courts often lack jurisdiction to award damages for mental strain.   Finally, any such damages are likely to take you over the jurisdictional limit of a small claims court.... Read More

While the risk of liability to a trespasser is probably small, the school could conceivably be liable under certain circumstances, even if the person who was injured was a trespasser.  No trespassing signs would reduce the risk, but not eliminate it.  For example, if the school maintained a powerful, live electric wire, like a third rail, inches from the border of its property in an area where baseballs are often hit and retrieved by players on a nearby field, and neither placed explicit warnings or erected barriers to prevent people from touching the live wire, it would probably be liable to someone injured by that line when retrieving a ball, no trespassing signs or no.  The key is that the school has to act reasonably in light of the risks on its property.... Read More

Why go out of your way to file a Private Nuisance action and bear such costs and worry about how to prove its elements, when this is nothing more than abuse of police resources. It appears that the 4 times the Police were called resulted in finding of no crime comitted or laws broken and no reports were ever generated. The police have to respond when a call comes in, unless in their discretion and supported by their knowledge of facts on the ground, they deem responding as unnecessary. So just as you explain above, you can remind the responding officers about your husband's situation, in such a way for them to realize that this is not only disturbing the "quiet enjoyment" one is entitled to in their home but more importantly it amounts to abuse of police resources (i.e. one can be in real need of police while the police are occupied with this) also the fact that the previous 4 calls resulted in finding of no wrongdoing.... Read More

Im not sure if youwant to do it formally or informally.  You can use a confirmation or start using a middle name even though that's not your "legal" name.  If you wanted to cahnge your Social Security card, driver's license, etc. you would have to go through the formal name change process in court, and notify all of those entities that you had changed your name. ... Read More