Chapter 208

Section 48. As used in sections 49 to 55, inclusive, the following words shall, unless the context requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— ''Alimony'', the payment of support from a spouse, who has the ability to pay, to a spouse in need of support for a reasonable leng…

Section 49. (a) General term alimony shall terminate upon the remarriage of the recipient or the death of either spouse; provided, however, that the court may require the payor spouse to provide life insurance or another form of reasonable security for payment of sums due to the …

Section 5. If the plaintiff has lived in this commonwealth for one year last preceding the commencement of the action if the cause occurred without the commonwealth, or if the plaintiff is domiciled within the commonwealth at the time of the commencement of the action and the cau…

Section 50. (a) Rehabilitative alimony shall terminate upon the remarriage of the recipient, the occurrence of a specific event in the future or the death of either spouse; provided, however, that the court may require the payor to provide reasonable security for payment of sums …

Section 51. (a) Reimbursement alimony shall terminate upon the death of the recipient or a date certain. (b) Once ordered, the parties shall not seek and the court shall not order a modification of reimbursement alimony. (c) Income guidelines in subsection (b) of section 53 shall…

Section 52. (a) Transitional alimony shall terminate upon the death of the recipient or a date certain that is not longer than 3 years from the date of the parties' divorce; provided, however, that the court may require the payor to provide reasonable security for payment of sums…

Section 53. (a) In determining the appropriate form of alimony and in setting the amount and duration of support, a court shall consider: the length of the marriage; age of the parties; health of the parties; income, employment and employability of both parties, including employa…

Section 54. (a) In the event of the payor's remarriage, income and assets of the payor's spouse shall not be considered in a redetermination of alimony in a modification action. (b) Income from a second job or overtime work shall be presumed immaterial to alimony modification if:…

Section 55. (a) The court may require reasonable security for alimony in the event of the payor's death during the alimony period. Security may include, but shall not be limited to, maintenance of life insurance. (b) Orders to maintain life insurance shall be based upon due consi…

Section 56. (a) A law of a jurisdiction outside the commonwealth that authorizes a child to be removed from the care or custody of a parent or guardian based on the parent or guardian allowing their child to receive gender-affirming health care services, as defined in section 11I…

Section 6. Actions for divorce shall be filed, heard and determined in the probate court, held for the county where one of the parties lives, except that if either party still resides in the county where the parties last lived together, the action shall be heard and determined in…

Section 6B. An action for divorce shall be commenced in probate court by the filing of a complaint. Said complaint shall be accompanied by a statistical report, upon a form prepared by the commissioner of public health and made available through the office of the register of prob…

Section 8. Actions for divorce in the probate courts shall be commenced in accordance with the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure applicable to domestic relations procedure.