Massachusetts Statutes

Section 13. The preceding sections shall not invalidate a marriage settlement or contract.

Section 14. If the guardian or conservator of a married man is licensed to sell real estate of his ward, the wife of the ward may join with the guardian or conservator in the conveyance, and release homestead in the granted property, in like manner as she might have done by joini…

Section 15. If such guardian or conservator is licensed to sell the interest of the ward in any real estate of his wife, the wife may join with the guardian or conservator in the conveyance, and convey all her estate and interest in the granted property in like manner as she migh…

Section 16. If the wife so releases her homestead, or so conveys her own estate, the proceeds of the sale may be so invested and disposed of as to secure to her, and to the minor children of the owner if it is an estate of homestead, the same rights in the principal and income th…

Section 17. The wife of a man under guardianship or conservatorship may join with his guardian or conservator, and the guardian or conservator of a woman may join with her husband, in making partition of her real estate which is held in joint tenancy or in common, and they may ma…

Section 18. The spouse of a person incapacitated by reason of mental illness desiring to convey said person's real estate absolutely or by mortgage may file a petition in the probate court describing such real estate and praying that homestead therein may be released and stating …

Section 1A. Tenants by the entirety holding under a deed dated prior to February eleventh, nineteen hundred and eighty may elect to have their tenancy treated as being subject to the provisions of chapter seven hundred and twenty-seven of the acts of nineteen hundred and seventy-…

Section 2. A married woman may make contracts, oral and written, sealed and unsealed, in the same manner as if she were sole, and may make such contracts with her husband.

Section 21. If the guardian of a married ward that is incapacitated by reason of mental illness, is authorized under section eighteen to release an estate of homestead and the probate court finds that a portion of the proceeds of the real estate sold, or of an amount loaned on a …

Section 24. Proceedings under sections eighteen and twenty-one, if the spouse of such a person who is incapacitated by reason of mental illness is an inhabitant of the commonwealth, shall be in the county where said spouse resides, otherwise in a county where any of said spouse's…

Section 25. At any time before marriage, the parties may make a written contract providing that, after the marriage is solemnized, the whole or any designated part of the real or personal property or any right of action, of which either party may be seized or possessed at the tim…

Section 26. A schedule of the property intended to be affected, containing a sufficiently clear description thereof to enable a creditor of the husband or wife to distinguish it from other property, shall be annexed to such contract; and such contract and schedule shall, either b…

Section 28. If a married person comes from another state or country into the commonwealth, that married person shall have all the rights, powers and obligations given to married persons by this chapter.

Section 29. If a husband and his wife, married in another state or country, come into this commonwealth, either at the same or at different times, and reside here as husband and wife, she shall retain all property which she had acquired by the laws of any other state or country, …

Section 3. Transfers of real and personal property between husband and wife shall be valid to the same extent as if they were sole.

Section 30. After the filing of a libel for divorce, or for nullity of marriage or of a petition for separate support or maintenance, and during the pendency thereof, or upon the filing of a separate petition, a probate court may upon motion of a person whose spouse has abandoned…

Section 31. A married woman residing without this commonwealth, and owning in her own right real estate situated herein, whose husband abandoning and not sufficiently maintaining her has absented himself from the place where they last dwelt together, may petition the probate cour…

Section 32. If a spouse fails, without justifiable cause, to provide suitable support of the other spouse, or deserts the other spouse, or if a married person has justifiable cause for living apart from his spouse, whether or not the married person is actually living apart, the p…

Section 32D. Whenever in any proceeding under section thirty-two a judgment shall be entered directing that a deed, conveyance or release of certain real estate, or interest therein, be made, such judgment shall create an equitable right to its enforcement subject to the provisio…

Section 32E. Each judgment or order of support which is issued, reviewed or modified pursuant to this chapter shall conform to and shall be enforced in accordance with the provisions of section twelve of chapter one hundred and nineteen A.

Section 32F. (a) If no order for support pursuant to an action filed under chapters two hundred and seven, two hundred and eight or section thirty-two of this chapter has been entered, the district court, the Boston municipal court or the probate and family court shall have concu…

Section 33. In an action for separate support or maintenance, an attachment of the defendant's property may be made as upon an action for divorce; and sections seventeen, thirty-three, thirty-five, and thirty-eight of chapter two hundred and eight shall apply to proceedings upon …

Section 34. An action under section thirty-two or thirty-six may be brought in the county where either of the parties lives, except that if the plaintiff has left the county where the parties have lived together and the defendant still lives therein, the action shall be brought i…

Section 36. A probate court may upon complaint of a person, or if said person is incapacitated by reason of mental illness, of said person's guardian or next friend, enter a judgment that said person has been deserted by said person's spouse or is living apart from such spouse fo…

Section 37. If the parents of minor children live apart from each other, not being divorced, the probate court for the county in which said minors or any of them are residents or inhabitants, upon complaint of either parent, or of a next friend in behalf of the children after not…

Section 38. In issuing any temporary or permanent custody order, the probate and family court shall consider evidence of past or present abuse toward a parent or child as a factor contrary to the best interest of the child. For the purposes of this section, ''abuse'' shall mean t…

Section 4. Work and labor performed by a married woman for a person other than her husband and children shall, unless there is an express agreement on her part to the contrary, be presumed to be performed on her separate account.

Section 5. A married woman may be an executrix, administratrix, guardian, conservator, trustee or receiver, and may bind herself and the estate which she represents without any act or assent of her husband.

Section 6. A married woman may sue and be sued in the same manner as if she were sole; but this section shall not authorize suits between husband and wife except in connection with contracts entered into pursuant to the authority contained in section two.

Section 7. A married woman shall not be liable for her husband's debts, nor shall her property be liable to be taken on an execution against him. But a married woman shall be liable jointly with her husband for debts due, to the amount of one hundred dollars in each case, for nec…

Section 8. A husband shall not be liable upon a cause of action which originated against his wife prior to their marriage, or to pay a judgment recovered against her.

Section 9. Contracts made by a married woman relative to her separate property, trade, business, labor or services shall not bind her husband or render him or his property liable therefor; but she and her separate property shall be liable on such contracts in the same manner as i…

Section 1. As used in this chapter the following words shall have the following meanings: ''Abuse'', the occurrence of any of the following acts between family or household members: (a) attempting to cause or causing physical harm; (b) placing another in fear of imminent serious …

Section 10. The court shall impose an assessment of three hundred and fifty dollars against any person who has been referred to a certified batterers' treatment program as a condition of probation. Said assessment shall be in addition to the cost of the treatment program. In the …

Section 11. (a) Whenever the court issues a temporary or permanent vacate, stay away, restraining or no contact order or a judgment under section 18, 34B or 34C of chapter 208, or under section 32 of chapter 209, or under section 3, 4 or 5 of this chapter, or under section 15 or …

Section 12. (a) Notwithstanding section 5A or any other general or special law to the contrary, 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 c…

Section 2. Proceedings under this chapter shall be filed, heard and determined in the superior court department or the Boston municipal court department or respective divisions of the probate and family or district court departments having venue over the plaintiff's residence. If…

Section 3. A person suffering from abuse from an adult or minor family or household member may file a complaint in the court requesting protection from such abuse, including, but not limited to, the following orders: (a) ordering the defendant to refrain from abusing the plaintif…

Section 3A. Upon the filing of a complaint under this chapter, a complainant shall be informed that the proceedings hereunder are civil in nature and that violations of orders issued hereunder are criminal in nature. Further, a complainant shall be given information prepared by t…

Section 3B. Upon issuance of a temporary or emergency order under section four or five of this chapter, the court shall, if the plaintiff demonstrates a substantial likelihood of immediate danger of abuse, order the immediate suspension and surrender of any license to carry firea…

Section 3C. Upon the continuation or modification of an order issued pursuant to section 4 or upon petition for review as described in section 3B, the court shall also order or continue to order the immediate suspension and surrender of a defendant's license to carry firearms and…

Section 3D. Upon an order for suspension or surrender issued pursuant to sections 3B or 3C, the court shall transmit a report containing the defendant's name and identifying information and a statement describing the defendant's alleged conduct and relationship to the plaintiff t…

Section 4. Upon the filing of a complaint under this chapter, the court may enter such temporary orders as it deems necessary to protect a plaintiff from abuse, including relief as provided in section three. Such relief shall not be contingent upon the filing of a complaint for d…

Section 5. When the court is closed for business or the plaintiff is unable to appear in court because of severe hardship due to the plaintiff's physical condition, any justice of the superior, probate and family, district or Boston municipal court departments may grant relief to…

Section 5A. Any protection order issued by another jurisdiction, as defined in section one, shall be given full faith and credit throughout the commonwealth and enforced as if it were issued in the commonwealth for as long as the order is in effect in the issuing jurisdiction. A …

Section 6. Whenever any law officer has reason to believe that a family or household member has been abused or is in danger of being abused, such officer shall use all reasonable means to prevent further abuse. The officer shall take, but not be limited to the following action: (…