reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 208 § 37 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 37 - Alimony; Revision of Judgment

Section 37. After a judgment for alimony or an annual allowance for the spouse or children, the court may, from time to time, upon the action for modification of either party, revise and alter its judgment relative to the amount of such alimony or annual allowance and the payment thereof, and may make any judgment relative thereto which it might have made in the original action.  The court, provided there is personal jurisdiction over both parties, may modify and alter a foreign judgment, decree, or order of divorce or separate support where the foreign court did not have personal jurisdiction over both parties upon the entry of such judgment, decree or order.  The court, provided there is personal jurisdiction over both parties to a foreign judgment, decree, or order of divorce for support, where such foreign court had personal jurisdiction over both parties, may modify and alter such foreign judgment, decree, or order only to the extent it is modifiable or alterable under the laws of such foreign jurisdiction; provided, however, that if both parties are domiciliaries of the commonwealth, then the court may modify and alter the foreign judgment in the same manner as it could have had the judgment, order, or decree been issued by the court; and provided further, that the court may not modify or alter the judgment, order or decree of a foreign jurisdiction which had personal jurisdiction over both parties concerning the division or assignment of marital assets or property.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 38 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 38 - Costs

Section 38. In any proceeding under this chapter, whether original or subsidiary, the court may, in its discretion, award costs and expenses, or either, to either party, whether or not the marital relation has terminated. In any case wherein costs and expenses, or either, may be awarded hereunder to a party, they may be awarded to his or her counsel, or may be apportioned between them.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 39 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 39 - Foreign Divorces; Validity

Section 39. A divorce adjudged in another jurisdiction according to the laws thereof by a court having jurisdiction of the cause and of both the parties shall be valid and effectual in this commonwealth; but if an inhabitant of this commonwealth goes into another jurisdiction to obtain a divorce for a cause occurring here while the parties resided here, or for a cause which would not authorize a divorce by the laws of this commonwealth, a divorce so obtained shall be of no force or effect in this commonwealth.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 40 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 40 - Cohabitation After Divorce

Section 40. Persons divorced from each other cohabiting as husband and wife or living together in the same house shall be held to be guilty of adultery.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 41 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 41 - Personation

Section 41. Whoever falsely personates another or wilfully and fraudulently procures a person so to do, or fraudulently procures false testimony to be given, or makes a false or fraudulent return of service of process in an action for divorce or in any proceeding connected therewith, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two years.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 42 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 42 - Procurement of Unlawful Divorce

Section 42. Whoever knowingly procures or obtains or assists another to procure or obtain any false, counterfeit or fraudulent divorce or judgment of divorce, or any divorce or judgment of divorce from a court of another state for or in favor of a person who at the time of making application therefor was a resident of this commonwealth, such court not having jurisdiction to grant such judgment, shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 43 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 43 - Advertisement to Procure Divorce

Section 43. Whoever writes, prints or publishes, or solicits another to write, print or publish, any notice, circular or advertisement soliciting employment in the business of procuring divorces or offering inducements for the purpose of procuring such employment shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 44 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 44 - Certificate of Divorce; Unlawful Issuance

Section 44. Whoever, except in compliance with an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, gives, signs or issues any writing purporting to grant a divorce to persons who are husband and wife according to the laws of the commonwealth, or purporting to be a certificate that a divorce has been granted to such persons, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than three years, or both.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 45 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 45 - Criminal Offenses; Notice to District Attorney

Section 45. If a divorce is granted for a cause constituting a crime, committed within the commonwealth and within the time provided by law for making complaints and finding indictments therefor, the court granting the divorce may, in its discretion, cause notice of such facts to be given by the clerk of the court or register of probate to the district attorney for the district where such crime was committed, with a list of the witnesses proving such crime and any other information which it considers proper and thereupon the district attorney may cause complaint therefor to be made before a magistrate having jurisdiction thereof, or may present the evidence thereof to the grand jury.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 46 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 46 - Statistical Reports; Additional Information

Section 46. The registers of probate shall receive the statistical reports filed pursuant to section six B; and shall, upon a divorce becoming absolute, add to the information contained therein the date and number of the judgment, the cause for which the divorce was granted, and such additional information as the commissioner of public health deems useful for statistical and research purposes and shall further, on the tenth day of the month following every month in which divorces become absolute, transmit such reports to the commissioner of public health. Any such information forwarded to the commissioner of public health shall not constitute a public record nor be available except as may be necessary for the purposes stated in section two of chapter one hundred and eleven.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 48 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 48 - Definitions Applicable to Secs. 49 to 55

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 length of time, under a court order.  ''Full retirement age'', the payor's normal retirement age to be eligible to receive full retirement benefits under the United States Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program; but shall not mean ''early retirement age,'' as defined under 42 U.S.C. 416, if early retirement is available to the payor or maximum benefit age if additional benefits are available as a result of delayed retirement.  ''General term alimony'', the periodic payment of support to a recipient spouse who is economically dependent.  ''Length of the marriage'', the number of months from the date of legal marriage to the date of service of a complaint or petition for divorce or separate support duly filed in a court of the commonwealth or another court with jurisdiction to terminate the marriage; provided, however, that the court may increase the length of the marriage if there is evidence that the parties' economic marital partnership began during their cohabitation period prior to the marriage.  ''Rehabilitative alimony'', the periodic payment of support to a recipient spouse who is expected to become economically self-sufficient by a predicted time, such as, without limitation, reemployment; completion of job training; or receipt of a sum due from the payor spouse under a judgment.  ''Reimbursement alimony'', the periodic or one-time payment of support to a recipient spouse after a marriage of not more than 5 years to compensate the recipient spouse for economic or noneconomic contribution to the financial resources of the payor spouse, such as enabling the payor spouse to complete an education or job training.  ''Transitional alimony'', the periodic or one-time payment of support to a recipient spouse after a marriage of not more than 5 years to transition the recipient spouse to an adjusted lifestyle or location as a result of the divorce.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 50 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 50 - Termination, Extension or Modification of Rehabilitative Alimony

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 due to the recipient in the event of the payor's death during the alimony term.  (b) The alimony term for rehabilitative alimony shall be not more than 5 years. Unless the recipient has remarried, the rehabilitative alimony may be extended on a complaint for modification upon a showing of compelling circumstances in the event that:  (1) unforeseen events prevent the recipient spouse from being self-supporting at the end of the term with due consideration to the length of the marriage;  (2) the court finds that the recipient tried to become self-supporting; and  (3) the payor is able to pay without undue burden.  (c) The court may modify the amount of periodic rehabilitative alimony based upon material change of circumstance within the rehabilitative period.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 51 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 51 - Termination of Reimbursement Alimony; Modification; Applicability of Income Guidelines

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 not apply to reimbursement alimony.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 52 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 52 - Termination of Transitional Alimony; Modification or Extension

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 due to the recipient in the event of the payor's death during the alimony term.  (b) No court shall modify or extend transitional alimony or replace transitional alimony with another form of alimony.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 54 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 54 - Remarriage of Payor; Income From Second Job or Overtime Work

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:  (1) a party works more than a single full-time equivalent position; and  (2) the second job or overtime began after entry of the initial order.
MA Gen L ch 208 § 55 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 208 - Divorce|Section 55 - Reasonable Security for Alimony in Event of Payor's Death; Orders to Maintain Life Insurance; Modification of Orders

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 consideration of the following factors: age and insurability of the payor; cost of insurance; amount of the judgment; policies carried during the marriage; duration of the alimony order; prevailing interest rates at the time of the order; and other obligations of the payor.  (c) A court may modify orders to maintain security upon a material change of circumstance.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 1 - Married Persons; Separate Property and Property Held as Tenants by Entirety; Liability for Debts

Section 1. The real and personal property of any person shall, upon marriage, remain the separate property of such person, and a married person may receive, receipt for, hold, manage and dispose of property, real and personal, in the same manner as if such person were sole. A husband and wife shall be equally entitled to the rents, products, income or profits and to the control, management and possession of property held by them as tenants by the entirety.  The interest of a debtor spouse in property held as tenants by the entirety shall not be subject to seizure or execution by a creditor of such debtor spouse so long as such property is the principal residence of the nondebtor spouse; provided, however, both spouses shall be liable jointly or severally for debts incurred on account of necessaries furnished to either spouse or to a member of their family.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 1a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 1a - Tenants by Entirety Under Older Deed; Electing Treatment of Tenancy

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-nine; provided, however, that such election is made in writing, identifying the real estate with reference to the book and page of the registry of deeds wherein such deed is filed. Such election shall be executed by the grantees named as tenants by the entirety on the deed who are electing to be subject to this section, duly notarized, and recorded in said registry.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 2 - Married Woman; Power to Contract

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.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 3 - Transfers Between Husband and Wife

Section 3. Transfers of real and personal property between husband and wife shall be valid to the same extent as if they were sole.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 4 - Married Woman; Work and Labor; Presumption

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.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 5 - Married Woman; Acting as Fiduciary

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.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 6 - Married Woman; Power to Sue and Be Sued

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.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 7 - Married Woman; Liabilities

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 necessaries furnished with her knowledge or consent to herself or her family, if she has property to the amount of two thousand dollars or more.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 8 - Husband; Liability for Wife's Debts

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.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 9 - Husband; Liability on Contracts Concerning Separate Property of Wife

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 if she were sole.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 13 - Marriage Settlements

Section 13. The preceding sections shall not invalidate a marriage settlement or contract.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 14 - Disability of Husband or Wife Provisions; Release of Homestead by Wife of Ward

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 joining in a conveyance thereof made by her husband if he had been under no legal disability.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 15 - Disability of Husband or Wife Provisions; Wife of Ward; Joinder With Guardian or Conservator; Sale of Realty

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 might have done by a conveyance thereof made jointly with her husband, if he had been under no legal disability.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 16 - Disability of Husband or Wife Provisions; Disposition of Proceeds

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 thereof as she or they would have had therein if it had not been sold. An agreement made between her and the guardian or conservator for securing and disposing of the proceeds or any part thereof for the purpose aforesaid, if approved by the probate court for the county where the guardian or conservator was appointed, or, in default of such agreement, an order therefor made by the probate court, shall be valid and binding on all persons interested in the granted property or in said proceeds, and may be enforced by the court or by an action at law.
MA Gen L ch 209 § 17 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title III - Domestic Relations|Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife|Section 17 - Disability of Husband or Wife Provisions; Partition; Joinder of Husband or Wife of Ward With Guardian or Conservator

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 make any release or other conveyance necessary or proper therefor, as the parties might do if neither of them were under legal disability.