reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 18 - Mentally Ill Persons; Conveyance or Mortgage of Real Estate; Release of Homestead

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 the facts and reasons why the prayer of the petition should be granted. The court, after notice and a hearing, may by decree, authorize the guardian of the person incapacitated by reason of mental illness to make the release by joining in any deed or deeds, mortgage or mortgages of the whole or a part of said real estate which is or are made within five years after said decree by the spouse of the person incapacitated by reason of mental illness or by a trustee for such spouse.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 21 - Mentally Ill Spouse; Reservation of Portion of Proceeds Upon Release of Homestead

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 mortgage thereof, must be reserved for the use of the ward, it shall order that a portion, equal to fifty per cent of the proceeds, to be set aside and paid over to such guardian to be invested in a homestead and held by the guardian for the benefit of the ward, if the ward survives the ward's spouse, the rent or use thereof to be received and enjoyed during the life of the ward by the ward's spouse, or until otherwise ordered by the court for cause; and the homestead to be said spouse's and to be conveyed to said spouse by said guardian, if said spouse survives the ward.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 24 - Disability of Husband or Wife Provisions; Venue

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 real estate is situated, and a certified copy of all final orders or decrees in such proceedings shall be recorded in the registry of deeds in every county or district where such real estate lies.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 25 - Antenuptial Settlements; Force and Effect

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 time of the marriage, shall remain or become the property of the husband or wife, according to the terms of the contract. Such contract may limit to the husband or wife an estate in fee or for life in the whole or any part of the property, and may designate any other lawful limitations. All such limitations shall take effect at the time of the marriage in like manner as if they had been contained in a deed conveying the property limited.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 26 - Antenuptial Settlements; Record; Description of Property

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 before the marriage or within ninety days thereafter, be recorded in the registry of deeds for the county or district where the husband resides at the time of the record, or, if he is not a resident of this commonwealth, then in the registry of deeds for the county or district where the wife resides at the time of the record, if it is made before the marriage, or where she last resided, if made after the marriage. If the contract is not so recorded, it shall be void except as between the parties thereto and their heirs and personal representatives. It shall also be recorded in the registry of deeds for every county or district where there is land to which it relates.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 29 - Property Rights Acquired in Other States; Effect of Residence in This Commonwealth

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, or by a marriage contract or settlement made out of this commonwealth. Such residence together here shall have the same effect, relative to their subsequent rights and liabilities, as if they had married here at the beginning of such residence.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 30 - Married Person Abandoned by Spouse; Sale or Conveyance; Notice to Opposing Absent Spouse; Jurisdiction of Court; Proof of Abandonment; Retransfer to Opposing Absent Party

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 him or her and thereby left the abandoned spouse and his or her dependents without sufficient means to maintain themselves may, after giving the respondent spouse notice and an opportunity to be heard, authorize the moving party to sell, convey, mortgage, receive or receipt for any real or personal property of the opposing party which remains in the commonwealth undisposed of by him or her, any property in the name of the opposing party which is beneficially owned by the moving party or by the moving party's minor dependents and any property within the commonwealth held by both spouses jointly, as tenants by the entirety or as tenants in common, and to use and dispose of the same or the proceeds thereof during the absence of the opposing party as if the moving party were sole. Such petition may be filed, heard and determined in the probate court for the county in which the moving party resides. The opposing party shall be given notice as provided for divorce libels when the libelee cannot be located within the commonwealth. Such petition may be filed to satisfy, in whole or in part, an outstanding support order, or to provide for the future support and maintenance of the moving party and his or her dependents. The court shall have jurisdiction in rem of the aforementioned property to enforce an order for support and maintenance. Upon approval of the petition, the court shall transfer to the moving party or shall authorize him or her to sell, convey, mortgage or otherwise use or control such property as is needed for the present and future support and maintenance of, or for use by, the moving party and his or her dependents, including but not limited to residences, motor vehicles and furniture and furnishings. Any deed or mortgage given pursuant to this section shall first be approved by the court and such approval shall constitute conclusive evidence in favor of any purchaser that the authority of the grantor has not terminated.
For the purposes of this section, abandonment shall mean that the opposing party has left the moving party and does not intend to return. Proof that the moving party has not known the whereabouts of the opposing party for the previous twelve months shall constitute prima facie evidence of abandonment. The court may, upon petition of the opposing party, retransfer to him or her so much of the transferred property or the proceeds thereof as remains in the hands of the moving party to which the opposing party may be entitled when such petition is filed.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 31 - Non-Resident Married Woman Abandoned by Husband; Conveyance of Realty

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 court in any county where the land lies, describing such real estate and praying for authority to sell and convey it in the same manner and with the same effect as if she were sole. The court, after such notice as it may order, if it finds that the petitioner has been abandoned by her husband and that he does not sufficiently maintain her, may authorize the petitioner to sell and convey within one year from the date of such decree such real estate as if she were sole.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 32d - Judgment for Separate Support; Conveyance of Real Property; Enforcement; Vesting of Title

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 provision for recording of notice in section fifteen of chapter one hundred and eighty-four, in the party entitled thereto by the judgment, and if the judgment has not been complied with within three months after said judgment has been entered and a certified copy of said judgment is recorded or registered in the manner provided by section forty-four of chapter one hundred and eighty-three, then the judgment itself shall operate to vest title to the real estate or interest therein in the party entitled thereto by the judgment as fully and completely as if such deed, conveyance or release had been duly executed by the party directed to make it, and so recorded.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 33 - Separate Support or Maintenance; Attachment of Defendant's Property and Trustee Process

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 such complaint and to all subsidiary proceedings arising thereunder, so far as appropriate. Trustee process of an obligor's disposable earnings may likewise be made by the filing of a complaint under the provisions of section thirty-six A of chapter two hundred and eight. All procedures under said section thirty-six A of said chapter two hundred and eight shall apply following the filing of said complaint.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 34 - Married Person Abandoned by Spouse; Venue

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 in that county.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife › Section 36 - Married Person Abandoned by Spouse; Spouse Living Apart; Conveyance and Will

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 for justifiable cause, and said person may thereafter convey said person's real estate in the same manner and with the same effect as if said person were sole, and the surviving spouse shall not be entitled under section fifteen of chapter one hundred and ninety-one to waive the provisions of a will made by said person or to claim such portion of said person's estate as the spouse would take if said person had died intestate, nor shall such spouse be entitled upon said person's death, if said person leaves a will, to dower in said person's estate, as provided in section one of chapter one hundred and eighty-nine. Section seventeen of chapter two hundred and eight shall apply to proceedings upon such complaint, so far as applicable.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 2 - Venue

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 the plaintiff has left a residence or household to avoid abuse, such plaintiff shall have the option of commencing an action in the court having venue over such prior residence or household, or in the court having venue over the present residence or household.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 3a - Nature of Proceedings and Availability of Other Criminal Proceedings; Information Required to Be Given to Complainant Upon Filing

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 the appropriate district attorney's office that other criminal proceedings may be available and such complainant shall be instructed by such district attorney's office relative to the procedures required to initiate criminal proceedings including, but not limited to, a complaint for a violation of section forty-three of chapter two hundred and sixty-five. Whenever possible, a complainant shall be provided with such information in the complainant's native language.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 3b - Order for Suspension and Surrender of Firearms License; Surrender of Firearms; Petition for Review; Hearing

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 firearms and or firearms identification card which the defendant may hold and order the defendant to surrender all firearms, rifles, shotguns, machine guns and ammunition which he then controls, owns or possesses in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and any license to carry firearms or firearms identification cards which the defendant may hold shall be surrendered to the appropriate law enforcement officials in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and, said law enforcement official may store, transfer or otherwise dispose of any such weapon in accordance with the provisions of section 129D of chapter 140; provided however, that nothing herein shall authorize the transfer of any weapons surrendered by the defendant to anyone other than a licensed dealer. Notice of such suspension and ordered surrender shall be appended to the copy of abuse prevention order served on the defendant pursuant to section seven. Law enforcement officials, upon the service of said orders, shall immediately take possession of all firearms, rifles, shotguns, machine guns, ammunition, any license to carry firearms and any firearms identification cards in the control, ownership, or possession of said defendant. Any violation of such orders shall be punishable by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than two and one-half years in a house of correction, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Any defendant aggrieved by an order of surrender or suspension as described in the first sentence of this section may petition the court which issued such suspension or surrender order for a review of such action and such petition shall be heard no later than ten court business days after the receipt of the notice of the petition by the court. If said license to carry firearms or firearms identification card has been suspended upon the issuance of an order issued pursuant to section four or five, said petition may be heard contemporaneously with the hearing specified in the second sentence of the second paragraph of section four. Upon the filing of an affidavit by the defendant that a firearm, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or ammunition is required in the performance of the defendant's employment, and upon a request for an expedited hearing, the court shall order said hearing within two business days of receipt of such affidavit and request but only on the issue of surrender and suspension pursuant to this section.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 3c - Continuation or Modification of Order for Surrender or Suspension

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 firearms identification card and the surrender of all firearms, rifles, shotguns, machine guns or ammunition which such defendant then controls, owns or possesses if the court makes a determination that the return of such license to carry firearms and firearm identification card or firearms, rifles, shotguns, machine guns or ammunition presents a likelihood of abuse to the plaintiff. A suspension and surrender order issued pursuant to this section shall continue so long as the restraining order to which it relates is in effect; and, any law enforcement official to whom such weapon is surrendered may store, transfer or otherwise dispose of any such weapon in accordance with the provisions of section 129D of chapter 140; provided, however, that nothing herein shall authorize the transfer of any weapons surrendered by the defendant to anyone other than a licensed dealer. Any violation of such order shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000 or by imprisonment for not more than two and one-half years in a house of correction or by both such fine and imprisonment.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 3d - Transmission of Report Containing Defendant's Name and Identifying Information and Statement Describing Defendant's Alleged Conduct and Relationship to Plaintiff to Department of Criminal Justice Information Services Upon Order for Suspension or Surrender

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 to the department of criminal justice information services. Upon the expiration, cancellation or revocation of the order, the court shall transmit a report containing the defendant's name and identifying information, a statement describing the defendant's alleged conduct and relationship to the plaintiff and an explanation that the order is no longer current or valid to the department of criminal justice information services who shall transmit the report, pursuant to paragraph (h) of section 167A of chapter 6, to the attorney general of the United States to be included in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 4 - Temporary Orders; Notice; Hearing

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 divorce, separate support, or paternity action.
If the plaintiff demonstrates a substantial likelihood of immediate danger of abuse, the court may enter such temporary relief orders without notice as it deems necessary to protect the plaintiff from abuse and shall immediately thereafter notify the defendant that the temporary orders have been issued. The court shall give the defendant an opportunity to be heard on the question of continuing the temporary order and of granting other relief as requested by the plaintiff no later than ten court business days after such orders are entered.
Notice shall be made by the appropriate law enforcement agency as provided in section seven.
If the defendant does not appear at such subsequent hearing, the temporary orders shall continue in effect without further order of the court.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 5 - Granting of Relief When Court Closed; Certification

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 the plaintiff as provided under section four if the plaintiff demonstrates a substantial likelihood of immediate danger of abuse. In the discretion of the justice, such relief may be granted and communicated by telephone to an officer or employee of an appropriate law enforcement agency, who shall record such order on a form of order promulgated for such use by the chief justice of the trial court and shall deliver a copy of such order on the next court day to the clerk-magistrate of the court having venue and jurisdiction over the matter. If relief has been granted without the filing of a complaint pursuant to this section of this chapter, then the plaintiff shall appear in court on the next available business day to file said complaint. If the plaintiff in such a case is unable to appear in court without severe hardship due to the plaintiff's physical condition, then a representative may appear in court on the plaintiff's behalf and file the requisite complaint with an affidavit setting forth the circumstances preventing the plaintiff from appearing personally. Notice to the plaintiff and defendant and an opportunity for the defendant to be heard shall be given as provided in said section four.
Any order issued under this section and any documentation in support thereof shall be certified on the next court day by the clerk-magistrate or register of the court issuing such order to the court having venue and jurisdiction over the matter. Such certification to the court shall have the effect of commencing proceedings under this chapter and invoking the other provisions of this chapter but shall not be deemed necessary for an emergency order issued under this section to take effect.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 5a - Protection Order Issued by Another Jurisdiction; Enforcement; Filing; Presumption of Validity

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 person entitled to protection under a protection order issued by another jurisdiction may file such order in the superior court department or the Boston municipal court department or any division of the probate and family or district court departments by filing with the court a certified copy of such order which shall be entered into the statewide domestic violence record keeping system established pursuant to the provisions of section seven of chapter one hundred and eighty-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-two and maintained by the office of the commissioner of probation. Such person shall swear under oath in an affidavit, to the best of such person's knowledge, that such order is presently in effect as written. Upon request by a law enforcement agency, the register or clerk of such court shall provide a certified copy of the protection order issued by the other jurisdiction.
A law enforcement officer may presume the validity of, and enforce in accordance with section six, a copy of a protection order issued by another jurisdiction which has been provided to the law enforcement officer by any source; provided, however, that the officer is also provided with a statement by the person protected by the order that such order remains in effect. Law enforcement officers may rely on such statement by the person protected by such order.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 8 - Confidentiality of Records

Section 8. The records of cases arising out of an action brought under the provisions of this chapter where the plaintiff or defendant is a minor shall be withheld from public inspection except by order of the court; provided, that such records shall be open, at all reasonable times, to the inspection of the minor, said minor's parent, guardian, attorney, and to the plaintiff and the plaintiff's attorney, or any of them.
The plaintiff's residential address, residential telephone number and workplace name, address and telephone number, contained within the court records of cases arising out of an action brought by a plaintiff under the provisions of this chapter, shall be confidential and withheld from public inspection, except by order of the court, except that the plaintiff's residential address and workplace address shall appear on the court order and accessible to the defendant and the defendant's attorney unless the plaintiff specifically requests that this information be withheld from the order. All confidential portions of the records shall be accessible at all reasonable times to the plaintiff and plaintiff's attorney, to others specifically authorized by the plaintiff to obtain such information, and to prosecutors, victim-witness advocates as defined in section 1 of chapter 258B, domestic violence victim's counselors as defined in section 20K of chapter 233, sexual assault counselors as defined in section 20J of chapter 233, and law enforcement officers, if such access is necessary in the performance of their duties. The provisions of this paragraph shall apply to any protection order issued by another jurisdiction, as defined in section 1, that is filed with a court of the commonwealth pursuant to section 5A. Such confidential portions of the court records shall not be deemed to be public records under the provisions of clause twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 9 - Form of Complaint; Promulgation

Section 9. The administrative justices of the superior court, probate and family court, district court, and the Boston municipal court departments shall jointly promulgate a form of complaint for use under this chapter which shall be in such form and language to permit a plaintiff to prepare and file such complaint
pro se
.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 209a - Abuse Prevention › Section 10 - Assessments Against Persons Referred to Certified Batterers' Treatment Program as Condition of Probation

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 discretion of the court, said assessment may be reduced or waived when the court finds that the person is indigent or that payment of the assessment would cause substantial financial hardship to the person or the person's immediate family or the person's dependents. Assessments made pursuant to this section shall be in addition to any other fines, assessments, or restitution imposed in any disposition. All funds collected by the court pursuant to this section shall be transmitted monthly to the state treasurer, who shall deposit said funds in the General Fund.