MFAC Advocacy News
May 2026
MFAC presents its second Family Law Symposium, Unequal Aftermath: Unequal Aftermath: Economic Vulnerability During and Post Divorce, at Suffolk University Law School. Co-sponsored by MLRI, Women’s Bar Foundation, Women’s Bar Association, and Social Library, panels of lawyers, advocates, and financial experts spoke on a variety of topics impacting the financial stability of divorced spouses and families. Obtain handouts here.
July 2025
Several MFFAC advocates met with Massachusetts State Senator Lydia Edwards, chair of the Massachusetts Senate Judiciary Committee, to share their lived experience with abusive litigation in Massachusetts Probate and Family Court. Many women in domestic abuse situations have found that abuse doesn’t end when they leave the relationship—it simply moves from the home into the courtroom. Many abusers manipulate the courtroom process to maintain power over the survivor, drain finances, and inflict further trauma. The Senate is considering passage of S. 1205, An Act Relative to Controlling and Abusive Litigation to strengthen the Court’s ability to end this abuse.
December 2024
MFAC submitted its RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE 2024-2025 MASSACHUSETTS CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES TASK FORCE including detailed explanations on how the proposed updates would serve the best interest of the Commonwealth’s children and improve the family law process for all.
November 2024
MFAC submitted this amicus brief to the Massachusetts Appeals Court in the second appeal of the seminal case, Cavanagh v. Cavanagh. MFAC explains in the brief why an alimony order is warranted.
The Appeals Court published its decision in this case in July 2025. The Court reaffirmed the groundbreaking principle in the first Cavanagh case that judges must run both sets of calculations — alimony-first and child-support-first — and then compare them. The Cavanagh rulings mean that support awards can be potentially larger than before because the court reinforced that alimony serves a different purpose than child support and that the trial court must consider the marital standard of living. In longer term marriages, both spouses should, absent unusual circumstances, maintain comparable lifestyles.
September 2024
This month Massachusetts Coercive Control legislation becomes law. The statutory definition of “domestic abuse” is now expanded to include applicable non-physical abusive behavior used to dominate an intimate partner.
Read this helpful Coercive Control Fact Sheet prepared by MFAC in collaboration with MLRI (Massachusetts Legal Reform Institute) and HAWC (Healing Abuse Working for Change). The Fact Sheet is helpful to attorneys, police, advocates, and survivors in understanding application of the new law.
August 2024
Do you know how to fill out the financial statement in a divorce or custody case?
Read our helpful tips to consider when completing a Financial Statement for the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court, and download a comprehensive and user-friendly form.
June 20, 2024
