While marriage laws are based on where the parties are at the time of marriage, divorce is based on where the parties live at the time of divorce. The answer to this question depends on whether your spouse still lives in Rhode Island. So long as your Spouse has lived in Rhode Island, continuously for…
Grandparents may have legal rights in Rhode Island, regarding visitation, however, this is far from certain. In the event the grandparents and parents can come to an agreement regarding visitation, court intervention is generally not required. When no such agreement can be made, there are certain situations grandparents may be granted a court order allowing…
Bifurcation of divorce allows spouses to become legally divorced before the divorce details have been finalized. The option to remarry is the most common use of bifurcation; however, some couples seek a bifurcation to distinguish between marriage or pre-marriage property. Rhode Island does not permit bifurcation. The court will not handle the end of the…
In the state of Rhode Island, there is no such thing as a court granted annulment. It simply does not exist. As such in Rhode Island, you cannot get your marriage annulled. However, you can ask the Court to make a legal determination that the marriage was Void ab initio. This means that the marriage…
When it comes to understanding common law marriages, there are a lot of misconceptions out there. You may have heard that a couple living together for 7 years or longer are automatically common law spouses, but this is a false. You could be with someone for only 7 minutes and still bind yourself in a…
In situations where a custodial parent wishes to relocate with a child, the court will determine whether child custody relocation is in the best interests of the child. While a parent is free to relocate out of state themselves without the child or with the permission of the other parent to take the child, the…
My client came to me after the mother of his 8 year old daughter suddenly moved with the child to Worcester, without an order of the Court or his agreement. He had already been awarded Joint Custody of his daughter by previous Court Decree. We initially tried to make the mother return the child to…
Rather than divide marital property equally, the State of Rhode Island General Laws require a Judge to divide it equitably. This means fairly and taking into account the good and bad behavior of both parties. Rhode Island generally considers “marital property” as any property—be it income, assets, real estate, or everyday items—that comes into possession…
My client owned several investment properties and more than one business. Each of his properties was highly leveraged and contained questionable amounts of equity, but still threw off considerable income. The value of the businesses was in also dispute but again provided my client with significant cash flow. The wife was a W-2 employee, so…
My client initially presented to me as a severe alcoholic, who had been abusive to his wife and had furthermore diminished the value of the Marital Estate due to his bad behavior and spotty work history. Obviously, at first glance I was quite concerned about my clients credibility and uncertain how I could make certain…
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