Collaborative Law

As a local Judge likes to say during First Appearances in a divorce matter, “You are all likely going through the worst time period of your lives. We’re here to try to figure out how you move on, and what you need to do to make that process easier.” It’s true, divorce means a marriage is ending, and that is a difficult process to be involved in. Yet, as statistics show, Divorce has become much more commonplace and living in a divorced home has seemingly become more of the norm. However, the process is still draining, and most people don’t know what to expect from the divorce process. In a divorce, one of the married persons files a Petition for Divorce, and in a typical…

In a recent case decided on January 13, 2012, the New Hampshire Supreme Court decided that very question. The case is titled In the Matter of Mallet v. Mallet, and it involved a couple that had lived together for almost fourteen years. This was no ordinary unwed couple, as they had children together, repeatedly told others they were married, wore wedding rings, owned property together, shared the same last name, and even told people they had participated in a wedding ceremony. The mother, Tami, petitioned for divorce and argued that they were married by “estoppel”. Estoppel is a legal concept that involves three basic factors: (1) a knowingly false representation or concealment of material facts; (2) a recipient who was ignorant of the truth and…