Applying the terms of a long-existing state statute, the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts affirmed that a second spouse could take 1/3 of her deceased husband's estate when he failed to rewrite his will after his second marriage and his will had left his entire estate to his first wife. ...
The Bankruptcy Code allows forced sale of property owned by a married couple as tenants by the entirety against the will of the non-debtor spouse. In re Green, 2018 WL 4944988 (Bankr. E.D. Mass. 2018) (interpreting 11 U.S.C. §363(h)).
A bankruptcy court in Massachusetts has ruled that state tenancy by the entirety law is preempted by the Bankruptcy Code, §363(h)–(j), interpreting federal law to authorize the forced sale of tenancy by the entirety property over the objections of the non-debtor spouse to satisfy the debts of the debtor spouse. Desmond v. Green, 2018 Bankr. LEXIS 3136 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2018).
The Supreme Court of Tennessee overruled prior cases and adopted the Arkansas approach that allows spouses that own bank account as tenants by the entirety are free to withdraw funds unilaterally (without consent of their co-owner) and that moneys so withdraw become the individual property of the spouse that withdrew the funds. This contrasts with real property which neither spouse may convey without the consent of the other....
The Appeals Court of Massachusetts held that the police could search a closed suitcase in a common closet of a bedroom when given permission to do so by the defendant's coinhabitant. Commonwealth v. Hernandez,93 Mass. App. Ct. 172, 2018 Mass. App. LEXIS 48 (Mass. App. Ct. 2018). This ruling was based on traditional...
In a decision one might think was unnecessary today, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the "children" who inherit under state intestacy statutes include adopted children. Fiduciary Trust Co. v. Wheeler, 132 A.3d 1178, 2016 ME 26 (Me. 2016). The issue was raised because an earlier court decision interpreting the decedent's will had held that a separate clause leaving property to the...
On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges, — U.S. — (2015), that the Constitution’s due process clause protects liberty interests that include personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy and that those include the right to marry, including someone of the same sex. The Court also held that it violates equal protection of the laws to allow male-female couples to marry but to deny that right to same-sex couples. For the same reasons, states must recognize same-sex marriages validly...
The Supreme Court's refusal to take certiorari in a number of cases means that same-sex marriage will become legal in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin, and soon afterwards in Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming bringing the total number of jurisdictions to 31 (including the District of Columbia) plus at least 5 Indian nations. In addition a ruling by a three judge panel in the 9th Circuit on Oct 7, 2014 will likely open up Nevada and Idaho as well, making a total of 33 jurisdictions. States that still ban same-sex marriages...
For the first time, federal court rulings seem to have brought same-sex marriage the states. Most of the states that have recognized such marriages have done so through state court rulings or legislation. However, federal court rulings have increasingly found same-sex marriage bans to violate the equal protection clause of the federal constitution. Most such rulings of federal district courts are on appeal and most were stayed during that appeal. However, the governors of both Oregon and Pennsylvania declined to appeal the rulings and no other parties appear to have been given standing to...