VOLUME XIII | SPRING 2024 |
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IN THIS NEWSLETTER — The "Pet Edition"
• WHAT'S NEW? Professional Activities, Webinar, Staff News
• CASE SUMMARY: Lyman v. Lanser, a new case involving “pet custody"
• ARTIST OF THE QUARTER: Ruth Susen Riley
• MINDFULNESS MATTERS: The Power of Pets
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UPDATES FROM CYNTHIA RUNGE
Recent Activities
MBA PANEL
On February 27, 2024, Cindy Co-Chaired a panel with Attorney Barbara Richmond from HealyFiske, LLP for the Massachusetts Bar Association. The Zoom "lunch and learn" was entitled, “Protecting Families Created Through Assisted Reproduction”. The attorney panelists Catherine Capelli, Kathleen DeLisle and Polly Crozier sought to help family law attorneys deepen their understanding of family building through assisted reproduction — both surrogacy and non-surrogacy — as well as the legal considerations under the current state of Massachusetts law. Full details here.
GREATER BOSTON FAMILY LAW PROFESSIONALS VALENTINE'S DAY AFFAIR
On February 8th Cindy co-sponsored the Greater Boston Family Law Professional’s Fifth Annual Family Affairs Valentine’s Day Party at the French Library. Attendees included a mix of family law attorneys and other professionals whose careers touch the family law world. The event was a great success and thank you to everyone who attended!
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MBA DIAL-A-LAWYER
On February 7th, Cindy participated in the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Dial-A-Lawyer program. This program exists to help people who have basic legal questions easily get access to legal resources. This is one way that members of the family law section of the MBA help the greater Massachusetts community.
NY STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING
On January 17th, Cindy attended the New York State Bar Association’s 147th Annual Meeting, where she heard from experts on a broad range of critical family law legal topics with a focus on reviewing tax and other financial issues pertaining to divorce. Cindy is a member of both the Massachusetts and New York State Bars and is able to practice in both states. The conference had over 3,000 attendees, allowing Cindy ample opportunities to network with her NY State colleagues.
Upcoming Activities
GRANDPARENTS RAISING GRANDCHILDREN
On April 18th, Cindy will present a CLE class for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, which is organizing a CLE class for the William James College. The presentation is part of a continuing education program for professionals from multiple fields and the trainers will provide a framework for understanding the complex needs of grandparents and grandchildren who become a family system. The presentation will address the mental health, custodial, and legal issues faced by grandparent caregivers, and provide practical strategies for navigating healthy connections between grandparents and grandchildren.
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UPCOMING QUARTERLY ZOOM WEBINAR |
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"You're Getting Divorced: What About the House?"
Thursday, April 25, 2024
12:15–1:00pm EST
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Our upcoming quarterly Zoom presentation will feature Certified Divorce Lending Professional (CDLP®) John Marroni speaking about the necessary real estate considerations and decisions which parties encounter during divorce.
John’s main goal is to simplify the mortgage process. He takes the time to understand his clients’ situations and goals so he can create streamlined plans to help them reach their objectives. His niches include complicated loans for first time homebuyers, self-employed borrowers, and developing home lending solutions for divorcing couples. As a Certified Divorce Lending Professional (CDLP®), John is adept at helping Family Law Attorneys guide their divorcing clients in making informed decisions regarding their mortgage equity solutions and mortgage planning options during and after the divorce.
RESOURCES
In Peridot Family Law's first quarter Zoom presentation on January 25, 2024 Jeff Weiner, CEO of HKM Associates provided valuable insight into the best ways to handle health and life insurance while going through a divorce. In his talk, Jeff discussed both types of insurance in detail, providing in depth analysis of the implications in both general scenarios and in the unique situations that arise during divorce. If you missed it you can check out the full session (and many others) on the Peridot Family Law YouTube Channel.
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TESTIMONIAL OF THE QUARTER
This testimonial was for Shannon Barnes, who is Of Counsel to Peridot Family Law and for Cindy for their work on their client's unmarried partner/child support/parenting time case:
"Thank you both so much from the bottom of heart. I can’t express my gratitude for the time, energy, and patience you put into helping me through one of the most difficult times in my life. Thank you for dealing with my emotions, and not judging me! My [child] is my world, my everything. This was such a hard journey. I am so incredibly thankful to have had you both help me through it. Hopefully we ease into these new transitions gracefully; but I’m grateful to know I have you both to reach out to if ever needed."
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STAFF NEWS
Welcome Rossvierlin!
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Rossvierlin Cajigas is 2L at New England Law. Rossvierlin will be joining Peridot Family Law for a summer internship. She is a first-generation law student with a strong interest in family law. Currently, she is working as a student attorney for the Volunteer Lawyers Project in their family law unit. We look forward to working with Rossvierlin starting in May!
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Dahni Cenci is a 1L at New England Law | Boston. Dahni will also be joining us for the summer. She has spent the past year as the 1L rep for New England Law's Family Society. Dahni has a strong interest in family law and will be starting her internship with Peridot in May 2024. We look forward to working with her!
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"Frankie", Visiting Stabyhoun at Peridot Family Law. (Actually we are not sure if Frankie is a mix, but we love him all the same!)
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"Kensie", Visiting Goldendoodle at Peridot Family Law.
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LEFT: "Ace", our Belgian Malinois neighbor. (Fun fact: Ace is a retired police K9! He was the partner of Shannon Barnes' husband.)
RIGHT: "Lyla", our Belgian Malinois/Lab mix neighbor.
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NEW CASE SUMMARY
Lyman v. Lanser, MA App. Ct (23-P-73) 2024
PET "CUSTODY"
Summarized by Hannah Flaherty, Law Clerk
In Massachusetts, pets have always been treated as property. Now, in Lyman v. Lanser, the Court has acknowledged specific carve-outs for when pets may continue to be shared between co-owners.
The Plaintiff in Lyman filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against his former romantic partner for specific performance of an oral agreement to equally share possession of their jointly-owned property, a Pomeranian dog named Teddy Bear (Teddy Bear). The parties split in 2021 and for two months, shared possession every other week. In March of 2022, Defendant cut off all communication with Plaintiff and refused to allow him access to Teddy Bear, which led to the filing of this action.
The Plaintiff moved for a preliminary injunction to restore joint ownership of Teddy Bear, which the motion judge issued, requiring the parties to alternate possession of Teddy Bear every two weeks. Defendant then petitioned for relief from the injunction, which was granted, leading the Plaintiff to file this appeal.
On appeal by the Plaintiff, the Court discussed the elements the Plaintiff needed to prove to succeed in his motion for a preliminary injunction: 1) a likelihood of success on the merits; 2) that irreparable harm will result from denial of the injunction; and 3) that, in light of the plaintiff’s likelihood of success on the merits, the risk of irreparable harm to the plaintiff outweighs the potential harm to the defendant in granting the injunction.
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ARTIST OF THE QUARTER
At Peridot Family Law we prioritize wellness and believe in the power of art to heal. For the wellbeing and enrichment of our clients and staff we present the work of Boston area artists on the walls of our offices through our “Artist of the Quarter” corporate exhibition program.
RUTH SUSEN RILEY
Ruth Susen Riley's artwork will be featured at Peridot Family Law for the second quarter of 2024.
Raised in a rural New England town, Ruth spent her childhood roaming freely outside in the uninhabited acres around her home. The textures of plants and animals in the context of their settings captured her eye and imagination. Through gardening and caring for the land and various farm animals, she developed an abiding love for the natural world. Her images have consistently relied on the inspiration she derives from the landscape and her relationship to it, both in general terms and specifically.
Ruth's journey has taken her across the country and back to New England. She began with printmaking and now works mostly with oil paints. Her goal in painting is to continue to explore not just her psychological understanding of imagery but to be attentive to the process and allow it to lead her in creating a work of art.
Galleries throughout the United States in Chicago, New York, the Butler Institute in Ohio, the Downey Museum in California, Nevada, Maryland and numerous other venues have shown Ruth's work in both solo shows and group exhibits. Her work is included in private collections throughout New England, the U.S. and Europe, and in corporate collections in New England.
Narrative has always been and continues to be integral to Ruth's image making. Exploring the connections humans have with the natural world has been the ongoing theme of her work.
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We are Accepting Applications for ARTIST OF THE QUARTER!
Are you interested in being an Artist of the Quarter? Know an artist who would be? We offer four quarterly exhibition slots per calendar year in our Financial District office. We are looking for art that aligns with our mission and values through themes such as families, relationships, healing, transformation, nature, and growth. All exhibiting artists receive a stipend and are included in our newsletter and on our web site.
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MINDFULNESS MATTERS
THE POWER OF PETS
As a divorce lawyer, many of my clients need assistance concerning custody of their children. Sometimes, these “children” have furry bodies and tails. While I can obtain custody orders for human children, I have not as yet been able to obtain custody orders for pets. Under MA law, pets are still considered to be property. However, a new and exciting Superior Court decision has just come down which gives hope to the those involved in pet custody disputes (see summary of Lyman decision above).
If you ask anyone who has a pet why they love it so much, they will often tell you it is the unconditional love the pet provides. For example, who is the first “person” to greet you at the door when you come home? (assuming you don’t have a pet snake or pet fish). Who do you love to snuggle with in good and/or bad times? Your pets. People are pretty good too, sometimes (grin).
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People ask, “Are you a dog person, or a cat person?” Somehow that is supposed to mean something? I think it does… While I love dogs, (BTW, we have several visiting canines on any given day in our office as you can see in this quarterly edition), I, myself prefer felines. We recently got a new kitten at home and introduced him to our older Siamese female. Talk about drama! And I thought the probate and family court was wild! However, the two cats sorted out their differences in 1.5 days and while I can’t say the Siamese “loves” the kitten, she has already developed some kind of relationship with him, when he isn’t full body leaping on her.
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Cindy's new kitten "chilling out". |
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Having a pet can provide a sense of purpose, stability, and well-being, especially when you are going through a major transition such as divorce. It used to be you could pick up a dog or cat at the mall, but I’m dating myself. Unfortunately, there are many shelters with animals that need loving homes, but not enough people to adopt. Check this out if you are considering adding to your family: https://www.mspca.org
In closing, there are many paths to supporting your wellbeing. What works for your friend or sibling may not be what resonates with you. However, I have found that it is usually the simplest pleasures, such as playing with one's pet, that can bring a smile to your face when you're feeling stressed or sad.
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Peridot Family Law is a full-service family law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. Our goal is to help our clients transition through their family law matter in the best possible way. We do this by listening to our clients' goals and objectives. We meet our clients where they are in the process and offer practical, reasonable solutions to produce a positive outcome for their situation.
Cynthia Runge, Founder and Sole Member.
Admitted to the bar in Massachusetts and New York.
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Follow Peridot Family Law on LinkedIn. |
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