Massachusetts High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyers

In a Massachusetts divorce, the court may assign to either spouse all or any part of the estate of the other. That grant is broad. It reaches retirement benefits, deferred compensation, business interests, and property acquired before the marriage, and the statute sets out the factors a judge weighs in deciding how any of it is divided.

Property division and alimony are decided against each other rather than in sequence. Section 34 requires the court to consider the amount and duration of any alimony award when fixing what property is assigned, so in a high-income case the two questions move together.

What counts as marital property in a Massachusetts divorce?

The estate of either spouse. Section 34 permits the court to assign to either spouse all or any part of the estate of the other, and names as included all vested and nonvested benefits, rights and funds accrued during the marriage, among them retirement benefits, pension, profit-sharing, annuity, deferred compensation and insurance.

The list in M.G.L. c. 208 § 34 is expressly not exhaustive. It reads “including but not limited to,” which leaves the general grant intact.

Military retirement benefits are included if qualified under, and to the extent provided by, federal law.
Nonvested benefits are named alongside vested ones, so an interest that has not yet matured is not outside the estate for that reason.
Insurance is named as a category the court may assign.
Assets that produce income appear a second time in the alimony calculation, subject to the section 53 exclusion for income from assets already divided.

Are premarital assets, inheritances and gifts part of the estate?

They can be. Massachusetts courts have long construed the divisible estate broadly enough to reach property acquired before the marriage and property received by gift or inheritance. Being part of the estate is a separate question from how it is divided, and the section 34 factors govern that second question.

Many states exclude premarital and inherited property from the divisible estate by statute. Massachusetts does not.
How the property was handled during the marriage bears on the discretionary factors, which include each party’s contribution to the acquisition, preservation or appreciation in value of their respective estates.
A prenuptial or postnuptial agreement is the mechanism that addresses the question directly rather than leaving it to the court’s discretion.

Does equitable division mean an equal split?

No. Section 34 creates no presumption of an equal division. It directs the court to weigh a list of mandatory factors, permits two further factors, and the division that results from that weighing may or may not approach half.

The court must consider:

The length of the marriage.
The conduct of the parties during the marriage.
The age, health, station, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, estate, liabilities and needs of each party.
The opportunity of each party for future acquisition of capital assets and income.
The amount and duration of alimony, if any, awarded under sections 48 to 55.
The present and future needs of the dependent children of the marriage.

The court may also consider the contribution of each party in the acquisition, preservation, or appreciation in value of their respective estates, and the contribution of each party as a homemaker to the family unit. The statute draws that line deliberately: the first group it shall consider, the second it may.

How are stock options and deferred compensation divided?

Equity compensation forms part of the estate, and section 34 names deferred compensation expressly. For support purposes, the Child Support Guidelines list income derived from stock options and similar incentives as a source of income, excluding income from the coverture portion allocated at the time of the parties’ divorce.

That coverture exclusion in the Child Support Guidelines reflects that equity compensation is treated as split between a portion attributable to the marriage and a portion earned afterward.

The Guidelines commentary states the provision emphasizes that a person cannot avoid a support obligation by choosing to be compensated in stock options or by otherwise reclassifying income.
Unvested awards are not outside the estate for that reason alone, since section 34 names nonvested benefits alongside vested ones.
Grants that vest while a case is pending raise both a division question and an income question.

What happens to retirement accounts, pensions and annuities?

Section 34 names retirement benefits, pension, profit-sharing, annuity and deferred compensation among the categories the court may assign, along with military retirement benefits to the extent federal law allows. Both vested and nonvested benefits fall within the estate.

These are among the few asset types the statute identifies by category rather than leaving to the general grant.
Retirement age separately ends general term alimony once the payor reaches full retirement age.
Where the court orders alimony, it may require the payor to provide life insurance or another form of reasonable security for sums that would come due if the payor dies during the alimony term.

What about a business interest or a trust?

Both may form part of the estate. A closely held business is property subject to division under section 34. Trust interests arise frequently in high-asset cases, and whether and how a particular interest enters the estate turns on the terms of the trust.

The Guidelines list distributions and income from trusts, and income from an interest in an estate either directly or through a trust, as sources of income.
Net rental income and capital gains, to the extent they represent a regular source of income, are also listed.
Income from self-employment or from ownership of a closely held corporation is defined as gross receipts minus the ordinary and necessary expenses required to produce income, an amount the Guidelines state will in many cases differ from business income calculated for tax purposes.

How is alimony calculated when incomes are high?

Under M.G.L. c. 208 § 53, and except for reimbursement alimony or circumstances warranting deviation, the amount of alimony should generally not exceed the recipient’s need, or 30 to 35 per cent of the difference between the parties’ gross incomes established at the time the order issues.

The statute frames that as a ceiling rather than a starting formula. In setting the form, amount and duration, the court considers:

The length of the marriage, and the age and health of the parties.
The income, employment and employability of both parties, including employability through reasonable diligence and additional training if necessary.
The economic and non-economic contribution of both parties to the marriage.
The marital lifestyle, and the ability of each party to maintain it.
Lost economic opportunity as a result of the marriage.
Any other factors the court considers relevant and material.

Income for alimony purposes is defined as it is in the Child Support Guidelines, subject to the exclusions for income from divided assets and income already used for child support. The court may attribute income to a party who is unemployed or underemployed. Where alimony is ordered, the court must also determine whether the obligor has health coverage available through an employer or at a reasonable cost that could be extended to the recipient, and if so, must order the obligor to exercise that option, obtain coverage, or reimburse the recipient for the cost. The alimony order may not be reduced because of what that coverage costs.

Can the court count income from assets it already divided?

No. When issuing an alimony order, the court must exclude from its income calculation capital gains income, and dividend and interest income, deriving from assets equitably divided between the parties under section 34. It must also exclude gross income the court has already considered in setting a child support order.

The first exclusion prevents an asset from being counted twice, once when it is divided and again through the income stream it produces.
It has more effect in a case built on investment assets than in one built on salary.
The second exclusion is the coordination rule between alimony and child support, which the Guidelines carry out through a required sequence of calculations.

How long does alimony last in Massachusetts?

General term alimony is subject to durational limits tied to the length of the marriage. Under M.G.L. c. 208 § 49, and absent a written finding that deviation beyond the time limits is required in the interests of justice, alimony in a marriage of twenty years or less terminates no later than a date certain.

Marriage of five years or less: not longer than one-half the number of months of the marriage.
More than five years and up to ten: not longer than 60 per cent of the number of months.
More than ten years and up to fifteen: not longer than 70 per cent.
More than fifteen years and up to twenty: not longer than 80 per cent.
Longer than twenty years: the court may order alimony for an indefinite length of time.

These are ceilings. The statute provides that alimony shall continue for not longer than the stated proportion, which leaves a judge free to order a shorter term. Several events end or change an order independently of the durational limit:

It terminates on the remarriage of the recipient or the death of either spouse.
It is suspended, reduced or terminated on the recipient’s cohabitation, where the payor shows the recipient has maintained a common household with another person for a continuous period of at least three months.
It terminates on the payor attaining full retirement age, and the payor’s ability to work beyond that age is not a reason to extend it.
Unless the parties agree otherwise, it may be modified in duration or amount on a material change of circumstances warranting modification.
The court may deviate from the duration and amount limits on written findings that deviation is necessary, on grounds including advanced age, chronic illness or unusual health circumstances, and significant premarital cohabitation that included economic partnership.

How do alimony and child support interact?

Where both may be ordered, the court must run the calculation in both sequences and compare the results. Alimony first, with child support then computed on the parties’ post-alimony incomes, and child support first, with alimony calculated after. The judge enters whichever order is most equitable for the family.

The requirement comes from the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in Cavanagh v. Cavanagh and is written into the Child Support Guidelines.
The comparison includes the tax consequences of each order, and the parties are responsible for presenting those consequences to the court.
Where combined income exceeds the Guidelines maximum of $450,000, child support on the income above that figure is at the court’s discretion, and the amount produced at the maximum serves as the minimum presumptive order.
Where the judge enters an order that includes no alimony, the decision must articulate why in light of the statutory factors.
The 2025 Guidelines commentary notes the decision left questions open, including what the phrase post-alimony incomes means.
Section 34 separately requires the court to consider the amount and duration of alimony when dividing property, so all three questions are connected.

Which court handles a high-asset divorce?

The Probate and Family Court for the county where the spouses live, provided Massachusetts has jurisdiction over the divorce at all. For couples with homes in more than one state, that threshold question comes first, and it turns on where the spouses lived together and where the grounds for the divorce arose.

Under G.L. c. 208 § 4, a divorce will not be granted if the spouses never lived together as a married couple in Massachusetts. A divorce for a cause that arose in another jurisdiction requires that they had lived together here before it arose and that one of them lived here when it did.
Section 5 allows a spouse who has lived in Massachusetts for the year before filing to proceed where the cause arose elsewhere, and a spouse domiciled here to proceed where it arose here, unless the spouse moved to Massachusetts for the purpose of obtaining a divorce.
Once jurisdiction is settled, section 6 places the case in the county where the spouses last lived together if either still lives there, and otherwise in the county where either lives. A vacation home in Barnstable County, real estate in another state, or accounts held elsewhere are not part of that test.
Norfolk County divorces, including those from Wellesley, Needham, Dedham and Brookline, are heard at the Norfolk Probate and Family Court in Canton.
Every county in the Commonwealth has its own Probate and Family Court division, so spouses living in Essex, Barnstable or any other county file in that county’s court.

Request a case evaluation

O’Connor Family Law has offices in Westborough and Hanover and represents clients throughout Central and Eastern Massachusetts, including Worcester, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Bristol counties, in divorces involving business interests, equity compensation, retirement assets and complex property division. Request a free case evaluation to go over your situation, your options, and whether the firm is the right fit for your case.

Frequently asked questions about high-asset divorce in Massachusetts

Does the court consider misconduct during the marriage?

In dividing property, yes. The conduct of the parties during the marriage is one of the factors section 34 requires the court to consider when fixing what property is assigned. Conduct does not appear among the factors section 53 enumerates for setting alimony, though that section closes with a catch-all for other factors the court considers relevant and material.

Can assets titled in one spouse’s name alone be divided?

Yes. Section 34 permits the court to assign to either spouse all or any part of the estate of the other, and separately permits the court to consider the contribution of each party as a homemaker to the family unit. Title is not what determines whether property enters the estate.

Can an alimony order be required to cover health insurance?

Where the court orders alimony it must determine whether the obligor has health insurance or other coverage available through an employer or organization, or available at reasonable cost, that could be extended to cover the recipient. If so, the court must require the obligor to exercise that option, obtain coverage, or reimburse the recipient for the cost. The alimony order may not be reduced as a result of that cost.

Does living together before marriage affect alimony?

It can. Significant premarital cohabitation that included economic partnership is one of the enumerated grounds on which a court may deviate from the duration and amount limits, and the statute provides that the court may consider it in determining the length of the marriage. Length of the marriage is what sets the durational limit.

What happens if a spouse stops working during the divorce?

In determining the parties’ incomes for alimony, the court may attribute income to a party who is unemployed or underemployed. The Child Support Guidelines contain a parallel provision, under which the court considers potential earning capacity rather than actual earnings where it finds a parent is earning less than they could through reasonable effort.

This page is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it or contacting our firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Property division and support outcomes depend on the specific facts of each case.

Last reviewed: October 2026