Attention 2nd Wives! They're Paying Attention

The old media and the new are paying attention to the problems of lifetime alimony and the 2nd wives plight in Massachusetts. In addition to the Boston Globe op-ed, Elizabeth Benedict wrote a long piece for Huffington Post called "Never-Ending Alimony in Massachusetts," which has zoomed around the Internet on many sites. Benedict has given us permission to reprint the article, so feel free to send it around once you get it from Huffington Post (do Google search with the article's title in quotes.)

Earlier today, Mass Alimony Reform put out a press release to announce "Women Cancel Weddings Within Hours of Boston Globe Op-Ed" and that took has taken a fast trip around the Internet.

The news is spreading, and media outlets are listening. And there is MUCH sympathy for our cause. In fact, we have heard NO opposition.

This past Monday, two nights ago, Deb Scanlan, Steve Hitner (who founded Mass Alimony Reform) and attorney Tim Taylor, who drafted HR 1567, all appeared for 2 hours (!) on Boston's WBZ 1030AM radio, from 8pm to 10pm. A divorce attorney was also on hand, by phone, to consult with. Sparks flew. The phone lines lit up. People called in from all over the country, including Florida and Maine. No one called in to support the current law! Many women called in with a variety of stories: One to say she and her finance had just canceled their wedding, after reading the Globe Op-ed and realizing how vulnerable they made themselves by marrying. Another woman called in from Rhode Island to say she had not gotten alimony after a long, abusive marriage -- and she surprised everyone by saying how grateful she was she had NOT gotten it because it forced her to pull herself up from a terrible situation -- and today she is happy, in a career she likes (teaching), and she has shown her kids that able-bodied people take care of themselves, instead of remaining parasites, as the Mass system allows them to do.

The host of the radio show said he would invite Deb and Steve back in August. Good work!

Thank you for checking in. Please contact your legislators and tell them that Mass alimony laws are finally being exposed to the light of day -- and they need desperately to be updated and reformed. Tell your legislators that you support HR 1567, and you hope he or she will too when it is introduced again.

It's important that legislators know we are paying attention, even though it will be months before the bill can be reintroduced.

We'll let you know about upcoming media events.

Keep the faith.

A Mass Second Wife

Women Cancelling Weddings!

Amazing news! As a result of the Boston Globe op-ed on Friday condemning the state's alimony laws, Mass Alimony Reform and the 2nd Wives Club have received numerous emails and phone calls from women who have plans to marry divorced men in Massachusetts - and who have cancelled their weddings and changed their marriage plans as a result of the information in the op-ed!

In the old days, it was men who got cold feet about marriage. But in the great state of Massachusetts, women who marry men with divorce obligations might as well be marrying (and divorcing!) their new husbands' ex-wives.

Please write to your legislators and tell them to reform alimony laws and keep judges from having unlimited, unchecked discretion in how they make decisions! Tell your legislators to support HR 1567, which reforms the state's alimony laws and brings them into conformity with the rest of the country. At present, Mass alimony laws are in the dark ages. Mass alimony laws have a chilling effect on marriage, not only on men's decisions to marry but on womens'.

Divorce lawyers want the laws to be ambiguous and vague. Why? Because the less precise the laws are, the more court time they can rack up fighting their cases for you and against you. Lawyers win. The rest of us lose.

For a set of horror stories from the Mass Probate and Family Courts, please send an email with your snail mail address to:
steveh@metrowestprinting.com.

Stay tuned for more info on media reactions to the Globe op-ed.

A Banner Day for Our Cause

Our cause received a real shot in the arm today when the Boston Globe ran an op-ed by Elizabeth Benedict called "The Chilling Effect of State's Divorce Laws," in which she exposed the dark underside of our state's practices toward second wives and families.  This article has been the most emailed article of the day on the Boston Globe!  

Please print out this article, get a paper copy of the newspaper, and take copies of this article everywhere you go.  Hand it out to your ministers, your rabbis, your doctors, nurses, dentists.  Keep the story moving. 

At 5am, Tom Finneran, who used to be speaker of the house (I believe that was his title), mentioned the op-ed on his radio show on WKRO.  A state senator (I didn't catch his name) was also on the show and expressed his horror at these laws.  He vowed to go to the Judiciary Committee members tomorrow and find out why the bill was put into study and try to get it out.  Steve Hitner and Ms. Benedict spoke on the show about the current law.  She stressed that lawyers sometimes deny second wives' incomes are used, and that lawyers say that if a judge does use a second wife's income, the judge is in error -- and that it's up to the wronged individual to learn the judge has made a mistake and to appeal the decision!  Great for lawyers, lousy for the rest of us, huh?

Where we go from here?  Our publicity campaign is just beginning.  The more media attention we get, the more our legislators will understand that we mean business, and that the general public is revolted by these laws.  It is TERRIBLE when women and children suffer after a divorce, and protective laws are essential!  But it is just as bad when other family members suffer -- husbands, second wives, the children of second marriages -- and lawmakers and the public should not stand for this either.

Keep writing and calling your legislators and keep talking about the issue.  HR 1567, which is current "under study," may well be taken out of study and reconsidered by the Judiciary Committee.  But whether it is or not, the bill will be reintroduced in January, and we will fight to get co-sponsors and media attention to these disgraceful laws.

Unfortunately, we will have to go up against the Mass Bar, which does not want legislation, even though they know the current law is truly awful.  

Thanks everyone for checking in.  Keep coming back.  Keep up the good fight!