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What do Charlie Sheen & Ninja Turtle Kush Have in Common?

What Do Charlie Sheen and Ninja Turtle Kush Have in Common?

What do you think of when you read the following phrases?
Charlie Sheen.
Goofy Boots.
Ninja Turtle Kush.
Green Crack.

Are you confused or laughing right now? If you are confused, you probably know these terms:
Weed.
Cannabis.
Marijuana.
Pot.

As we approach the one year anniversary of marijuana legalization in Massachusetts, here are a couple of quick updates to laws within the Commonwealth:
Chapter 55 of the Acts of 2017 created the Cannabis Advisory Board and Cannabis Control Commission. The board is making recommendations regarding regulations and taxation of marijuana. Cities and towns may establish zoning by-laws and ordinances which allow commercial growing and cultivation. Cities and town may also impose a local sales tax of up to 3% upon the sale of marijuana and marijuana products (in addition to the 17% percent state sales tax);
Chapter 94I has specified that a person cannot be arrested or prosecuted for being in the presence of medical use and that insurance companies are not obligated to reimburse patients for the use of medical marijuana.
As always, please let us know if you have questions regarding this or anything else.

Faye & John

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Ch-ch-changes to Child Support

Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines are changing quicker than David Bowie used to transform into Ziggy Stardust. Starting in September, 2017, there will be massive changes to how child support is calculated. There are a lot of changes in store, but some of the highlights that will be most interesting to our clients:

A blanket 25% reduction in support obligations for children between the ages of 18-23;
A presumptive cap on college contributions, for each parent, at 50% of the cost of attending UMass Amherst (aka “The UMass Formula”);
Removal of modified support based on parenting time; and
Acceptance of unreported income, thereby making it easier to “impute” income.

Like all new rules and guidelines, it will take a while to determine how some of the more detailed changes actually get applied in real cases. Please email or call us if we can help you to better understand how the guideline changes might apply to your specific situation.

A helpful link from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:
http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/laws-by-subj/about/support.html

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