Friday, November 14, 2025, 12:30PM to 4:30PM
Suffolk University Law School
120 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02108
Learn More
To Register: massfamily.org/register
Join a timely and informative symposium on 11/14 examining how divorce impacts financial stability for caregivers and economically vulnerable partners. Hear from Keynote Speaker Dr. Adrienne Adams about her cutting-edge empirical research on economic abuse in marriages, how it is handled in divorce, and the implications for post-divorce financial outcomes. Legal practitioners, scholars, and advocates will analyze how Massachusetts law is adapting to address economic disparities caused by divorce and provide insights and practical tools for practitioners and advocates.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
The True Cost of Divorce
Understand how the divorce process and inequities in earnings and retirement
savings can deepen financial insecurity for economically dependent women.
Recognizing Financial Abuse
Gain insights from Keynote Speaker Dr. Adrienne Adams, a leading academic expert
on identifying and assessing financial abuse in intimate partner relationships.
Legal Reforms and the Road Ahead
Examine how recent Massachusetts caselaw, the 2025 updates to the Child Support
Guidelines, and proposed legislative changes may help reduce economic
vulnerability.
Putting Law into Practice – Let’s Talk About the Money
A financial expert and legal practitioners will role-play an evidentiary hearing to
demonstrate ways to litigate for a fair financial judgment and provide strategies to
advocate for equitable outcomes.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
- Judges and court personnel
- Family law attorneys
- Domestic violence advocates
- Financial counselors and social workers
- Policymakers and legal researchers
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Adrienne Adams, Ph.D., Community Psychology
Professor of Psychology and Director of the Program Evaluation M.A. & Certificate Programs at Michigan State University
Dr. Adams is a nationally recognized expert in economic abuse and the economic effects
of intimate partner abuse on survivors. She developed and validated the first measure of
economic abuse, as well as an updated version of the instrument, and is currently
studying the problem of coerced debt—a form of economic abuse that occurs when
abusive partners create debt in their partners’ names via fraud, coercion, or manipulation.
