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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3071 FILED ON: 1/20/2023 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3596 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Judith A. Garcia |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to service of process. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Judith A. Garcia11th Suffolk1/20/2023Samantha Montaño15th Suffolk3/21/2023 1 of 1 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3071 FILED ON: 1/20/2023 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3596 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Garcia of Chelsea, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3596) of |
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| 19 | 19 | | Judith A. Garcia and Samantha Montaño relative to improper service of process in certain |
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| 20 | 20 | | custody or legal status of children cases. The Judiciary. |
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| 21 | 21 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 22 | 22 | | _______________ |
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| 23 | 23 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 24 | 24 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | An Act relative to service of process. |
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| 27 | 27 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 28 | 28 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 29 | 29 | | 1 Section 39M of chapter 119 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official |
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| 30 | 30 | | 2Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:- |
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| 31 | 31 | | 3 (i) A parent’s purposeful action to avoid proper service of process of court documents |
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| 32 | 32 | | 4related to the custody or legal status of their child shall be considered neglect and abandonment |
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| 33 | 33 | | 5for the purposes of a special findings determination pursuant to subsection (b); provided, |
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| 34 | 34 | | 6however, that a court shall not consider improper service of process to be neglect or |
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| 35 | 35 | | 7abandonment pursuant to said subsection (b) where a parent lives outside of the United States, in |
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| 36 | 36 | | 8a rural area or in any other location where proper service of process is not possible; and provided |
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| 37 | 37 | | 9further that if unable to locate and serve documents in hand, where publication may not also be |
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| 38 | 38 | | 10feasible, electronic notification should be considered an acceptable alternate service. |
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