Overview
For over 20 years, Richard M. Novitch has represented business owners, professionals, and other individuals in various types of matrimonial and child-centered litigation, arbitration, and mediation. He also is frequently called upon to draft prenuptial agreements to protect business interests and premarital, inherited, and gifted assets.
A veteran courtroom attorney, Mr. Novitch has tried numerous cases in the Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts involving a wide range of matters, including divorce, child custody and relocation cases, support modification actions, and complaints for contempt. He recently persuaded a court to permit his client to relocate to California with the parties’ daughter. And in another, he secured the retroactive termination of an alimony obligation on behalf of his client, which included an award of tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Having worked at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Mr. Novitch is equally adept as an appellate attorney with extensive experience briefing and arguing cases of first impression before the Supreme Judicial Court and Massachusetts Appeals Court. His recent appellate experience includes:
- Jones v. Jones, 101 Mass. App. Ct. 673 (2022)
- Shak v. Shak, 484 Mass. 658 (2020)
- Miller v. Miller, 478 Mass. 642 (2018)
- Sbrogna v. Sbrogna, 92 Mass. App. Ct. 639 (2018)
- Popp v. Popp, 477 Mass. 1022 (2017)
- DeMarco v. Demarco, 89 Mass. App. Ct. 618 (2016)
- Alexander v. Alexander, 72 Mass. App. Ct. 1118 (2008)
A tireless advocate, Mr. Novitch additionally has advanced arguments and helped shaped the trajectory of matrimonial law as amici curiae (friend of the court), in such cases as:
- Bassichis v. Flores, 490 Mass. 143 (2022)
- Malachi M. v. Quintana Q., 483 Mass. 725 (2019)
- Chin v. Merriot, 470 Mass. 527 (2015)
Mr. Novitch also has extensive experience in litigation involving fiduciaries – including post-death disputes over business and partnership interests, the enforceability and interpretation of wills and trusts, the removal of trustees, and challenges to various estate planning vehicles based on a lack of capacity or undue external influences. In one recent case, he secured summary judgment and the dismissal of a challenge to a will. In another, he persuaded a trial court to void and annul a marriage after the death of the husband and, as a matter of first impression, to invalidate a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity more than 10 years after its execution.
Mr. Novitch is a frequent lecturer on matrimonial and fiduciary litigation matters for the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), and has been quoted in the media, including The New York Times and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. He is deeply knowledgeable of cutting-edge legal issues and innovative courtroom tactics. Mr. Novitch combines his scholarship with practical experience to provide well-rounded, sound, and creative representation for clients.
Mr. Novitch previously served as a staff attorney for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and was a law clerk for the Massachusetts Superior Court and Massachusetts Probate & Family Court. He is a former hearing officer for the Board of Bar Overseers.