Bowring v. Reid

The plaintiff, Dorothy Bowring, appeals from a judgment of divorce nisi, challenging the Probate and Family Court judge’s alimony award and property assignment under G. L. c. 208, § 34 (1984 ed.). We transferred the case to this court on our own motion. We reverse both the alimony award and the property assignment, and remand the case for reconsideration.

After a hearing at which both the wife and the husband presented evidence, the judge found the following facts. The parties were married in 1966, and lived together until 1982. They have three teenage children. The husband is a senior…