Austin v. Austin

(dissenting, with whom Spina, J., joins). The court today denies a woman, in her fifties, with a high school education, low potential earning capacity, and a child to raise, her right to receive alimony. The linchpin of the court’s decision, which pertains to the first standard stated in Rosenberg v. Lipnick, 377 Mass. 666, 672 (1979), for determining the validity of an antenuptial agreement, is the following statement:

“The judge’s findings do not permit the conclusion that the wife was ‘essentially stripped of substantially all marital interests,’ [1] which is the standard required to…