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Margolis v. Margolis
Citations: 155 N.E.2d 177; 338 Mass. 416; 1959 Mass. LEXIS 657
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; January 19, 1959; Massachusetts; State Supreme Court
Morton Margolis filed a bill in equity against his ex-wife, Diane Margolis, claiming she registered their three daughters in schools under her maiden name, Ruegg, which he argued was against the children's best interests, contrary to his wishes, and detrimental to his parental relationship. He sought a temporary and permanent injunction to prevent this practice. The court found his allegations credible and initially issued a decree on November 25, 1957, restraining registration under the Ruegg name unless legally changed. On February 6, 1958, Margolis sought to amend his bill to include requests for the children to be registered under the name Margolis and to permanently prevent the defendant from using any surname other than Margolis. His motions were denied without ruling on his specific requests. The court concluded that since the judge found that using false surnames was not in the children's best interests, the case should be resolved. It determined that the judge had erred in denying the amendment to the bill, emphasizing that the court had the authority to allow such amendments. The court granted Margolis's motion to amend, modified the final decree to include his new requests, and affirmed the decree as modified.