Robert J. Kates is a founding partner of Kates & Barlow, PC.

Mr. Kates' legal career began in 1967 as a general practitioner at Slater & Goldman. By merger, that firm became Widett, Slater & Goldman, where he served for 5 years as the managing partner and began his 30-plus years’ concentration in Family Law. From 2005 to 2009, Mr. Kates was a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP. Prior to joining Foley, Mr. Kates had served as a partner at the former firm of Goldstein & Manello, PC, and at Epstein Becker & Green, PC.

He has been listed in the legal profession’s oldest and most respected peer-review publication, Woodward and White’s The Best Lawyers in America, since 1989. A member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, he also has been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer since the inception of the designation in 2004. Mr. Kates has served as an Arbitrator and court-appointed Discovery Master, and he has lectured on numerous aspects of family law practice, including: trial advocacy; tax issues; executive compensation; valuation of closely-held businesses; alimony; preparation and understanding of financial statements; and negotiating and drafting separation and pre-marital agreements.

Experience and Expertise:

•  Negotiating and drafting complex divorce, post-marital, premarital, cohabitation and paternity agreements;
•  Litigating cases involving the valuation of residential and commercial real estate; the valuation of interests in closely-held corporations, partnerships and other entities; the validity and enforceability of prenuptial agreements; the treatment of pre-marital, inherited and gifted property; and all aspects of alimony and child support, including attribution of income;
•  Representing public figures in divorce, modification and paternity matters;
•  Appearing before the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court;
•  Handling high conflict custody disputes and child removal actions.

Education

•  Boston University School of Law, LLM in taxation, 1972
•  Boston College School of Law, LLB, 1967
•  Babson College, BSBA, 1964

Bar and Court Admissions

•  Massachusetts
•  US District Court of Massachusetts
•  US Tax Court

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