Is Handwriting Analysis Admissible in Court?

How credible is forensic hand writing analysis in comparing signatures? Is the opinion rendered accepted by Massachusetts courts? (Posted on the Forum Chat Room by ‘Confused.’)

(The following response was posted by Attorney John Libertine.) Handwriting may be authenticated by: (1) a non-expert witness who is familiar with the writing of the individual in question (a pre-existing familiarity, not one acquired for the purpose of the litigation); or (2) comparison by an expert witness presented with an authenticated sample.
There are other methods and nuances, but the point is, such writing comparisons are admissible as evidence in Massachusetts courts.