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Family Law

Pennsylvania Family Law

Covers alimony, custody, divorce, equitable distribution, and support and offer useful tips.
By Fox Rothschild

Post Frequency: 1.7/day

Last Entry: March 25, 2011 at 15:54:01

TIGERGATE +/- JON & KATE + 8

Posted on January 04, 2010
A couple of weeks ago we were asked by one media outlet to comment upon the Gosselin divorce. While this certainly was a 'media opportunity' the plain truth is that there was not a great deal to say that would have been newsworthy. The Gosselins were a phenomenon created by the media...

COUNSEL FEES

Posted on November 04, 2009
We are involved in a relatively simple case. Wife is a homemaker only recently returned to work. Husband is a mortgage broker. Like many couples they became a bit over committed in the real estate market of the last few years. They wanted to participate in the real estate gains of the last few years and some of their investments had not panned out...

CUSTODY EVALUATIONS

Posted on October 21, 2009
Whenever there is a deep-seated dispute concerning which parent, if either, should have primary physical custody of a child, a question commonly asked is whether the Court should have the benefit of a formal custody evaluation. These studies, most often undertaken by psychologists, attempt to evaluate the relative parenting skills of the parents and seek to measure those skills against the perceived needs of the subject child...

NOT SO FAST

Posted on October 01, 2009
The Wall Street Journal edition for August 22, 2009 features a fine article by John Freeman which the author describes as a 'manifesto for slow communication.' What made it all the more real was the experience of the past two days. The most memorable moments of that period were: (1) a colleague telling me that a client's effort to start a new business was gravely set back by an errant 'reply to all email' and (2) the experience of watching a family of six sit down to a Saturday night dinner in a local restaurant whereupon half the family immediately reached for their hand held devices...

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SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE ABOUT MONEY

Posted on September 22, 2009
There are two reasons family law will always be a busy area of practice. The reasons are that there are two subjects we do not teach in school: conflict resolution and money management. If people could manage their money or the conflict in their lives, the divorce business would be in for a major downturn...

REAL ESTATE AS AN INVESTMENT

Posted on September 21, 2009
Lawyers are not financial advisers but we do lots of real estate transactions and for most divorce clients, the largest asset in the portfolio is the family home. So in just about every matrimonial case, there is the inevitable question. Should we hold or is it time to fold? It's always good to study the data...

PRIMARY CARETAKER DOCTRINE/CASE LAW SUMMARY

Posted on September 11, 2009
Significant weight is often given to parents considered to be the caretaker for a child. Once a custodial schedule is established, the parent with partial and not primary physical custody often feels that, barring dangers to the health and welfare of the child, it is impossible to reverse the situation and become the primary custodial parent...

THE COST OF COLLEGE

Posted on September 02, 2009
In recent years the numbers are so frightening, people tend to mention them only in a whisper or with the caution that 'of course we are getting some scholarship money'. But here is the data published by the College Board for 2008-2009 based upon its averages...

AND YOU THOUGHT YOUR HOUSE WAS YOUR BIG INVESTMENT?

Posted on August 25, 2009
If you are not one of those people anxiously awaiting the latest revision to the Pennsylvania support guidelines, you may be in a minority. We have no news to report on this subject except that the recommendations of the rules committee have been sent to the Supreme Court for their review and approval...

WHAT'S WITH THIS CUSTODY MEDIATION STUFF?

Posted on August 20, 2009
If a lawyer actually listens to a client, some times there is a sense of disappointment that the client has not articulated, but, nonetheless, is present to behold. I received a phone call from a client tonight. He had spoken with a court appointed custody mediator who had explained to him how mediation works in Pennsylvania...

"WE'RE TAKING THIS TO THE SUPREME COURT, BABY"

Posted on August 07, 2009
As one might expect family court is a pretty emotional place to be and at least once or twice a year a distressed litigant with an unhappy result is heard to utter the words found in this title. We thought it might be of some interest to report on how appeals work and if the Supreme Court is a place where relief can be had...

HEALTH INSURANCE AND DIVORCE: GOOD NEWS IN SMALL PACKAGES

Posted on July 22, 2009
As Congress finally tackles the larger issue of health care reform, many Americans are struggling with a small but vital issue; their own health insurance. This has become a tough commodity to find at any price and each change in coverage offers the risk that existing illnesses or conditions may be excluded from coverage...

THE CHILD'S DUTY TO SUPPORT A PARENT

Posted on July 20, 2009
Almost twenty years ago I was asked to speak to the State Conference of Trial Judges about what then seemed to be a fairly arcane subject; whether adult children could be sued for support by their parents or by individuals or entities providing their parents with necessities...

Guardianship and the Incapacitated Person

Posted on July 09, 2009
Family law is often narrowly viewed as issues affecting custody, support and divorce. Many families, however, also find themselves in Pennsylvania's Orphans' Court grappling with issues concerning adoption and incapacitated persons. We live in an age when medicine often allows the body to last longer than the brain...

The Prisoner Controversy

Posted on July 09, 2009
Part of what makes the law fascinating is that there are certain legal issues that have no clear solutions. In many cases, both sides have equal merit. The matter of whether incarceration should reduce or eliminate a support obligation is one such question...

THE EMANCIPATED CHILD

Posted on June 23, 2009
We are commonly asked how long child support lasts in Pennsylvania. This is a relatively easy question to answer but one with both a history and some varying results. By statute and case law, the duty to support a child ends when the child has reached age 18 or graduated from high school, whichever comes later...

SHHHH! DON'T TELL MY LAWYER

Posted on June 23, 2009
Clients have a sixth sense for things that are problematic. Unfortunately, that sense is coupled with a tendency to freeze and avoid talking about the problem. Often times, clients prefer to ignore the problem, or assume that it will solve itself...

ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Posted on June 12, 2009
It seems as if, more and more, the classic story (boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy and girl get married, have a house full of babies and live happily ever after) needs a little help from science. The Center for Disease Control reports that as of 2002 approximately eight percent (8%) of women of reproductive age attended an infertility related medical appointment at some point...

A CHILD SUPPORT CASE BOTH BIG AND RICH

Posted on June 12, 2009
Although our law firm has litigated several of the largest support cases decided in Pennsylvania the matter of how much support children need is one of endless controversy for those who have household net incomes exceeding $20,000 per month. We are often asked to offer second opinions or discuss those cases we have tried...

RELOCATION OF CHILDREN IN CUSTODY CASES; THE PENNSYLVANIA PERSPECTIVE.

Posted on June 05, 2009
We live in a mobile society. We also live in a society that experiences a high rate of divorce. These two facts make for some of the most contentious litigation found in the domestic relations world. It is the fight over whether one parent, usually the one with primary physical custody, can take a child to another state to reside there on a permanent basis...

LIENS ON REAL ESTATE; WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW DO THEY WORK

Posted on May 28, 2009
This short memorandum will send any competent real estate lawyer into fits of hysteria. Lien law is some of the most complex real estate law one can encounter. But ordinary people bang into these kinds of problems every day and especially so when parties are separated from one another...

ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Posted on May 28, 2009
In the past, I have blogged extensively about the legal, medical and value-based decisions made in the case of the unmarried California woman who gave birth to octuplets, while having six other children at home. Enough! I just returned from an ABA conference in Baltimore regarding the legal aspects of assisted reproductive technology (ART)...

TOO MUCH MONEY FOR TOO LITTLE FIGHT

Posted on May 22, 2009
It was Monday morning in Media, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The daily 'list' of special relief petitions had almost thirty matters on it for disposition. The good news was that ten of them had either been withdrawn or 'continued' to a later date...

SIZING UP THE LITIGATION; AN EXAMINATION OF COST VS. BENEFIT

Posted on April 30, 2009
For some segments of our society litigation is part of everyday life. Insurance adjusters make their living out of measuring damages and assessing the risk and cost of doing battle over insurance claims. As such, they make judgments every day as to whether a particular claim is something they want to fight over...

HOW WILL THE COURT VALUE YOUR BUSINESS?

Posted on April 28, 2009
In this changing economy, how will the courts value your business? Will the Court use the date you separated from your spouse or the date that the assets and debts are divided? Unless one of the limited exceptions exists, the courts will value a marital business as close to the date of distribution as possible...

THE ESSENTIALS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT.

Posted on April 28, 2009
Under Pennsylvania law, traditional contract law principles have been applied in cases addressing the validity of prenuptial agreements. At the same time the case law held that for a prenuptial (i.e., premarital agreement) to be valid there had to be either a fair provision for the financially weaker spouse or a full disclosure...

WHEN GRANDPARENTS SEEK CUSTODY IN PENNSYLVANIA

Posted on April 27, 2009
Pennsylvania automatically gives grandparents the right to file for custody if the parents of the grandchildren are divorced, separated, or if one of the parents is deceased. The public policy of the Commonwealth is to provide children with 'continuing contact' with grandparents when a parent is deceased, divorced, or separated...

MEDIATE, ARBITRATE, NEGOTIATE: WHAT'S A CLIENT TO DO?

Posted on April 09, 2009
More and more clients are asking us whether they should 'mediate' their divorce. It is clear from the nature of the way the question is posed that they perceive mediation as both more fair and, lower in cost. This can be true. But before we select an option, it would be wise to examine what mediation means and how it compares to the rest of the menu...

Thoughts About "Octo-Mom"

Posted on April 09, 2009
It seems that the continuing saga of the single California woman who gave birth to octuplets, while having 6 other children at home is akin to watching a car crash. You really do not want to look, but you are transfixed, watching the damage occur almost in slow motion...

DEATH AND DIVORCE: A CONTEST IN INCOMPATIBILITY

Posted on April 09, 2009
Until 2005 and a series of amendments to the Pennsylvania Divorce Code the law of Pennsylvania was quite clear. If one party died before a decree of divorce was entered and all appeals had expired, the divorce was over. In re Estate of Bullotta, 798 A...

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