Melissa Boyd's Legal Insights
Child Support Termination in Pennsylvania
Child support termination and when payments can stop are substantial and nuanced questions we often receive as child support lawyers. Child support payments contribute to a variety of expenses that fall to the parent with custody. These can include medical fees, children's school and activity expenses, and food and clothing necessities. These court-ordered payments commonly […]
Divorce Checklist
Divorce is never easy, even more so if you have children involved. But if you’ve decided a divorce is the only way out, make sure you’re completely prepared. Use this divorce checklist to ensure you’re taking the necessary steps to make the process as smooth as possible and reach the fairest outcome for everyone involved. […]
Tips for Helping Your Case for Child Custody in PA
Apart from talking with a child custody attorney, here are some tips that can help you in the event your custody case to be decided by a judge or arbitrator. When custody is part of a divorce or just the amicable split of an unmarried couple, most parties hope the child custody arrangements can be […]
Date of Separation and What PA Courts Consider During a Divorce
When I meet clients who are seeking divorce, they often casually tell me that their marriage “really” ended years earlier, they just stayed married legally. They’ve typically chosen to uphold their legal union for fear of hurting their children, or due to financial dependencies. Either way, they usually don’t realize that the exact date of […]
Nothing is More Expensive than Hiring a Cheap Divorce Lawyer
While it's tempting to go with a divorce lawyer who can get it done as quick and as inexpensive as possible, it’s important to understand the associated risks so that you can be smart with how you spend your legal dollars. Searching online for a cheap divorce lawyer yields hundreds of results, which is not […]
The Mental Health Procedures Act
The Mental Health Procedures Act (MHPA), despite its limitations, presents a way for teenagers to seek treatment for mental health issues. Up until a child reaches the age of eighteen, parents typically make all of the decisions for their children, including where they live, where they go to school and what their medical treatment is. […]
5 Things You Need to Know About Social Media and Divorce
June 20, 2017 By Melissa M. Boyd Social media is a constant presence in our lives. It has become a forum for us to catch up with friends across distances, share our triumphs large and small, and feel more connected to family. As such, social networking can be a positive experience. Yet it can be […]
Reasons for Adjusting Child Support Payments in Pennsylvania Family Law Cases
March 30, 2016 By: Melissa Boyd Shortly after getting married, you and your spouse agree that you will leave your job to be at home with the family. Ten years later, you and your spouse decide to separate. The court awards you child support. After a few years, you experience life changes that make the […]
Calculating Child Support in Pennsylvania When Income Varies or Changes
March 25, 2016 By: Melissa Boyd Child support in Pennsylvania divorce cases is dependent upon a large number of factors governed by rules also known as Pennsylvania Support Guidelines. Those domestic relations guidelines dictate the amount of child support which a spouse or parent should pay based on the income of both of their net […]
Co-Parenting through Vacation Season
Advice for Single Parents Seeking a Stress-Free Summer by Melissa M. Boyd, Esq. June 11, 2015 I developed this post as one in a series to help parents and their attorneys plan for the slew of legal co-parenting complications the summer brings. Without the structure of school, even the tightest co-parenting plans are challenged. Whether […]