Family Law
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 […]
Why is Establishing the “Date of Separation” important in a divorce?
Depending on your date of separation, the value of your marital estate and any award of alimony could be vastly different. In Pennsylvania, the date that you are deemed to be separated from your spouse, is an important date in your divorce matter for a number of reasons including when the divorce can move forward […]
Child Custody Scheduling Tips During the Holidays
Here are 6 recommendations I share with my clients to ease the stress and lessen the risk for conflict regarding child custody during the holidays. An often unforeseen complication of separation or divorce is the highly emotional decision of who has custody of your children over the major holidays. It is natural to feel mixed […]
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 […]
529 College Savings Plans and Divorce in PA
If this one simple condition isn't specified in your child's 529 College Savings Plan, it could be a disaster in the event of a divorce. Fade In: Scene: Norristown Law Firm A divorced father of an 18-year-old comes in seeking legal advice. He is livid with his ex-wife and his divorce lawyer. The divorce was […]
School Choice and Custody Issues
“School choice” cases, as those cases are typically referred to by child custody attorneys, are difficult, fact-laden, and emotional. School Choice cases are made more complex if the change in school, due to logistics of school hours and location, impacts the other parent’s ability to be an active member of the school community or even […]
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 […]
Child Tax Credit
How can the Child Tax Credit affect your divorce or separation in Pennsylvania? Most everyone going through a divorce is aware of the one major implication the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has on their divorce – the Child Tax Credit. Read on for tips on how to negotiate it into your settlement. […]
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. […]
What does a Parenting Coordinator Do?
WHO are parenting coordinators? Parenting coordination is a tool available to parties in contentious custody cases that aims to help the parties resolve minor disputes in custody without repeated visits to the Court. From 2009 through 2013, parenting coordination was used with mixed popularity and mixed results throughout Pennsylvania to resolve day-to-day custody issues. A […]