When parties have an equal custodial arrangement, meaning that they share overnights on an equal basis, seven nights in a two week period with one parent and seven nights with the other, there is still the possibility of a child support order. The party who earns more money will be obligated to pay support. If, however, there is a cost for health insurance, this amount will be factored into the guideline calculation. Any cost for daycare or after school expenses will also be factored into the equation. These costs can be significant and can greatly impact who gets paid and what amount. It is a good idea to always get a rough estimate on child support before going to court over these issues.
Contesting a will in Pennsylvania is a very difficult process. The person contesting has the burden to show that the will is not valid.
The most common grounds for contesting a will are fraud, undue influence, forgery, lack of mental capacity, and failure to meet legal requirements.
Fraud: Was the decedent deceived into signing the will?
Undue influence: Was the decedent threatened or coerced into signing the will, when they otherwise wouldn’t have signed?
Forgery: Did someone other than the decedent sign the will?
Lack of Mental capacity: In order for a will to be valid, the decedent must understand what they are signing and be aware of what assets and property they have. Did the decedent lack an understanding of what he or she was signing at the time of signing?
Failure to meet the legal requirements of a will: Was the will not properly signed? Are there pages missing or are additional pages added?
If you wish to contest a will, it is important to speak with an experienced attorney.
Documents landlords should bring to court:
When you go to a landlord-tenant eviction hearing, you will need to bring several documents.
The lease is perhaps the most important document to provide. It is the instrument that shows how much rent is to be paid each month, when the rent is due, when the lease begins and ends, whether the landlord or tenant is responsible for certain amenities (such as electric, water, and cable), and other rules that govern the time of occupancy.
If you are a landlord seeking unpaid rent, it is important to provide a ledger showing how much money is owed.
If your tenant is stating that the rental unit is not habitable, bring proof that the place is in good working order, and that all requests for repairs have been remedied.
For landlords who provided a Notice to Quit (which is required unless waived in the lease), bring with you any documents showing that this notice was served.
If you are seeking to keep the security deposit, bring proof of any necessary repairs. This would include photos, estimates, or receipts. Witnesses should also be considered. Also bring proof that the security deposit has been returned, or an itemized list of necessary repairs was provided to the tenant within 30 days of vacating.
Sometimes an engagement does not always result in a happy ending. If the couple, for any reason, does not get married, what happens to the ring? Oftentimes, a woman who has been dreaming of getting married feels justified keeping the diamond engagement ring that was given to her. These feelings are especially strong when she is not the one who called off the wedding. If she is in Pennsylvania, however, the law does not support her. In the event an engagement does not result in a marriage, the engagement ring legally belongs to the giver. It does not matter who calls off the wedding. The ring is a gift conditioned on a promise of a wedding. When the wedding does not take place, the ring must be returned. If the ring is not voluntarily returned, filing an action through court may be the only route possible. In either event, it may be wise to make sure the diamond is examined to ensure that it is the same diamond that was given before the wedding was called off.
Self-Love is important. For those who are separated or divorced, remember that loving yourself is a way you can make Valentine’s special for yourself. Enjoy a day at the spa, read a good book, spend time relaxing in a bathtub or doing something you enjoy. Maybe go see a new movie and celebrate with friends or children or family. No one can make you happy but yourself and this is a day to celebrate the love you have for yourself just as much as it to celebrate the love you have for others.
/Family-Law-Divorce/Child-Support/Oftentimes when people get separated or are going through a divorce, they like to consult their
friends and family who have gone through a similar situation for advice and what to expect. While it is a good idea to seek support from friends and family who can understand and relate to your situation, sometimes, it can be misleading as to what to expect. Every state has different rules on what factors they consider in determining support and how long and under what circumstances you will get support. The court might consider all the time your sister’s ex has custody of his child when determining how much the support number will be for child support but in Pennsylvania they really only care if it reaches at least 40% of the time. Unfortunately, this is why parents oftentimes will seek a custody order that gives the other parent just shy of this percentage since it means more money for them.
Also, you may have a neighbor who has one child and you find out how much your neighbor gets in child support and expect your amount will be the same. Child support, however, is based on household income, meaning, if your neighbor and her ex make more than you make and your ex combined, she is going to have a higher support order than you do most likely. Support is based on guidelines in PA which are based on household incomes. The parent who has custody of the child or children is the one who is entitled to support. If that parent earns more than the parent without custody, their support order will be lower than they would pay if they did not have custody. It is in proportion to the household income. There are also other factors that get considered such as child care, cost of health insurance, and extraordinary expenses that also get factored into support and can drastically affect the number.
While it is great to go to your friend or family for support and maybe even learn about where to file, how long you might have to wait and other issues, when it comes to figuring out the amount you can expect in support, it is best to consult a professional and also to consult the guidelines.
The issue of social security disability benefits may arise in the context of a support action. Support actions in Pennsylvania are governed by a statewide guideline amount that correlates with the ability to pay. Ultimately, any support award will be based on the net incomes of the parties involved. Social security disability benefits are recognized as a source of income pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1910.16-2. This is distinguishable from public assistance and supplemental security income (SSI) which are not included as income for purposes of support.
Where child support is being calculated and the child(ren) at issue are receiving their own social security benefit, the amount of their benefit also must be accounted for in the support calculation. PA RCP 1910.16-2(b) goes into detail about the treatment of benefits received by the children in the context of support. The child’s benefit should be added to the net income of the parents for determining what the basic child support award should be based on the state guidelines. The amount of child support based on the support guidelines is then reduced by the amount of the child’s benefit. After the reduction, the appropriate support award would be calculated after considering each parent’s share of the support obligation based on their income, as well as other relevant factors such as health insurance costs and custody.
In Pennsylvania adoptions are handled through the Orphan’s Court. The rules and procedures for an adoption can be found in the Orphan’s Court Rules under Rule 15. Each county may have a set of local rules pertaining to adoption which should also be reviewed and complied with where necessary. The primary, and in this instance the initial, requirement is the adoption petition. An adoption petition should include the name, age, residence history, marital status, other dependants, occupation, religion, race, relationship to adoptee, and state of health of all petitioners as well as the natural parents. The petition should also state the name, sex, race, age, date of birth, place of birth, religion, and residence history for the adoptee. Each adoptee requires a separate petition. The intended name of the adoptee following the adoption should be included as well. Consents of the natural parents and an original birth certificate of the adoptee should be attached as exhibits. Consent of the natural parents is not required if you are involuntarily terminating their rights. If that is the case you should indicate why involuntary termination is appropriate based on 23 Pa C.S. 2511(a) within the petition. An often used provision under 23 Pa. C.S. 2511 is that the natural parent has failed to perform parental duties or evidenced a settled purpose of relinquishing parental claim to the child for a period in excess of six months immediately preceding the filing of the petition.
The birth certificate to be attached to the petition should be a “complete” or “long-form” birth certificate that includes the full names and ages of the natural parents at the time of birth. You must specifically request a birth certificate with the parents’ ages or you will likely not receive the correct birth certificate. All prospective adoptive parents must submit to a criminal and child abuse background check in the context of the adoption. This must be completed before the petition is filed and also included as an exhibit. Once filed, the petition must be served on all interested parties to give proper notice as required under the law. This would entail either personal service or service by certified mail, return receipt requested, at least 10 days prior to the date set for a hearing. Certification of service must be filed with the court either before or at the time of the hearing. At the hearing, the Judge will make sure all the requirements under the law have been met and there is no objection by the natural parent(s) whose rights are being terminated. If so, the adoption can be granted.
In Warmkessel v. Heffner, 2011 PA Super 46, the Superior Court held that credit will not be given for time already spent in jail between being taking into custody and the support hearing due to non-payment of child support. The Defendant Father had been ordered to pay $260 per month in child support for his two children. After failing to pay regularly, several contempt petitions and a missed support enforcement hearing, the court issued a bench warrant for Father’s arrest. Police took the Father into custody a few months later and a hearing was scheduled for approximately 3 weeks out. At the hearing, the court found Defendant Father owed $6,037 in late child support payments and sanctioned him to a maximum of 3 months imprisonment. Defendant Father’s attorney asked the court to give Father credit for the 21 days already served and the court declined.
On appeal, the Defendant argued, among other things, that the purpose of incarceration as a sanction is meant to coerce parents to timely pay child support. Accordingly, the Defendant posits the time spent incarcerated based on the bench warrant issued by the family court was indistinguishable from the time incarcerated after the hearing in that the Defendant was able to reflect on the necessity to pay support in both circumstances. Defendant further argued that criminal defendants always receive credit for time served so the court violated his equal protection rights by treating him differently solely based on the civil nature of his case. The Superior Court determined that Defendant Father’s arguments on appeal were without merit and upheld the trial court’s decision.
The takeaway here is that child support obligations are a very serious matter. The family court has the authority to issue a bench warrant to have a party who is not making support payments taken into custody. Additionally, the court can order additional incarceration at a subsequent support hearing as a means of reiterating the importance of regular support payments and demonstrating the severity of the punishment available for failure to comply.
Pensions, as well as other retirement plans, are often one of the assets up for division in a divorce. The court will equitably divide the marital portion of a pension plan after considering all the relevant factors in equitable distribution. The marital portion of a plan would be the portion that accrued from the date of marriage through the date of separation. In some cases, the entire pension will be marital depending on the timing of the marriage alongside the start date of the pension plan.
The Superior Court recently released a decision regarding the marital status of post-separation cost of living adjustments (COLAs). In MacDougall v. MacDougall, 2012 PA Super 83, the Superior Court held that Husband’s post-separation COLAs were marital property subject to equitable distribution because they accrued without any effort or contribution by Husband. Wife had filed a Petition for Contempt after discovering that Husband’s monthly pension benefit had continued to increase due to COLAs but he was still only paying her a percentage of the monthly benefit from the date of separation. The trial court ruled in favor of the Husband in finding the post-separation COLAs were not marital, however, the Superior Court reversed their decision.
In reaching its decision, the Superior Court analyzed several previous decisions regarding post-separation increases in pension plans. Most notably, in Berrington v. Berrington, 534 Pa. 393 (1993), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that increases in a pension plan due to the employee spouse’s own efforts or contributions are not marital whereas increases not attributable to the employee spouse are marital. In MacDougall, the Superior Court determined the increases based on COLAs were automatic and not dependent on any additional effort or contribution by Husband, thus the COLAs were marital and subject to division. Therefore, the Superior Court held Wife’s share of Husband’s pension should also increase to reflect the COLAs. The case was remanded to the trial court in order for exact calculations to be made as far as Wife’s share of the pension with the COLAs included. This approach is arguably more fair in that it doesn’t allow one spouse to benefit from an increase that wasn’t earned and that the parties likely did not know about at the time of equitable distribution.
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