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Divorce
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Child Support
 The child
support guidelines in Pennsylvania are based on
the Income Shares Model, and are spelled out in
Pennsylvania divorce laws. [What does that mean
specifically?] The model is based on the concept
that the child of separated or divorced parents
should receive the same proportion of parental
income that she or he would have received if the
parents lived together. [Should you have a need
to compute child support as it relates to your
situation, you may use the link above to do so
(be aware you are taken off-site so you may wish
to bookmark this page first)]. What
are the liabilities for child support? Pennsylvania
divorce laws specify the following: 1. Married
persons are liable for the support of each other
according to their
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respective
abilities to provide support as provided by law.
2. Parents are liable for the support of their
children who are un emancipated and 18 years of
age or younger. 3. Parents may be liable for the
support of their children who are 18 years of
age or older. The Pennsylvania court may deviate
from the guidelines for unusual needs, extraordinary
expenses and other factors, and may order selling
some of the parties' assets, as warrants special
attention. An order to pay the costs of health
care or any other cost not covered under the general
guidelines for child support can be put in place.
Payment of support in the form of temporary or
permanent alimony can be ordered alongside a child
support order. [A word of caution: Don't let anger
cause you to cancel insurance or any other benefit
to your spouse or child prior to any rulings.
Such action can have a negative impact on your
efforts to achieve a fair settlement. A fair amount
of child support should be paid until the court
directs how much specifically should be paid.]
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Child Custody
In the consideration
and award of child custody, the court will determine
which parent is more likely to encourage, permit
and allow frequent and continuing contact and
physical access between the non custodial parent
and the child. The court will also consider each
parent and adult household member's present and
past violent or abusive conduct in its determination.
[You might read this as |
a
suggestion that if you make the proceedings too
contentious, it could backfire on you] An order
for shared custody may be awarded by the court
when it is in the best interest of the child:
upon application of one or both parents; when
the parties have agreed to an award of shared
custody; or in the discretion of the court
The court may
require the parents to attend counseling sessions
and may
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consider
the recommendations of the counselors prior to
awarding sole or shared custody [If
you go to counseling, be aware that
if you appear uninvolved or disengaged, that indifference
can be reported back to the court]. Parents may
be required to submit to the court a plan for
the implementation of any custody order. A child's
desires with regard to custody and partial custody
are given more weight as the child gets older.
Until age 12 such desires have very little weight.
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Visitation/Co-Parenting
Pennsylvania
divorce laws refer to overnight custody "partial
custody". Family
law statutes use the term "reasonable visitation".
Parents have the opportunity to fashion a visitation
schedule without the courts involvement, and if
they fail to agree, the court will impose its
own judgment. The parent with physical custody
has more control over the dates,
times and duration of visits. He or she isn't
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obligated
to agree to any particular schedule. For this
reason courts find themselves imposing judgment
in the absence of an agreement. In all but the
most amicable divorces, a fixed schedule of visitation
is recommended, in order to reduce the potential
for conflict in front of the children. A court,
if asked to determine visitation, will typically
give to the non-custodial parent every other
weekend with the child (or 1st and 3rd, 2nd and
4th weekends), one
non-overnight weeknight visit, alternating
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holidays,
shared birthdays, and a liberal amount of time
in the summer.
Be aware that you have to guide your side of
the divorce. Don't rely that your attorney will
think of everything. You set the course; your
lawyer navigates. If you anticipate any problems
with custody or visitation, we suggest you own Child
Custody Strategies.
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Alimony/
Maintenance/ Spousal Support
The hot
potato that alimony is, and its treatment is detailed
in Pennsylvania divorce statutes. In an action
for separation or divorce, the court may allow
alimony (sometimes referred to as spousal support
or maintenance) to either party only if it finds
that alimony is necessary. In determining whether
alimony is necessary and under what conditions,
the court will consider all relevant factors,
including: The
relative earnings and capacities of the parties,
The ages and the physical, mental and emotional
conditions of the parties, The sources of income
of both parties,including, but not limited to,
medical, retirement, insurance or
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other
benefits, The expectancies and inheritances of
the parties, The duration of the marriage, The
contribution by one party to the education, training
or increased earning capacity of the other party,
The extent to which the earning power, expenses
or financial obligations of a party will be affected
by reason of serving as the custodian of a minor
child, The
standard of living of the parties established
during the marriage, The relative education of
the parties and the time necessary to acquire
sufficient education or training to enable the
party seeking alimony to find appropriate employment,
The relative assets and liabilities of the parties,
The property brought to the marriage by either
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party,
The contribution of a spouse as homemaker, The
relative needs of the parties, The marital misconduct
of either or the parties, Tax ramifications of
the alimony award, Whether the party seeking alimony
lacks sufficient property, to provide for the
party's reasonable needs, Whether the party seeking
alimony is incapable of self-support through appropriate
employment.
The court in ordering
alimony will determine the duration of the order,
which may be for a definite or indefinite period
of time which is reasonable under the circumstances.
Remarriage of the party receiving alimony will
terminate the award of alimony.
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Grounds
For Divorce
Pennsylvania divorce statutes
permit that divorces be dissolved either through
fault grounds or irreconcilable differences. The
court may grant a divorce to the innocent and
injured spouse whenever it is judged that the
other spouse has: 1. Desertion of the home and/or
family without reasonable cause after a period
of one year or more, 2. Committed adultery, 3.
By cruel treatment, endangered the life or health
of the
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injured
and innocent spouse, 4. Knowingly entered into
a bigamous marriage while a former marriage is
still subsisting, 5. Been sentenced to imprisonment
for a term of two or more years upon conviction
of having committed a crime, 6. Cruelty
toward the innocent and injured spouse.The
court may grant a divorce from a spouse upon the
ground that insanity or serious mental disorder
has resulted in confinement in a mental institution
for at least 18 months prior to the filing and
where there is no
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reasonable
prospect that the spouse will be discharged from
inpatient care during the 18 months subsequent
to the commencement of the action. The court may
grant a divorce where both parties declare that
the marriage is irretrievably broken and 90 days
have elapsed from the date of initial filing and
an affidavit has been filed by each of the parties
evidencing that each of the parties consents to
the divorce. [No kids and no arguments over assets?
You can be out and on your way in a matter of
months].
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Marriage
Annulment
Marital Annulment
Similar
to other states, Pennsylvania family and divorce
laws allows for void and voidable marriages to
receive marriage annulments in certain circumstances. Marriages
are void and qualify for a marital annulment
if one of the parties was already married, |
they
were too closely related, some mental incapacity
existed, or the parties were below 18 years of
age. Marriages
are generally voidable if either party
was under 16 years of age at the time of marriage,
either party was intoxicated and a party initiated
the petition within 60 days of the marriage, impotency,
or fraud, duress, coercion or force were used
to secure the marriage.
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Marriage
Counseling/
Mediation
A court may establish a
mediation program for the parties. A variety of
conditions can cause the court to order mediation
or marriage counseling. The parties can also be
requested to attend one or more counseling sessions.
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Legal
Separation/
Marital Separation
Some people want to get
a "legal separation". However, in Pennsylvania
divorce law, there is no such legal status as
being "legally separated" or receiving
a marital separation. Attorneys will often prepare
a settlement agreement, which after both parties
sign it and the court approves, becomes a legally
binding document. In this document, |
the
parties will settle the issues division of property,
child and spousal support, and custody of the
children. Legal separation is frequently pursued
when one of the parties wants to stay married
for religious reasons, wants the advantage of
deductibility of spousal support payments for
income tax reasons, wants to maintain various
insurance coverage's, or do not want to wait the
state statutory waiting period for termination
of marital status.
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Waiting
Period
Other than residency requirements,
no waiting periods apply to divorce in Pennsylvania.
Either party must be a resident of Pennsylvania
for a minimum of 6 months prior to the filing. |
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Grandparents Rights
If a parent
of an unmarried child is deceased, the parents
or grandparents of the deceased parent may be
granted reasonable partial custody or visitation
rights, or both. [Filing a motion during the divorce
proceeding rather than later in a separate docket
item
State
Fact Sheets for Grandparents and Other Relatives
Raising Children |
may
make the process easier and less costly]. In all
proceedings for dissolution, the court may grant
to grandparents reasonable partial visitation
rights if it finds that visitation rights or partial
custody, or both, would be in the best interest
of the child.
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Divorce
Settlement
Pennsylvania is an "equitable
distribution" state. When parties are not
able to come to an agreement or a divorce settlement
regarding property, the court will intervene,
first in identifying and separating pre-marital
assets to the individual parties, and then dividing
the marital assets equitably but not necessarily
evenly. Relevant factors in determining the division
of assets can include: 1. The length of the marriage.
2. Any prior marriage, 3. The age, health, station,
amount and sources of income, vocational skills,
employability, estate, liabilities and needs of
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each,
4. The contribution by one party to the education,
training or increased earning power of the other
party, 5. The opportunity of each party for future
acquisitions of assets and income, 6. The sources
of income of both parties, 7. The contribution
or dissipation of each party in the acquisition,
preservation, depreciation or appreciation of
the marital
property, including the contribution of a party
as homemaker, 8. The value of the property set
apart to each party, 9. The standard of living
of the parties established during the marriage,
10. The economic circumstances of each party and
11. Whether the party will be serving as the custodian
of any dependent minor children. [Effectively,
you two can reach your
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own
settlement, or the court has one for you].
Did you come into this marriage
owning a house? Concerned about the equity in
that house that you brought into the marriage?
Worried some property you brought into the marriage
may end up in the divorce settlement? Here's how
it works generally. What you brought into the
marriage is usually all yours. However, any appreciation
of the house or the property value is normally
treated as a "marital asset", meaning
that you will likely forfeit a third to a half
of that appreciation to your spouse in the divorce.
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Residency
Requirements
How long does one need
to live in Pennsylvania to file for divorce in
in this state? Divorce laws spell out an action
for divorce or annulment may be brought in the
county: where the defendant resides; if
the defendant resides outside of this Commonwealth,
where the plaintiff
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resides;
the marital domicile, if the plaintiff has continuously
resided in the
county; prior to six months after the date of
final separation and with agreement of the defendant,
where the plaintiff resides or, if neither party
continues to reside in the county of matrimonial
domicile, where either party resides; or after
six months after the date of final separation,
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either party resides.
[If you have any questions
about residency, you can ask the Clerk's Office
connected to the Family Law or Domestic Relations
divisions connected to your county court system],
or refer to Pennsylvania divorce statutes.
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