Pennsylvania Divorce Laws- Dissolution of Marriage

PA Child Support

Pennsylvania child support guidelines are based on the Income Shares Model, and are spelled out instate 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 payment as it relates to your situation, you may use this link. Be aware that using this link takes you off-site, so you may wish to bookmark this page first]. What are the liabilities for child support? Pennsylvania child support laws specify the following:

	Married persons are liable for the support of each other according to their respective abilities to provide support as provided by law.
	Parents are liable for the support of their children who are un emancipated and 18 years of age or younger.
	Parents may be liable for the support of their children who are 18 years of age or older.

PA child support guidelines permit the court to 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 rather negative impact on your efforts to achieve a fair settlement. Family court judges have been known to penalize parents who cancel policies out of spite. A fair amount of PA child support should be paid until the court directs how much specifically should be paid.]. PA child support ends when the child turns 18, or graduates from high school, whichever occurs later.

Read Pennsylvania child support laws as they were written HERE

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 and a Parenting Plan 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 legally 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 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.  

Spousal Support
Pennsylvania Alimony
Maintenance

The hot potato that alimony is, and its treatment is detailed in Pennsylvania divorce laws. 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 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 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.   

Grounds For Divorce

Pennsylvania divorce laws require that dissolutions 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:

	Desertion of the home and/or family without reasonable cause after a period of one year or more,
	Committed adultery,
	By cruel treatment, endangered the life or health of the injured and innocent spouse,
	Knowingly entered into a bigamous marriage while a former marriage is still subsisting,
	Been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of two or more years upon conviction of having committed a crime,
	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 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].     

Marriage Annulment
Marital Annulment

Similar to other states, Pennsylvania divorce laws allow 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.   

Mediation
Marriage Counseling  

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.       

Marriage Separation
Legal Separation
Marital Separation

Some people want to get a legal separation. However, with Pennsylvania divorce laws, 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.   

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.   

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 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.      

Divorce Settlement
Distribution of Assets

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:

	The length of the marriage.
	Any prior marriage,
	The age, health, station, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, estate, liabilities and needs of each,
	The contribution by one party to the education, training or increased earning power of the other party,
	The opportunity of each party for future acquisitions of assets and income,
	The sources of income of both parties,
	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,
	The value of the property set apart to each party,
	The standard of living of the parties established during the marriage,
	The economic circumstances of each party and
	Whether the party will be serving as the custodian of any dependent minor children. [Effectively, you two can reach your own settlement, or the court has one for you]

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 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, where 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 in to your county court system], or refer to Pennsylvania divorce laws.

How to file for a no fault divorce in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania allows two ways to divorce by no-fault. A mutual consent divorce can be granted 90 days after you filing for it if you both file an Affidavit consenting to the divorce. You can opt to include a Divorce Settlement Agreement with the Affidavit, and it will expedite the process. The second no-fault method is after a two year separation. Once you and your spouse have filed, and have signed an affidavit that you two have lived separately for 2 years, a divorce can be granted.

The Complaint form, or petition, asks the court for a divorce, provides the reason for divorce, and requests the court decide on any particular issues you may have. One of you must have resided in Pennsylvania for at least 6 months prior to the filing.

You’ll also file a Writ of Summons with the Complaint. The Writ notifies your spouse of the divorce request and requires an answer from your spouse to avoid a default judgment. At the time of filing, you’ll have to pay a filing fee. Call the County Clerk’s office for the current amount.

If you and your spouse are in agreement, you will file a Divorce Settlement Agreement, which will include a proposed parenting plan (e.g. custody, child support and visitation) if there are children from the marriage, and any spousal support (alimony), as well as how you plan to divide your assets and debt.

We recommend you obtain a packet of forms because your divorce specifics will likely require different additional documents from the next couple may require. The state does not make available divorce forms on-line. Your local County Clerk’s office may have divorce forms for you to pick up. If traveling to the court, parking and standing in lines isn’t your thing, you can download a packet of divorce forms and begin your divorce right away. See our divorce papers for specifics.

If your spouse isn’t in agreement, you’ll need to have him/her served with a copy of the Complaint and allow enough time to respond to the petition. A hearing would then be scheduled to resolve your differences, and if that can’t happen, a trial will be scheduled.

Divorce Settlement Agreement

Don’t overlook the importance of this document when it comes to a parenting plan. If you use a template found on the internet, you may omit important details. We suggest you download free parenting plan worksheets (they are free) from About.com. Complete those forms and then ask yourself: Will there likely be disagreements over co-parenting with my ex in the coming years? If the answer is yes, we suggest you create a detailed parenting plan by signing up with an on-line parenting plan software provider. Begin by reviewing a Parenting Plan Template.

A parenting plan solely on paper will likely force you, when there are inevitable changes to yours and your children schedules, to repeatedly reprint the plan, make copies for yourself and the ex, and be at the mercy of you both keeping your copy safe and available to consult. You’ll have to redo the calendar as activities change.

A parenting plan on-line makes for easy schedule changing, tracks time spent with each parent, tracks expenses you each make, permits both parents to view a forward calendar of activities, and removes excuses that the plan has been lost, or claims that a discussion to change an activity took place when it didn’t, and so forth.

One Mom told us that if they have agreed to a change of a child’s schedule, it will appear on the calendar. If it ain’t there, it wasn’t agreed to. :-)