In a precedential decision issued on March 16, a panel of the Superior Court offered a helpful analysis of how plans established under the Pennsylvania Uniform Transfer to Minors Act, (PaUTMA, formerly PaUGMA) differs from accounts established under Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code. This is an area of importance because we are seeing
Divorce
GRANT OF THIRD PARTY STANDING IS NOT APPEALABLE AS A COLLATERAL ORDER.
By Mark Ashton on
It comes in a non-precedential decision but the ruling is important nonetheless. In a panel opinion authored by Judge Daniel McCaffery and published on March 2, 2020, the Superior Court held that a decision of a Crawford County judge to allow a paternal grandmother to intervene in a child custody proceeding was not appealable as…
IN AN AGE OF FINANCIAL UNCERTAINTY MARRIAGE IS ONE OF THE VICTIMS.
By Mark Ashton on
Posted in Divorce, Family Law
The March 9, 2020 Wall Street Journal’s front page described marriage as a new form of “luxury good.” According to the Journal since 1980 the middle 40% of U.S. workers have seen the sharpest decline in the number of people who are married. These are households reporting income ranging from $25,000 to $125,000 per annum.…
FINANCIAL INFIDELITY: CHAPTER 2
By Mark Ashton on
As I started this, it occurred to me that I had been to this topic before. Last April 19 I reported on a story published by PBS about spouses who accumulate debt in secret and then want to “share” the debt when the marriage collapses. The February 2020 issue of The Magazine of the American…
CAR$ENSE – HOW MUCH SHOULD A CAR COST?
By Mark Ashton on
Readers of this blog understand that, in the end, divorce is a financial transaction. It is a process imbued with enormous emotional consequence. People marry and have children hoping and often expecting the best. We know it does not always turn out that way, and along the way, people turn to lawyers to develop a…
DIVORCE AND COLLEGE: Can They Be Reconciled?
By Mark Ashton on
Whenever I start these kinds of articles, I stop to ask, “Is this subject really relevant to the process of divorce?” Separation and divorce are realities of modern day life. Education of the children who come into this world through marriage is not just a major expense. For any caring parent, it is also a…
PENSION JUSTICE DONE; BUT ALONG A ROCKY ROAD
By Mark Ashton on
On April 30, 2019, the Superior Court published a panel decision related to a retirement benefit divided in divorce. This wasn’t just any pension, but one established for a Pennsylvania municipality. As this author learned in organizing a recent seminar for the Doris Jonas Freed American Inn of Court, municipal pensions are a very special…
SKOOL DAZE; STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS AND THE LIMITS OF HIGHER EDUCATION CONTRIBUTIONS.
Beth Anne and Mark Weber were married and produced two children, one in 1984 and another in 1994. In their 1999 divorce, they formed a Property Settlement Agreement containing provisions that they would share equally the costs of “an appropriate undergraduate college or other post-secondary education for the children.”
In 2007, Beth Anne filed to…
FINANCIAL INFIDELITY: Don’t Let Your Spouse Make You A Victim.
By Mark Ashton on
As part of National Public Radio’s morning edition report for April 29, 2019, business correspondent Yuki Noguchi reported on a phenomenon we have witnessed, financial infidelity. Ours is an age where credit is available everywhere 24/7. Want to buy a power washer at 3 a.m.? Your friends at Amazon are not only prepared to take…
Do Friends & Family Have a Role to Play When Interviewing an Attorney?
By Mark Ashton on
To answer a question with a question: “Isn’t the sensible answer ‘No’?” After all, people contemplating divorce are not children. This is an entirely adult decision made by an adult who decided to marry in the first place. The prospective client is the person living the marriage with all of its advantages and disadvantages. No…