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Defined benefit pensions, the ones that payout monthly, are strange animals.  They are rare today except where unions and public agencies are found, and they can produce some odd results.

Carl Jagnow married his wife Sharon in 1983.  They both taught school and both participated in the Public-School Employment Retirement System (PSERS).  Husband retired in…

The website MarketWatch publishes a kind of Dear Abby column related to family finances that touches on some very real subjects confronting families today.  On July 2, columnist Quentin Fottrell published a column in which a wife laments her husband’s spending habits and wonders whether she could be liable for his debts should he die.…

In our last article, we wrote about hiding assets the old-fashioned way.  For much of this writer’s career, the game was “cash”.  The pizzeria, the auto body shop, the produce vendor.  They lived in 3,500 square foot houses and drove luxury cars.  Nevertheless, the tax returns showed a mere $30,000 in income, a remarkable achievement.…

This decision issued on a non-precedential basis on April 13, 2021, represents every divorce litigator’s nightmare.  Unfortunately, the decision on appeal to remand the case offers the litigants a chance to relive what happened in the 1993 Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day”.

The Laights were married forever before they separated.  For much of their marriage…

In the last few days, I have worked with another attorney to try to bring a peaceful end to a very brief marriage.  In the space of a couple weeks, we identified what was left of the “ties that bind” and how to painlessly sever things like joint leases, joint debts and dividing the wedding…

Just about every divorce case involves a house and its corresponding mortgage.  In a small number of cases parties agree that dissolution of the marriage is also an opportune time to downsize the residence, but in most situations, at least one of the parties wants to keep the residence, even if just, “for a while.”…

We have heard about the data.  In 2015, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics published a study indicating that the average worker could expect to hold 12 jobs during his/her career.  More recently, another study indicates that among younger workers (ages 25-35), job changes are occurring once every 2.8 years.

Many of these jobs…

We have recently had inquiries about foreclosures.  Given the current economic climate, this is probably going to become more common.  The good news is that home prices are up, particularly in the Philadelphia suburbs.  But for those who have a house that’s underwater (debt exceeds sales price less commission/transfer taxes) there are things worth knowing.…