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.”
Property Settlement Agreement
Coronavirus & “The King’s Frustration”
By Mark Ashton on
Experienced family lawyers know that they often become a kind of general counsel to their clients. Family law is in no small measure closely related to contract law. In a state that has seen a shut down order issued for all but essential services, there are many contracts, which have been rendered impractical or frustrated…
Superior Court Weighs In On Uniform Gifts v. 529 Plans
By Mark Ashton on
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…
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.
By Mark Ashton on
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…