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We live in a day when reported (i.e. precedential) decisions are rare and decisions touching upon important philosophical differences are like hen’s teeth. But on November 18 the planets aligned to give us Hanrahan v. Bakker, a 2-1 panel decision with Judges Ford Elliott and Dubow in the majority and Jenkins in dissent. The…

I was researching material for this blog when courtesy of some “cookie” embedded in a website, I was treated to an opportunity to save substantially on my divorce legal fees by signing on for a service that offered me “al a carte” divorce services by law firms standing by to help me without the “unnecessary”…

There are times when two conversations with two wholly separate individuals causes a person to distill some interesting new thoughts. Earlier this month I had lunch with a woman who has long run the intake program for the Domestic Relations Office in Chester County. We were discussing the triumphs and tragedies associated with the daily…

We have written before about the subject of when and how a person can be in “contempt” of a court order. The word itself is riddled with often misunderstood meaning.  What could be worse than having a court decide that you are contemptible?

In the past week I have been called to court to prosecute…

Having just finished one of these, I searched our database and noted that we had written very little about it.

In my case earlier this week, my adversary and I had been negotiating a child support order. After several rounds, we reached a mutually acceptable conclusion. When I wrote to confirm our “terms” I received…

For those of you who practice in this area or are “regulars” in the child support system, you know that every four years, the statewide child support guidelines are due for an update. The purpose is to try to keep pace with the economic times and the cost of raising children.  For the 2008 and…

We live in interesting times. We have recently reported on significant cases discussing who has legal standing to seek custody of a child and whether that “standing” comes with a child support obligation.  But one bedrock that has been around for a while is what is called the presumption that a husband is father unless…

In a year when there have been relatively few published opinions and few of those offering much precedential value, the year ends with an important ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The question in A.S. v. I.S. (8 MAP 2015) revolved around the matter of when a step-parent can owe child support.  In this case,…