The September 7 issue of TIME Magazine features our obsession with childhood sports. The statistics tell the story. In 2005, school age children played sports at a combined cost of about $8 billion per annum. Today that number is about $15 billion, almost double. And, during this same period there was no increase in the
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Paternity Wars: M.L. v. J.G.M, 2016 Pa. Super. 1
By Mark Ashton on
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…
Superior Court Revisits Huss v. Weaver but Makes No Change to the Panel Decision
By Mark Ashton on
On September 28, 2014 Aaron Weems posted a blog in which he reported on a panel Decision of the Superior Court holding that a Father’s contractual undertaking to pay $10,000 to a Mother each time he sought to modify an agreed custody arrangement was enforceable. When the Mother sued to enforce the contract term and…
STEP-PARENTS ASSERTING CUSTODY NEED TO READ THIS BEFORE THEY FILE
By Mark Ashton on
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,…
CAN GRANDPA BECOME PA? THE EVOLVING PENNSYLVANIA FAMILY
By Mark Ashton on
The recent Superior Court decision In re Adoption of M.R.D. and T.M.D. offers a new challenge in the context of who can be an adoptive parent. While in her early 20s a young woman ventured to South Dakota to teach school. She met a young man in 2002 and when she returned to Pennsylvania…
PROPOSED NEW LAW CLOSES CUSTODY LOOPHOLE FOR CHILDREN CONCEIVED BY RAPE
By Aaron Weems on
Pennsylvania’s child custody code requires the submission of a criminal record and abuse history affidavit which is designed to identify whether a party to a custody action or a member of their household has been accused or convicted of a criminal offense. The crimes are almost all violent crimes or crimes of a sexual nature…
HAGUE CONVENTION ON SUPPORT ORDERS MOVES CLOSER TO RATIFICATION
By Aaron Weems on
Seven years after becoming a signatory state to the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, Congress passed and the President signed into law implementing legislation which will gives the treaty the procedural rules to operate. The purpose of the treaty is to provide a relatively uniform…
DEMANDING SEX FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT IS UPHELD AS “ABUSE” AND MAY BE A FELONY OF THE SECOND DEGREE.
By Mark Ashton on
In a case decided by the Pennsylvania Superior Court on January 7 of this year, we have a new wrinkle in the world of what constitutes abuse under the Protection from Abuse statute. 23 Pa. C.S. 6102. The statute defines abuse to include knowing and/or recklessly causing rape, sexual assault or indecent assault. All of …
ADVICE TO PSYCHOLOGISTS: TAKE TWO ASPIRIN AND CALL THE LAWYER IN THE MORNING
By Mark Ashton on
Part 2 of 2
4. “The complaint is full of lies about me.”
Of course it is. But by operation of law every allegation in the complaint itself is deemed denied until proven. So if your wife alleges that you make more money than she does and you should have to pay for her attorney,…
ADVICE TO PSYCHOLOGISTS: TAKE TWO ASPIRIN AND CALL THE LAWYER IN THE MORNING
By Mark Ashton on
Part 1 of 2
After a recent meeting, my colleague Julie Manser and I were discussing what it must be like to be a mental health practitioner in an age of frequent divorce. Clients commonly ask us questions that are better posed to people with degrees in psychology and psychiatry and we often hear from…