Trial Court Must Conduct De Novo Hearings for Parent Coordination Appeals
Pennsylvania formalized the use of Parent Coordinators in custody cases several years ago when the Superior Court’s rendered their 2008 opinion in the case of Yates v. Yates. As part of the Yates...
View ArticleSuperior Court: Civil Unions Can Be Dissolved in Family Courts
In what some may construe as an effort by the Pennsylvania Superior Court to salvage something positive out of 2016, an Opinion was issued today which effectively opens Pennsylvania’s family courts to...
View ArticleSame Sex Common Law Marriage Established by Superior Court
Since the striking down of the Defense of Marriage Act by the United States Supreme Court, many state courts have been trying to fill in the legal vacuum created between the legality of same-sex...
View ArticleASSET OR INCOME; THE DISABILITY POLICY CONUNDRUM
Since the inception of equitable distribution in Pennsylvania on July 1, 1980 the law has consistently been that courts have power to divide marital property. With certain exceptions for gifts and...
View ArticleA PAGE TURNER OPINION FROM MONTGOMERY COUNTY REMINDS US OF WHAT IS AND ISN’T...
One of the most difficult concepts for lay persons to understand in the law is the rule stating that only relevant evidence is admissible in judicial proceedings. The concept would seem self-evident...
View ArticleSUPERIOR COURT CLARIFIES WHEN CUSTODY FACTORS MUST BE EVALUATED
We are slowly observing some flesh of judicial precedent applied to the bones of the custody stature enacted by the General Assembly and made effective in January, 2011. A recent and significant...
View ArticleSUPERIOR COURT AFFIRMS THAT MASTER’S RECOMMENDATION IS STILL JUST A...
The process of equitable distribution is multi-stage, often involving one or more conferences with a “master” specifically assigned to the case and who is an expert in equitable distribution. The...
View ArticleA TRANSCRIPT DOES NOT A CUSTODY ORDER MAKE; R.L.P. v. R.F.M, 2015 Pa. Super....
Superior Court appeals relating to child custody are supposed to be “fast tracked” in recognition of the fact that in the life of a child, a year is a long time. But, a land speed record was attained...
View ArticleSuperior Court Revisits Huss v. Weaver but Makes No Change to the Panel Decision
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...
View ArticleC.A.J. v. D.S.M. A Mixed Due Process Message
My colleague Aaron Weems reported this case on April 12. In the spirit of our U.S. Supreme Court, I offer the following concurrence with his blog but spirited dissent from what the Superior Court...
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