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This four-part blog series addresses the sourcing of money and property in divorce proceedings to discover hidden assets and income, distinguish separate property from marital property and enforce or attack prenuptial agreements.  International Tracing Traditional discovery is an essential but incomplete tool when tracing foreign assets and income in connection with a divorce. Divorce lawyers must understand, and explain to clients, that the subpoena power of a U.S. court does […]

This four-part blog series addresses the sourcing of money and property in divorce proceedings to discover hidden assets and income, distinguish separate property from marital property and enforce or attack prenuptial agreements. Defending and Attacking Prenuptial Agreements If the objective of a prenuptial agreement is to define and protect separate property, an effective one must anticipate and address future opportunities for comingling, transmutation, and retitling separate property. For instance, many […]

This four-part blog series addresses the sourcing of money and property in divorce proceedings to discover hidden assets and income, distinguish separate property from marital property and enforce or attack prenuptial agreements. Distinguishing Separate Property In jurisdictions employing a dual classification form of equitable distribution, there is a legal distinction between marital and separate property. Marital property is divided between spouses upon divorce. Separate property is exempt from equitable distribution, […]

  This four-part blog series addresses the sourcing of money and property in divorce proceedings to discover hidden assets and income, distinguish separate property from marital property and enforce or attack prenuptial agreements. Tracing Hidden Assets and Income Initially, asset tracing depends upon the voluntary disclosure of information from each spouse. If spouses suspect that money and property have been diverted from the assets disclosed in financial affidavits and discovery […]

Now that many children are being homeschooled due to the COVID crisis, should the family court adjust child support for those parents who are unable to work full time? A recent decision of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania may shed light on that issue. In Deputy v. Deputy, No. 2689 EDA 2019 (April 13, 2020) (nonprecedential), the Superior Court heard a child support appeal in which the parents’ four children […]

Parents wishing to modify child support orders may be stymied while the courts of western Pennsylvania are temporarily closed by the shelter-in-place orders issued by Gov. Tom Wolf and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Yet, many parents need immediate relief as their incomes have been reduced by COVID-19-related business closures, layoffs, furloughs and the national economic downturn. They might not want to wait a month or more for the courts […]