Newsroom

Many people look forward to the time when they become grandparents.  A time to go to parks and museums and spoil their grandchildren without all of the formal responsibilities that come with being a parent.  But what happens when two parents divorce and family stressors get in the way of grandparents being allowed to see their own grandchildren?  Do grandparents have any rights under Pennsylvania law?  If you are a […]

The Pennsylvania Department of Health provides that in 2015 there were 33,600 divorces statewide.  Of those, 2,582 divorces were finalized in Allegheny County alone.  While these statistics do not reflect how many of those divorcing couples have minor children, anyone who is divorced or in the process of getting divorced understands how difficult the process can be for an adult, with even greater stress for a toddler, school-aged child or […]

In the United States, it is reported that the percentage of marriages that fail is somewhere between 40 and 50 percent.  But married couples are not the only ones who split up and live apart.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides that 40 percent of all births are to unmarried couples.  Although the CDC does not specifically state how many of the unmarried couples live apart, it is fair […]

Grandparents who seek custody rights faced a setback this month when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down a portion of the law that allowed grandparents to sue for custody when the children’s parents were separated for at least six months.  The Supreme Court, in D.P. and B.P. v. G.J.P. and A.P., No. 25 WAP 2016 (September 9, 2016), examined the grandparent standing law, that defines which grandparents may sue for custody rights.  The law, […]