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As a family lawyer, I have seen more and more families saving for their children’s futures in recent years. That’s a good sign. But when parents get divorced, what happens to the college savings can be unpredictable.  There are at least four different vehicles for college savings: (a) Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (“UTMA”) custodial accounts; (b) 529 College Savings accounts; (c) Coverdell educational accounts; and (d) joint bank and […]

A recent decision of the Superior Court examined the “best interests” standard in paternity cases. R.K.J. v. S.P.K., 2013 Pa.Super. 259 (September 26, 2013).  R.K.J. (“Mother”) gave birth to a child, and her boyfriend S.P.K. (“Father”) signed an acknowledgment of paternity in the hospital, even though he knew that he was not the biological father. What he didn’t know is that Mother was not yet divorced from R.J., Jr. (“Husband”) […]

The Superior Court articulated its intolerance for a business owner’s shady bookkeeping practices in M.K.K. v. T.C.J., No. 129 WDA 2012 (July 25, 2013), a child support action arising from Washington County. The father in this case, who owned and operated a vacuum cleaner sales and repair shop as a Schedule C business for over thirty years, had not filed a tax return since 2007. His 2006 tax return reported revenues […]

The Superior Court in K.J.P. v. R.A.P., 68 A.3d 974 (Pa.Super. 2013) examined losses emanating from a parent’s investment activity apart from his primary employment. In addition to his regular employment as a marketing and product development consultant, Father was engaged in the purchase, renovation and sale of residential properties, owning as many as 20 houses at at time. In order to gain tax advantages, Father testified that he sometimes […]

In Suzanne D. v. Stephen W., 2013 Pa.Super. 93 (April 22, 2013), the Superior Court contemplated how to characterize $350,000 in money transfers that father received from his father, in the context of a post-divorce child support proceeding. Father testified that the transfers were loans, evidenced by a promissory note, which would be deducted from his inheritance if not repaid before his father’s death. Mother, on the other hand, claimed […]

As a child support lawyer, I am frequently asked why the Pennsylvania child support guidelines don’t consider a parent’s expenses. Sometimes paying child support makes a parent “see red.”  Parents may experience personal budget deficits when they have to add child support to the list of bills they pay each month. And the court doesn’t seem to care. What gives? The child support guidelines do not (generally) consider expenses. That’s […]