The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has issued its first decision interpreting the counseling provision of the newly-enacted custody statute. In cases where a parent has been convicted of one of the crimes listed in the custody...
Court Decisions
Personal Injury Award is Marital Property, Says Pa. Supreme Court
December 5, 2011
Stare decisis is a central principal of jurisprudence. That’s why it’s big news when a court explicitly overrules a long-standing precedent. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court did just that last month in Focht v....
2011 Child Support Law Update
October 25, 2011
Once again this fall, I am the course planner, author and lecturer for the child support portion of Family Law Update, an annual survey of the latest developments in Pennsylvania’s child support law and procedures. A...
Text Messages as Evidence in Child Support and Divorce Proceedings
September 30, 2011
The increasing use of electronic communications, from Facebook to text messaging, has challenged our courts to determine what is admissible evidence in family law hearings. The Pennsylvania Superior Court has recently...
Child support contempt defendants are not entitled to court-appointed representation even in cases where incarceration is threatened, says the U.S. Supreme Court, but the state courts must follow procedures that ensure the...