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Pollock Begg Komar Glasser & Vertz LLC attorneys often provide legal insight on trending news topics in all areas surrounding family law, including prenuptial, postnuptial and settlement agreements. A prenuptial agreement (or premarital agreement) is an agreement between prospective spouses outlining their property rights in the event of death, divorce or both. Financial Planning in Marriages The recent increase of divorce and re-marriage among couples in the U.S. prompts a […]

The Pennsylvania Department of Health provides that in 2015, there were 72,774 marriages statewide.  During that same year, there were 33,600 divorces and annulments.  These statistics suggest that many, if not thousands, of Pittsburgh residents would have benefited from a prenuptial agreement clarifying the spouses’ financial responsibilities. Spouses Who Should Consider Premarital Agreements Who benefits from having a Pennsylvania prenuptial agreement?  Many people think that only billionaires have a financial […]

The Superior Court addressed a novel question in Trust under Deed of David P. Kulig, 2015 PA Super 271 (December 24, 2015), a dispute between the second wife of a decedent and the children of his first wife. The decedent David Kulig formed a revocable trust while married to his first wife Joanne, providing that his children would receive the principal balance of the trust upon his death if Joanne […]

Women and their parenting partners who are contemplating in vitro fertilization (IVF), zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT), surrogacy and other alternative reproductive techniques (ART), should seriously contemplate their need for a pre- or post-nuptial agreement or cohabitation agreement, in order to determine how the frozen embryos will be used, stored or disposed in the event of a divorce or breakup.  IVF is a fertility treatment in which sperm and eggs are combined […]

Same-sex couples who are getting married after spending many years in committed relationships may need prenuptial agreements even more than new couples who are just starting out.  That’s the conclusion I’ve reached after contemplating the ramifications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, ___ U.S. ____ (June 26, 2015). In Obergefell, the U.S. Supreme Court held that all Americans have a fundamental right, protected by the U.S. Constitution, […]

A non-precedential decision of the Superior Court, Morabito v. Morabito, No. 878 WDA 2013 (January 17, 2014) might provide a little window into the minds of our judiciary when interpreting prenuptial agreements.  The marriage in this case lasted nearly twenty years before the wife filed a complaint in divorce.  Wife initially challenged the validity of the prenup, but soon conceded that it was valid and enforceable. What Husband and Wife […]