In a ground-breaking decision, the Pennsylvania Superior Court recently vacated a trial court order refusing to enforce contractual support obligations under a standard affidavit signed by a U.S. citizen to sponsor his...
Blog
Trial by Ambush in Child Support Cases?
For the third time in several months, a panel of the Superior Court has considered whether to require litigants to plead specific grounds for modification of child support. Each time the Court has favored a less-restrictive...
Tracing Nonmarital Property
A recent Superior Court decision, Childress v. Bogosian, 2011 WL 61616 (2011), illustrates the challenge of tracing nonmarital property in divorce. Under Pennsylvania law, the property owned by a spouse prior to marriage, or...
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...
Personal Injury Award is Marital Property, Says Pa. Supreme Court
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....