By Dori F. Green            If a spouse finds out their partner has been unfaithful during marriage, it can elicit a lot of distress and emotions, but most people will decide to file for divorce. During this process, what happens if the spouse you are divorcing becomes ill and ultimately dies before the case has resolved? Now what?            Prior to January 28, 2005, if one spouse died during the pendency of a divorce, the divorce action abated. In other words, the action ceases, and any assets titled in the surviving spouse’s ..read more

By Colleen Norcross             A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about the ever-changing concept of “family,” and the expansion of the networks of caretakers intimately involved in children’s lives and forming parental bonds with children. Over the past year, this concept has been turned on its head by a recent case out of Philadelphia County, which is still on appeal in the Superior Court. The outcome has the potential to significantly change the landscape of parentage in Pennsylvania.      &nb ..read more

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading ..read more

Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller shareholder Jason Levine authored an article for The Legal Intelligencer titled, “The Staying Power of Small and Midsize Firms.” Jason summarizes the current merger-friendly legal market, highlighting several recent examples. He notes that there is plenty of opportunity for law firm combinations, as the legal profession is among the least consolidated professional services industry in the country, but he also shares some of the downsides of mergers, including an increased risk of client conflicts and the challenge of integrating cultures. Within th ..read more

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading ..read more

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading ..read more

By Dori F. Green June is fast approaching and that means wedding season and wedding season means premarital agreements—the often times messy and dreaded task for so many couples who would rather not deal with it. In Pennsylvania, premarital agreements will typically be enforced (no matter how one-sided the terms) as long as each party has provided the other with a full and complete financial disclosure, and as long as there is no defense to the enforceability of the contract. Those defenses include fraud, misrepresentation, duress and undue influence.  Until the Pennsylvania Su ..read more

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading ..read more

Draining the funds from marital accounts (whether titled jointly or in your name alone) by spending the money or moving the money to a new account. A court will not look favorably upon you if you dissipate marital assets to the exclusion of the other spouse. You should maintain the status quo with respect to the assets. Changing the locks on the marital residence. Both parties have equal rights and access to the marital home and one party may not unilaterally exclude the other party absent an agreement or court order granting him or her exclusive possession of the marital home pending t ..read more

            Your spouse just announced he or she wants a divorce and you do not know the next steps.  Generally, there are multiple claims which can be made in the context of a divorce matter. Those claims include equitable distribution (distribution of assets), alimony (support of a spouse after the divorce decree is entered), and counsel fees.              In relation to the division of assets, there are three steps to that process – identify, value and divide.  ..read more