Attorney’s Fees in Estate Planning
If an attorney is preparing your Will, trust agreement, powers of attorney, etc., you will need to pay him or her. Many attorneys (including me) charge a flat fee for estate planning services. That means you decide what documents you...[Continue reading]
Pros and Cons of the Domestic Relations Office
Some people go through the domestic relations office to establish child support, spousal support or alimony pendente lite orders. Some people make those arrangements without involving the domestic relations office. There are pros and cons to involving or not involving...[Continue reading]
What to Expect at a Domestic Relations Conference
A domestic relations conference is an uncomfortable experience, but it can help to have an idea what to expect. You, your spouse (for simplicity, I’m going to use “spouse” throughout this blog post even though you and the other party...[Continue reading]
Family Law Issues and Unmarried Couples
Unmarried couples are, by definition, not married. So although they may act like married couples, live like married couples, have families like married couples, in some ways the court system treats them differently. Unmarried couples who end their relationship and...[Continue reading]
What Happens if I Die Without a Will?
If you die without a Will, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a default plan in place that determines who receives your assets. Dying without a valid Will is called intestacy, so distribution of assets without a valid Will is controlled...[Continue reading]
Challenges to Divorce Agreements
Can you challenge the validity and enforceability of a Marital Settlement Agreement? If so, on what basis and with what probable result? A Marital Settlement Agreement is the legally binding contract between you and your spouse that contains all of...[Continue reading]
How Will Your Divorce Proceed?
The answer, as with so many legal questions, is “it depends.” It depends on how you and your spouse want your divorce to proceed. You are the only two people who can control the process you use to resolve the...[Continue reading]
Have You Ever Prepared an Expense Statement?
I can’t cite any statistics, but I can confidently say that based on my experience, very few people have ever prepared a budget or an expense statement. That means for most people, their income comes into their bank account and...[Continue reading]
Priorities in Divorce
I believe that prioritizing is an important part of decision-making. We must decide what is most important, or most urgent, or what must be done first to effectively move on to other tasks. Without determining the order in which things...[Continue reading]
Why Work to Reach an Agreement?
I can think of a few reasons to focus your time, money and energy on reaching an agreement to resolve your divorce, support, custody or other family law matter or estate administration conflict. The first three reasons are your time,...[Continue reading]