Do You Need a Cohabitation Agreement?
If you’re cohabitating (living with someone), you need a cohabitation agreement. That doesn’t mean the world will grind to a halt if you don’t have one, but you’re going into this arrangement without a clear understanding of what happens when...[Continue reading]
Using the Domestic Relations Rules
The Domestic Relations child and spousal support guidelines deserve special mention here. Talk about a one-size-fits-all (or none) solution! The PA support guidelines are based on both parents’ net monthly incomes, with virtually no consideration for the parents’ or children’s...[Continue reading]
Why Worry About What My Spouse Needs
If you’re getting divorced, why should you worry about what your spouse (or soon to be ex-spouse) needs? Because it’s going to help you. That’s the self-centered answer. The more you can focus on meeting your spouse’s needs, the more...[Continue reading]
A Recent Project
I recently had the pleasure of creating a podcast with John Gavazzi, PsyD. John is a psychologist and we recorded the podcast for use by psychologists, but it has tremendous potential for non-psychologists also. Here are two different links to...[Continue reading]
An Alternative to Court-Based Divorce
Would you like to handle your divorce privately? Would you like to make the decisions about your family and how it’s going to change instead of having a court make those decisions for you? Would you like to maintain a...[Continue reading]
Concerns for Same-Sex Couples
In Pennsylvania, same-sex couples face unique legal challenges because even if they consider themselves a married couple, they are not legally allowed to marry. Even same-sex couples who are legally married in a different state are not recognized as a...[Continue reading]
What about Alimony?
Alimony is support for one spouse after a divorce is finalized. It is a “squishy” area of the law and is different from spousal support or alimony pendente lite. There are no formulas to calculate alimony and no hard and...[Continue reading]
Midnuptial Agreements
What is a midnuptial agreement? It’s an agreement entered into in the middle of a marriage. A prenuptial agreement is before a marriage, a postnuptial agreement is after a marriage has ended and a midnuptial agreement is during a marriage....[Continue reading]
Divorce for Control Freaks
I do not use the term “control freak” in a derogatory or insulting way and hopefully none of the control freaks reading this post take it that way. Control freaks, like me, want to be in control of their own...[Continue reading]
Infidelity and Divorce
I initially titled this post “Divorce and Adultery” but changed it because “adultery” has a specific meaning in the PA Divorce Code and I wasn’t talking about just that specific meaning. When I talk about infidelity, I’m talking about a...[Continue reading]