Pgh Family Law
Penalties for Not Paying Child Support
If you are entitled to receive child support, the system in Pennsylvania is set up to garnish wages from the paying spouse and deposit the money directly into your account.
If a parent fails to pay child support, the court may enter a judgment for the total amount of unpaid support, requiring immediate payment in full.
Failure to obey a support order of court could result in sanctions such as attorney’s fees and even imprisonment.
To speak with an experienced family law attorney, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Key Factors for Child Custody
Judges consider many factors when determining a child custody schedule. A child’s preference is just one of many factors. As children get older, courts may give greater weight to the child’s preference, though many judges do not want to hear directly from children. After all, it can be traumatizing for a child to choose between parents.
An important factor for determining custody is promoting consistency for the children. Courts generally will not disturb an existing arrangement or move children from their current school if they are doing well. Courts are also reluctant to split siblings between parents.
Spivak Law Firm provides strong, compassionate representation in child custody cases. Call us at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
What Can I Ask For In A PFA?
In a Protection From Abuse (PFA) petition, you can ask the judge to:
- Order the abuser to stop threatening, abusing, harassing or stalking you and your children
- Have the abuser evicted from your joint home or excluded from your residence
- Keep your new address or location confidential
- Grant you temporary custody of your children
- Grant you temporary child or spousal support as well as other reimbursements of out-of-pocket expenses that were caused by the abuser
- Order the abuser not to have contact with you or your children, or family members
- Restrict the abuser from contacting you at school or work
- Order the abuser to turn over firearms to the sheriff
- Order any other appropriate relief, for instance, requesting the return of your pet, car keys, important papers, etc.
To speak with an experienced PFA attorney, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Listening To Your Child
Children want to talk. Children need to talk, and they also need someone to listen to them.
Think about how you might feel if you wanted to tell something to somebody and you could not find anyone to tell. Children must be able to express themselves freely and comfortably.
As adults, we can provide children with the security of listening to whatever they need to say. Be careful to respect something said in confidence if your child asks you to keep it just between the two of you.
If there are not good “listening times” available during your schedule, try to set aside some “special time” to just talk to your child on a regular, consistent basis.
There is a distinct difference between listening to your children and pumping them for information about the other parent. Enter their world and listen to what they need to talk about as children.
To speak with an experienced child custody attorney, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Custody Relocation Hearings in Pennsylvania
When a custodial parent wants to relocate with the child outside the jurisdiction and the non-custodial parent does not consent, there must first be an evidentiary hearing, at which the court will apply a three-prong test to determine whether relocation of the children can occur.
The test covers:
- the potential advantages of the move and the likelihood that the move will substantially improve the quality of life for the custodial parent and the child, and is not the result of a momentary whim on the part of the custodial parent;
- the integrity of the motives of both the custodial parent and the noncustodial parent in either seeking the move or opposing the move; and
- the availability of alternative, realistic, substitute visitation or partial custody for the non-custodial parent.
To speak with an experienced child custody lawyer, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Tips for Discussing Your Child’s Weekend Away
Whether or not you like your former spouse and whether or not you agree with his or her parenting style, there is not much you can do about what occurs at the other home. Children are generally entitled to spend time with both parents.
Your task is to send them off in the same way you would if you were sending them anywhere else where you wanted them to have a good time while they’re away from you, such as camp or school. Family counselors recommend the following transition tips on discussing your children’s weekend spent away at the other parent’s home:
- Ask your children how their weekend was. To not ask about what goes on when they are apart from you would send the wrong message. Your child might think that you are not interested, or that you can’t stand to hear about them enjoying time with the other parent.
- The motivation for asking about the weekend should be to serve the child’s needs, not to have your curiosity satisfied.
- When children sense that they are being used as spies to report on what is going on in the other home, or when you react to the news with frowns, raised eyebrows, or sarcastic comments, the kids sense that you are not genuinely interested in sharing their lives with them as much as you are about getting some gossip about the other family.
To speak with an experienced Pittsburgh child custody lawyer, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
A Child’s Preference in Custody Cases
In child custody disputes, will a judge follow the child’s preference?
It depends.
Under Pennsylvania law, a child’s preference is not controlling though it may be an important factor. A child’s preference is just one of many factors that a judge considers when determining a child custody order.
A child’s age, maturity, and intelligence must be considered and will affect the weight given to a child’s preference. Thus, the preference of a 16-year-old tends to carry far more weight than the preference of a 6-year-old.
To speak with a strong, compassionate, cost-effective child custody lawyer, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
“Status Quo” Is Key In Child Custody Cases
In child custody cases, judges are generally reluctant to change an arrangement that is working well for a child. Judges recognize the benefit of stability in a child’s life.
“Status quo” is a term that judges frequently use to describe long-standing custody arrangements.
If you are the primary caretaker of a child, then it is important to show the judge that the status quo has been for the child to spend most nights in your care.
On the other hand, if you are seeking to expand your custody time, then you should try to create a new status quo for the child that involves more time in your care.
Some parents go to court seeking to preserve their custody time, while others aim to expand their custody time. To speak with an experienced child custody lawyer, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Phone Rules for Parents Who Share Custody
There are no specific rules on how to maintain contact with your children when they are with the other parent. It depends on the age of the child, the relationship the child has with the parent, the individual characteristics of the child, and the relationship the parents have with each other. Some children want a phone call and enjoy speaking to the other parent. Other children are not verbally expressive, which makes phone conversations frustrating and difficult. Family therapists recommend abiding by the following phone rules:
- There should be an effort by both parents to allow contact between the child and the other parent, especially if that’s what the child genuinely wants
- The younger the child, the more contact is preferred
- When a parent calls to speak to his or her children, have the children take responsibility for answering the phone or returning the call
- Do not use the phone to intrude on the child’s time with the other parent or to maintain influence over the child when the child is in the other home
- Do not use the phone to have the children spy on the other parent and report all the “bad things” that are going on
- Use the phone in a way that serves the child’s needs, not the parent’s need to continue to influence the child and to interfere with the child’s relaxation and enjoyment of time in the other parent’s house
To speak with an experienced Allegheny County family law attorney, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.
Allegheny County Increases Custody Filing Fees
Seeking custody of your children isn’t cheap.
Earlier this year, fees associated with filing a custody action increased dramatically. For instance, the fee for filing an initial custody complaint soared from $232.50 to $325. The fee for filing a divorce complaint with a custody count jumped from $271 to $363.50. The fee for filing a petition for custody modification swelled from $200 to $250, and the fee for filing a custody complaint after a divorce action has been filed spiked from $108.50 to $220.50. Additionally a new fee of $200 will be assessed for reinstating a custody action.
In Allegheny County, all fees for custody actions are collected by the Department of Court Records on the first floor of the City County Building, 414 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. In some cases involving low-income parties, custody filing fees may be waived by the Court.
To speak with an experienced Allegheny County family law attorney, call Spivak Law Firm at (412) 344-4900 or toll free at (800) 545-9390.