Legal Glossary
Not familiar with a legal term or other legal jargon? Our legal glossary will help you understand specific words, key phrases and terms used within the field of law to help you remain informed.
Adoptions
Adoptions in Pennsylvania require several steps including but not limited to Report of Intent to Adopt, Termination of Parental Rights and Petition for Adoption. An adoption can be sought by a single parent, a married couple, or an unmarried couple including gay and lesbian couples. There are many circumstances that can surround adoption proceedings, and it is important to have a family law attorney involved in cases of Stepparent Adoptions, Interstate Adoptions, International Adoptions, Same-sex Couple Adoptions, or any other Adoption proceeding.
Alimony
One of the most common misconceptions by potential clients and clients in Pennsylvania’s family law is the concept of alimony. Is alimony, even an option in Pennsylvania? Yes, of course! However, each case is different and whether you are entitled to alimony is a question for the court. The Divorce Code at 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 3701 states that when a divorce decree (and equitable distribution has been finalized) has been entered, “the court may allow alimony, as it deems reasonable… only if it finds that alimony is necessary.” There are seventeen (17) factors that the court will look to in determining whether alimony is reasonable and necessary. They are as follows:
(2) The ages and the physical, mental and emotional conditions of the parties.
(3) The sources of income of both parties, including, but not limited to, medical, retirement, insurance or other benefits.
(4) The expectancies and inheritances of the parties.
(5) The duration of the marriage.
(6) The contribution by one party to the education, training or increased earning power of the other party.
(7) The extent to which the earning power, expenses or financial obligations of a party will be affected by reason of serving as the custodian of a minor child.
(8) The standard of living of the parties established during the marriage.
(9) The relative education of the parties and the time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party seeking alimony to find appropriate employment.
(10) The relative assets and liabilities of the parties.
(11) The property brought to the marriage by either party.
(12) The contribution of a spouse as homemaker.
(13) The relative needs of the parties.
(14) The marital misconduct of either of the parties during the marriage. The marital misconduct of either of the parties from the date of final separation shall not be consideredby the court in its determinations relative to alimony except that the court shall consider the abuse of one party by the other party.
(15) The Federal, State and local tax ramifications of the alimony award.
(16) Whether the party seeking alimony lacks sufficient property, including, but not limited to, property distributed under Chapter 35 (relating to property rights), to provide for the party’s reasonable needs.
(17) Whether the party seeking alimony is incapable of self-support through appropriate employment.
Alimony Pendente Lite or APL
Annulment
An annulment is a court procedure that terminates a marriage. Unlike divorce, annulment dissolves the marriage and treats it as thought it never took place. Annulment is appropriate under certain circumstances such as misrepresentation, fraud, concealment, or refusal to consummate the marriage.
Calculation of Spousal Support, APL, or Alimony
The calculation of the three different types of support (Spousal, APL, and Alimony) payable to a spouse, the court must first be informed to whether the defendant in the support action has any obligation to pay child support and the amount owed on each and whether there is any prior orders of support from a previous spouse. After those issues have been hashed out, the spousal support and APL are generally based upon a fixed percentage of the difference of the net incomes or earning capacities of the spouses. If there is a child support order, the fixed percentage is 30% and if child support is not an issue, the fixed percentage is 40%. How the court determines the amount of alimony to be awarded, the fixed percentages of the differences of their respective net incomes or earning capacities are not used. Rather, the court considers the reasonable needs of the dependant spouse and the amount of money needed to supplement the dependant spouse’s income or earning capacity.
Child Abuse & Neglect
Neglect of a child occurs where a parent or other person with responsibility for a child fails to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical care, or supervision to the degree that the child’s health, safety, and well-being are threatened with harm.
Child Custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent’s duty to care for the child. Custody issues typically arise in proceedings involving divorce (dissolution of marriage), annulment and other legal proceedings where children may be involved. In most jurisdictions the issue of which parent the child will reside with is determined in accordance with the best interests of the child standard.
Child Custody Mediation
When child custody issues are contentious and the parents are unable to cooperate, they are often required to attend court-mandated mediation. Mediation is usually required to try to filter cases out of the court system and prevent lengthy trials. Usually, mediation results in the successful resolution of many custody issues.
Children’s Rights
Children’s rights are the human rights of children (younger than 18), especially their right to association with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education, health care and criminal laws appropriate for the age and development of the child. Some interpretations of children’s rights include the right to be free from mental and emotional abuse and the right to care and nurturing.
Child Welfare
Cohabitation Agreements
A cohabitation agreement is a form of legal agreement between a couple who have chosen to live together outside of marriage (whether they are heterosexual or homosexual). Similar to the basic idea of a prenuptial agreement, a cohabitation agreement is a contract for a couple who want to live together in order to protect themselves from unnecessary costs and litigation should their cohabitation end. The couple can clearly establish their property rights and what arrangements might be made for mutual financial support, dealing with debt, caring for children, and other issues involving the breakdown of the relationship. The agreement also allows the parties to determine in advance what will happen to specific assets as well as assets that have been purchased jointly if they separate. This agreement is intended to bind both parties
Collaborative Family Law
Collaborative law, or collaborative practice/divorce/family law, allows couples who have decided to end a marriage or separate to work with their lawyers to settle out of court. This usually requires each party to sign a “participation agreement” which binds them to the process and disallows their attorneys to represent them in further family law matters in court. This usually allows for a less oppositional process.
Contract Law
- Negotiating contract terms
- Drafting contracts
- Reviewing and revising contract terms
- Litigating contract disputes
- Contracts involving intellectual property, such as licensing agreements
- Lease agreements, including commercial leases
- Buy-sell agreements
- Partnership contracts
- Real estate contracts
- Sports and entertainment contracts
Correction and Rehabilitation
Correction and rehabilitation are very important when dealing with juvenile offenders, however, as long as the punishment is not retributive punishment. The statute is not punitive, but rather takes a corrective and protective approach that’s overall purpose is to make better citizens out of the offender. Thus, the juvenile court adjudicates status, rather than a conviction of crime with a societal stigma. The rehabilitation of the minor should be paramount as well as the best interests of the child.
Criminal Defense (Not really sure where to go here)
- sad
- DUI/drunk driving
- Blood alcohol content
- Traffic violations/traffic tickets
- Juvenile offenses/delinquency
- Drug crimes
- Drug conspiracy
- Drug possession with intent to deliver
- Violent crimes
- Expungement
- Theft
- Assault
- Sex offenses/rape
- Indecent exposure
- Statutory rape
- Domestic violence
- Date rape
- Federal and white collar crime
- Fraud
- Mortgage fraud
- Insurance fraud
- Credit card fraud
- Money laundering
- Computer crimes/Internet crimes
Dependent Children
Divorce
Domestic Partnerships
Domestic Relations
Domestic Torts
- Assault
- Battery
- Intentional/negligent transmission of a Sexually Transmitted Disease
- False Imprisonment
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress
- Misrepresentation and fraud
- Conversion
- Malicious prosecution
- Abuse of process
- Tortious interference with custody/visitation
- Defamation
- Invasion of right of privacy
- Negligence
Domestic Violence and PFAs
Victims of Domestic Violence or Abuse can seek a Protection From Abuse (PFA) order from the Court. This is a civil order that provides the victim with protection from his or her abuser. PFA petitions can be filed where a victim is being abused by or is in fear of abuse by a family member, spouse, intimate partner, a former intimate partner, or someone the victim has a child with.
Employment Law
Estate Planning
Equitable Distribution
Expungements
Expungement – Today, most potential employers, current employers, government agencies, insurance companies, and even banks will conduct criminal background checks on potential employees or even customers. If and when a background check is conducted, criminal charges that might appear on your record could influence your earning capacity and ability to get a job, a promotion, employment with government agencies, insurance, or housing.
- If the charges were withdrew by the Commonwealth;
- If the charges were dismissed by the Court prior to trial;
- If the accused was found ‘not guilty’;
- The arrest occurred when the offender was a juvenile and more than five years has elapsed;
- If you have successfully completed the Section 17 probation program;
- If you have successfully completed a county ARD program;
- If the offender is 70 years of age or older and has not been arrested in the last 10 years;
- Offender is deceased;
- Offense is a summary offense (after 5 years of no prior arrests from date of summary offense); and
- Offense is pardoned
Family Arbitration
Family/Divorce Mediation
Fathers’ Rights
Gay and Lesbian Family Law
Gay and Lesbian Couples • Unmarried Heterosexual Couples • Grandparents
- Homosexual couples (Gay & Lesbian);
- Unmarried heterosexual couples;
- Families where grandparents serve as the primary caregivers;
- Siblings who live together and raise their children in the same home.
Grandparents’ Rights
International Family Law
International Child Abductions
- Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA)
- The UCCJEA governs both interstate and international child custody. It determines which state or country will have jurisdiction in a child custody proceeding. The Court must consider the factors set forth in the UCCJEA in deciding whether it, or another state, or country has jurisdiction.
- Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA)
- The UIFSA provides an easy way to enforce and collect both child and spousal support (alimony) across state and international borders. While enforcing and collecting support is made easier by the UIFSA, there are various issues that often arise in the context of an interstate or international family law proceeding that command a specialized knowledge of the UIFSA.
- Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA)
- The PKPA is a Federal law that has requirements for how different states must enforce interstate child custody orders. It proscribes a state from taking jurisdiction of a child custody proceeding that was commenced while another child custody proceeding involving the same children and parents is pending in another state.
- Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention)
- The Hague Convention is an international treaty that United States has entered into with several other countries. If a family is involved in an international child custody dispute, the Hague Convention will apply, if the United States and the other country have both signed the treaty. The Hague Convention’s purpose is to protect children from being wrongfully removed across international borders by providing an international procedure for the children’s prompt return to their country of “habitual residence.”
- The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention)
- The Hague Adoption Convention is an international treaty that applies to all adoptions between the United States and other countries that have joined this agreement.
- http://adoption.state.gov/hague/overview.html
- The Hague Adoption Convention is an international treaty that applies to all adoptions between the United States and other countries that have joined this agreement.
Interstate Support
If you have concerns about enforcing a support order from another state against your ex-spouse, your first course of action, is to obtain “certified” copy of the support order from domestic relations or the clerk of the court that entered the original order. Bring that copy to our office. We will “register” the foreign support order in the jurisdiction where the obligor lives. We will prepare the necessary papers including a sworn statement for registration and send the necessary paperwork to the appropriate clerk for filing. Registration is not a complicated procedure, however it is better to let an experienced attorney help you through the process.
Juvenile Criminal Defense
Juvenile Delinquent
A juvenile delinquent has many socially negative connotations in today’s society. A juvenile delinquent in Pennsylvania, is a minor child under 18 years of age, who violated any ordinance or law of the state, or who committed an act that would be considered a crime if committed by an adult.
Landlord/Tenant
Landlord–tenant law deals with the rights and duties of landlords and tenants. It includes elements of property law and contract law. Landlord-tenant law governs the rights and obligations landlords and tenants owe to each other. For example, landlords have the right to be paid rent and tenants have the right to acceptable living conditions.
Marital Agreements
Postnuptial agreements must have all the elements of all contracts:
Offer
Acceptance
Consideration
Mutual assent
Legality
Capacity[citation needed]
In the United States, as with prenuptial agreements, five additional elements are typically required for a valid postnuptial agreement:
agreement must be in writing (oral promises of this kind are always prohibited)
must be executed voluntarily
full and/or fair disclosure at the time of execution
the agreement cannot be unconscionable
it must be executed by both parties (not their attorneys) “in the manner required for a deed to be recorded”, known as an acknowledgment, before a notary public
Marital Property Distribution
Matrimonial Law
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice refers to the negligence and sub-par practice of a health care provider which causes injury to, or death of, the patient.
Military Divorce
Under the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act, 50 UCS section 521 and in the discretion of the local Pennsylvania court, the divorce proceeding may be postponed for the entire time the active service member is on duty and for up to 60 days thereafter (especially when the active member is serving in a war). A military member can waive the right to having the divorce proceedings postponed if he or she wants the divorce.
Motor Vehicle
Name Changes
Orphan’s Court Practice
Palimony
Parental Kidnapping
Paternity
Personal Injury
Typically, personal injury claims result from traffic accidents, assault, product defects, accidents at work, tripping, or accidents in the home. Personal injury can also include medical and dental accidents, asbestos, mesothelioma, and other diseases.
If it can be proved that the opposing party was negligent, the injured party may be entitled to compensation from the negligent party.
Post Divorce Modification
Property Settlement Agreements
Property Settlement Agreements are agreements entered into by the parties in a divorce action with a plan for dividing property, assets, and liabilities between them. Property Settlement Agreements usually address bank accounts, debts, vehicles, and other property so that once the parties are divorced, there is a clear plan for how the parties’ property will be distributed.
Prenuptial Agreements
The Pennsylvania legislature enacted 23 Pa.C.S. § 3106 in 2004. The requirements of § 3106 provide, that a party seeking to invalidate a premarital agreement has to prove that the party either did not execute the agreement voluntarily, or that prior to execution of the agreement, the party was not provided (i) a fair and reasonable disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the other party; (ii) did not voluntarily and expressly waive, in writing, any right to disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the other party beyond the disclosure provided; and (iii) did not have an adequate knowledge of the property or financial obligations of the other party. 23 Pa.C.S. § 3106.
In other words, if the claimant wants to invalidate a prenuptial agreement, then that party must show that they signed the agreement (1) against their will or (2) they signed it without knowing their future spouse’s full financial situation, (3) that they did not waive their right to the disclosure of their future spouse’s financial situation, (4) or that their future spouse left out important financial elements from the disclosure they did make.
The statute wants the disclosure of information between the parties, but it also refers to the “voluntariness” of the agreement. Typically, a factual analysis as to whether a prenuptial agreement was entered into voluntarily by a party involves references to the proximity of the wedding to the execution of the agreement, ultimatums for signing the agreement from one party to the other, or some other circumstance that the signing party could construe as placing a heightened degree of pressure on them and, thereby, making their execution of the agreement seem less than “voluntary.”
It is extremely difficult, if not impossible to overturn a prenuptial agreement. However, important steps need to be followed in order to ensure that an agreement can withstand a potential trial. It is worth the parties’ time to begin to consider prenuptial agreements at the earliest possible moment. The courts will not step in to be a parent to prevent people from contracting poorly, being absent-minded or otherwise using poor judgment. To make the deal a ‘fair deal’ the parties should agree to consult their separate attorneys as early as possible, they should make full and fair disclosures of their financial positions, and get what can be undoubtedly an uncomfortable part of the marriage process finished as soon as possible. If a person is committed in a loving way to another it can be hoped that he or she would be prepared to make a full disclosure of his/her financial position, and afford the intended spouse the time and resources to have an experienced attorney advise them of the merits of the proposed agreement. If you are engaged to someone who is having second thoughts with making a financial disclosure, or having a review of the agreement by an experienced attorney, you should be weary about the situation. A prenuptial agreement is binding throughout the marriage. The value of the legal rights involved in such an agreement is priceless.
QDROs
Restraining Orders
Separation Agreements
Legal separation is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize separation while remaining legally married. This can be accomplished by the arrangement of a separation agreement. A legal separation is granted in the form of a court order, which usually makes arrangements for the care, custody, and financial support of any children of the marriage during the separation. If the couple decides to reconcile, nothing needs to be done to continue the marriage. However, if a couple who is legally separated does decide to divorce, they must file a divorce action. Because a legal separation does not automatically lead to a divorce, it is sometimes used by couples as an alternative to divorce. Pennsylvania does not recognize legal separation documents.
Slip & Fall
Slip and fall, a category of personal injury, is a claim or case based on a person slipping (or tripping) and falling. It is a tort based on a claim that the property owner was negligent in allowing some dangerous condition to exist that caused the slip or trip. Often, these claims are defended by the property owner claiming he was not negligent or by claiming that the injured party did not take any steps to reduce their injuries (for example, avoiding a slippery floor if it was clearly wet).
Spousal Support
Before the final divorce decree is entered, the amount of support paid to a spouse is called spousal support. It is generally not available when both spouses live in the same home unless it can be shown that one spouse is not contributing to regular household expenses. In Pennsylvania, spousal support is calculated by using a percentage of the difference of net incomes or earning capacities of the parties after consideration of other support obligations. According to Pennsylvania law, if the spouse who receives spousal support (a.k.a. the payee) has committed fault-based grounds for divorce, i.e. adultery, the court has the power to decline an award for spousal support. The person paying support’s (a.k.a. the obligor) right to raise the fault grounds is called an entitlement defense to paying the spousal support. In Pennsylvania, there are no time limits for how long that spousal support is payable. Having said that, if the couple has been married for a short period of time prior to the split, the court could limit amount of time of any spousal support (or APL) payments as well as the total monthly payment
Tax Aspects of Pennsylvania Support Orders
Under I.R.C. (the Federal tax code) § 61, it states that if a spouse receives any spousal support, APL, or alimony, that money is treated as income to the recipient. That money paid by the obligor is allowed to be a deduction from income. In addition to the amount for support, if the obligor spouse pays any additional amounts for payment on the mortgage, health insurance, or unreimbursed medical expenses, those payments could also be considered as payments for alimony under federal tax laws. If an individual is paying or receiving support in an unallocated order, it is best to consult with a tax advisor.
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction And Enforcement Act (UCCJEA)
The UCCJEA is an act that has been adopted by 49 states and serves to vest jurisdiction of custody matters in a child’s home state in the event that the child is abducted into another state. If a parental kidnapping takes place, and the child is taken out of his or her home state, the UCCJEA is used as a tool to return that child to their home state.
Third Party Custody
Where a third party (a non-parent) has acted in loco parentis of a child, meaning they have assumed the obligations associated with the role of a parent, they may challenge custody of a parent in court.
Uncontested Divorce
Where the issues are not complex and the parties are cooperative, a settlement often can be directly negotiated between them.
Visitation Rights
Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ Compensation laws provide compensation and benefits to individuals who are injured as a result of an accident, occupational hazard, or disease while at work. These laws exist to protect workers from losses and injuries sustained as a result of their work environment. These laws also benefit employers, as the employee receives compensation and benefits in exchange for waiving their right to sue the employer.Where the issues are not complex and the parties are cooperative, a settlement often can be directly negotiated between them.
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