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Divorce and Family Law Office of Joanne Kleiner

Amicable Divorce Attorney

child custody

Jan 21

Money, Parental Access, and Child Well-Being Influence Divorce Terms

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 48.7 percent of the 13.4 million custodial parents in the country have court orders or other agreements requiring noncustodial parents to provide financial support to their children. A substantial majority of these agreements, 89.8 percent, arose from decisions by courts or government agencies. Only 10.2 percent of these parents relied on informal agreements.

A consultation with a Jenkintown family lawyer could provide important insights about how to create an agreement with your child’s other parent. Even people going through uncontested divorces often require advice from divorce lawyers about how to calculate child support and develop a custody schedule.

A Jenkintown divorce lawyer will guide you through issues such as:

  • Options for child custody
  • Establishment of child support
  • Spousal support
  • The best interests of the child

Types of Child Custody

A family lawyer could explain how to approach child custody based on your specific circumstances. In uncontested divorces, the parents typically create a co-parenting plan. While developing your plan, a child custody attorney could help you make informed decisions about issues such as parental relocation, vacation scheduling, rights to make medical decisions, and much more. Family courts in Pennsylvania recognize seven forms of child custody:

  • Shared physical custody
  • Primary physical custody
  • Partial physical custody
  • Sole physical custody
  • Supervised physical custody
  • Shared legal custody
  • Sole legal custody

As you and the other parent work through your options, a child custody lawyer could defend your parental rights. If you desire privacy and control during this process, a collaborative law approach can help limit the need for litigation. With collaborative law, you and a divorce lawyer will negotiate with the other party. Collaborative law offers an alternative to family court intervention when both parties desire a mutually acceptable outcome.

If you and the other parent reach terms regarding custody outside of court, a child custody lawyer could prepare the written agreement. Otherwise, a family lawyer could present your wishes during a court hearing and seek a custodial determination from the judge. Representation from a Jenkintown divorce lawyer will help prepare you to understand court procedures. As your child custody attorney, we will strive to clearly communicate your concerns and preserve your relationship with your child.

Calculation of Child Support

A child support attorney will explain how your personal income, everyday expenses for the children, shared custody schedule, and health insurance costs will influence the amount of child support. Your child support lawyer will inform you about state guidelines for calculating child support. Advice from a child support lawyer may allow you to create a post-divorce family budget. A child support attorney could represent your interests in court if the other parent challenges your support request or ceases payment.

Financial Transition

Relationships that involved partners with significantly unequal incomes might qualify for spousal support. A family lawyer may recommend pursuing this compensation to maintain financial stability during your transition to single life. A Jenkintown divorce lawyer can help you evaluate whether spousal support might play a role in your divorce settlement.

The Role of Child Well-Being in Support and Custody Decisions

A child support lawyer will focus on achieving a resolution that meets your child’s financial needs. Advice from a divorce attorney could protect your child from future hardship. During uncontested divorces, a review of the support plan by a child support attorney can alert you to expenses that you might have overlooked.

During your consultations with a Jenkintown family lawyer, you will learn that the law considers more than parental wishes in a custody decision. Courts value the best interests of the child with an emphasis on safety and familial relationships. Stable home life and continuity of schooling and extracurricular activities could play roles as well. After reviewing your situation, a child custody lawyer might identify the issues most pertinent to your case. The advocacy of a child custody attorney might allow you to challenge allegations made against you by the other party.

Contact Us

At Joanne Kleiner & Associates, you can have access to a Jenkintown family lawyer who’s willing to defend your parental rights. Whether you need legal representation or are still just curious about your options, we can provide the guidance you need. Call us at 215-886-1266 or email us to schedule an appointment with a divorce lawyer and receive personalized advice.

Jan 10, 2018

Nesting Divorce Plans: What You Need to Know

Nesting Plan | Divorce Lawyer

Now more than ever couples considering divorce want options. There are many different variations of how people choose to get divorced and how they structure their life after the fact.

What is Nesting?

One recent development that more families are considering is called a nesting plan and it could help you and your former spouse chart out an appropriate way to parent. However, nesting plans are not right for everyone. Read on to learn more about how these plans work and how you can identify whether or not it’s the right fit for you.

For the vast majority of people going through a divorce, keeping the children in the family home is the main priority and this is for a good reason. The marital residence might be the only home ever known by the children and with so much change on the rise, stability may be the only thing you and your former spouse can agree on.

As parents go through a divorce, they may feel that the children should be kept in the home because it will help with stability and comfort during a time of major transition.

A nesting plan means that both parents take a turn living in the primary home while the children stay there all the time. There are a number of different issues you need to consider before deciding if this is the right choice for you, and the help of your family lawyer cannot be understated.

How Do I Know Whether Nesting is the Right Fit for Us?

Your Montgomery County Pennsylvania family attorney may be able to recommend whether or not nesting makes sense in your case. A nesting plan refers to co-parenting in which both children keep the marital family home. The parents then might also rent additional space for the two of them to share or their own one-bedroom apartment after their divorce and it’s not their parenting time.

The parent will live in the marital home and the other parent lives in the rented space until the parenting time switches; however, this might initially seem simple but if you and the spouse are rotating in and out of your previous marital home, you will still need a parenting plan. A bird nesting plan is not a substitute for a time-sharing agreement or a parenting plan.

Pros and Cons of Nesting Plans

There are benefits and disadvantages to the nesting plan. It could reduce your potential post-marital housing costs to have a small apartment while keeping the family home that you may already own. This is usually the biggest expense that each person will incur after a divorce.

There are also costs of having a second location, however. Emotionally, your primary concern is probably about the well-being of your children, however, it can be challenging for children to adjust to these this new situation.

Furthermore, you might find it difficult to go back and forth especially if you and the other spouse are not able to get along well or if you have disagreements about appropriate parenting style. Many different issues can emerge in the bird nesting agreement and if you do not have a system in place with the other spouse to discuss how these issues will be addressed, you could put yourself at risk for constant arguments and problems with the other spouse. Bird nesting maybe something to consider in the short-term but you need to see how it might work for your family. If you’re unable to come to terms of agreement with your former spouse on anything else, it is unlikely that a bird nesting plan would be most appropriate for you.

CONTACT US

At the Law Office of Joanne E. Kleiner, we have more than 25 years of family law experience. We’ll help you stay focused on what matters. To schedule an appointment with an experienced Pennsylvania divorce attorney, contact our office online or call us at 215-886-1266.

Jul 01

How Child Support is Calculated in Pennsylvania

How Child Support

If you have filed for divorce or have been served with a divorce complaint and there are minor children in the home, one of your first questions will involve child support. Under what circumstances will the court order the payment of child support, who will be required to pay, and how is child support calculated?

Who Pays Child Support?

In Pennsylvania, the parent of a child can request an order of support, whether or not a divorce complaint has been filed, and whether or not the parents were ever married. The support order typically follows on the heels of a custody order. If the court grants physical custody to one of the parents, that parent becomes entitled to support payments. In situations where the parents are not married, the court may require a paternity test before ordering support. It’s important to understand that you can be ordered to pay support, even if you are unemployed, provided you are the non-custodial parent. In addition, it doesn’t matter if the custodial parent makes more money than the non-custodial parent. Child support is intended to ensure that both parents contribute to the financial needs of the child.

The Calculation of Child Support

Either or both parents may be ordered to pay child support, with the court considering the following factors when determining the amount of support:

  • The net income of each parent
  • The earning capacity of each parent
  • The assets of each parent
  • Any unusual needs of the parent or child
  • Any extraordinary expenses

Contact the Law Office of Joanne E. Kleiner & Associates

For an appointment, contact our office online or call us at 215-886-1266. Let us use our experience, skill, knowledge and resources to help you make informed and effective decisions.

Jun 05

The Impact of a Custody Battle

custody visitation

Many parents who contest a court’s custody ruling, or who engage in long and protracted proceedings to establish custody and visitation arrangement will tell you that they are doing it “for the benefit of the children.” There are certainly instances where one parent must do whatever is necessary to ensure a safe outcome for children—if there’s domestic violence, alcohol or drug abuse, for example. In most cases, though, their actions are ultimately counterproductive, draining precious resources that could be better spent on the children or on improving their lives.

Here are the most frequent consequences of an unnecessary custody battle:

  • One or both parties spend money they can’t afford to spend—It may be money that would be used to buy clothes and food, to live in a better house, or to fund a child’s college education. Attorney’s fees can be substantial, even if the skirmish is short-lived.
  • The tension and conflict between the parties increases—When you are on opposite sides of an argument, it’s hard to find ways to agree…which is often in the best interests of your children. Not only will it have an impact on your health—medical professionals have long known that stress and anxiety are bad for you—but your kids will be well aware of what’s going on and will feel in the middle (or even to blame).
  • Co-parenting becomes difficult or impossible—Even if the issues you need to resolve involve only your children, it will be hard not to inject some of your dispute or animosity with your ex into the process. In the aftermath of divorce, your children need stability and consistency—a custody battle makes those objectives difficult to attain.
  • Your children will suffer—If you and your ex are taking side, your children will feel compelled to as well. They love both of you, so they’ll struggle to make both of you happy—an unattainable goal.

Contact the Law Office of Joanne E. Kleiner & Associates

For an appointment, contact our office online or call us at 215-886-1266. Let us use our experience, skill, knowledge and resources to help you make informed and effective decisions.

May 06

Important Terms to Know as You Prepare for Divorce

Prepare for Divorce

If you are considering or have filed for divorce, or if you anticipate being served with a divorce complaint, you’ll start hearing many terms with which you may not be familiar. Here are some legal terms that you should learn, so that you can meaningfully participate in the proceedings

Discovery

If your divorce is contested in any way—custody, visitation, child support or division of marital debts and assets—the court will most likely identify the length of the “discovery” period, and set some rules governing discovery. “Discovery” is simply the term that lawyers and judges use for gathering evidence. In the American judicial system, we have the concept of “open discovery.” That means that both sides are entitled to access to all evidence related to the case—one party cannot intentionally hide or fail to disclose relevant evidence. If that happens, there’s a significant chance that the court will rule the evidence to be inadmissible.

Equitable Distribution

Equitable distribution refers to a method for allocating the debts and assets of a marriage. For states that follow equitable distribution principles, property and liabilities are divided equitably, or “fairly.” It’s important to understand that “equitable” does not mean “equal.” The court may consider a wide range of factors. For example, in Pennsylvania, the court can examine, among other factor:

  • The duration of the marriage
  • The age and health of both parties
  • The earning power and sources of income of both parties

Spousal Maintenance

Spousal maintenance is just another term for alimony. It can also be referred to as “spousal support.” Though alimony or spousal maintenance is not as common as it used to be, it is still used in specific situations, including where a spouse may lack the skills to be gainfully employed, or may need time to develop those skills or get the requisite education or training.

Contact Us

At the office of Joanne E. Kleiner & Associates, we have more than 25 years of family law experience. We’ll help you stay focused on what matters. To schedule an appointment with an experienced Pennsylvania divorce attorney, contact our office online or call us at 215-886-1266.