September, 2008 | Pennsylvania Family Law Blog - The Law Offices of Sheryl R. Rentz Archive

Postnuptial Agreements Increasing in Popularity

By Sheryl Rentz on September 15, 2008

A recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune discussed the recent surge of postnuptial agreements. These agreements are very similar to a premarital agreement, but instead are entered into AFTER a couple has been married. While they are still very rare (only 1 or 2 percent of married couples request postnuptial agreements) the agreements could become more popular in the near future as they become more common in practice. In fact, a 2007 study by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) indicated that 49 percent of the members said they’d seen an increase in postnups in the past five years. Read the rest »

Pennsylvania Child Custody Tax Hurts Parents, Kids Financially

By Sheryl Rentz on September 3, 2008

A recent article in the Patriot News discusses the Pennsylvania state tax fee of $25 that is being charged to custodial parents on an annual basis. That’s right, the Pennsylvania statute actually taxes the parents that HAVE custody of the child in the case of divorce annually.

The Pennsylvania Legislature decided to charge custodial parents $25 annually for each child, provided they collect at least $2,000 a year from the noncustodial parent and have never received cash assistance from welfare. The fee started when a federal law that required states’ help in recouping some of the costs for providing child support enforcement services went on the books. States like Pennsylvania were given the option of collecting the money from one of the parents or paying it themselves. Pennsylvania decided to collect it from parents that had custody of children from broken homes. Read the rest »