Pennsylvania Family Law Blog – The Law Offices of Sheryl R. Rentz
Without a Pre-Nuptial Agreement, Elizabeth Hurley Could Lose Millions in Divorce
The Huffington Post reports that Elizabeth Hurley and her husband Arun Nayar are divorcing after three years of marriage. However, Hurley disregarded one major precaution most celebrities take before marrying: having a pre-nuptial agreement.
Hurley could potentially lose a significant amount of her fortune because of this oversight. The British actress is said to have over £13 million (over $17 million USD), including a £4.3 million (approximately $5.7 million USD) mansion in South-West England as well as a £2.5 million (about $3.3 million USD) townhouse in London, which her ex-boyfriend Hugh Grant co-owns. Read the rest »
Surviving the Holiday Season after a Pennsylvania Divorce
Surviving the holidays during or soon after a divorce in Pennsylvania can be very difficult. Feelings of loneliness or anger are only magnified during cheery festivities with friends and family. Often the holidays are anticipated with dread by a newly divorce or separated person. While there aren’t any magical cures for the holiday blues, there are some things you can do to help make coping with a Pennsylvania divorce easier during the holidays.
Try to plan ahead to do something fun, stress-free, and relaxing with the people you genuinely care about. If you’re worried the holidays are going to be too painful with reminders of your divorce everywhere, consider taking a vacation to escape. Read the rest »
U.S. Women Increasingly More Likely To Seek Out Pre-Marital Agreements
A San Francisco Chronicle article has brought to light the recent increase in the number of pre-marital agreements (also referred to as a pre-nuptial agreement or prenuptial) currently being filed by Americans. Just a few decades ago, pre-marital agreements were adopted almost solely by the wealthy. However, in today’s modern age, more and more middle class couples are choosing to enter in pre-marital agreements prior to officially tying the knot.
Interestingly, a recent poll by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) discovered that women are typically the ones to initiate a pre-marital agreement, doing so about 52% of the time, according to a survey of divorce lawyers in the United States. Speculatively, this could be attributed to the fact that the number of working wives has steadily increased over the years. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, about 46% of the workforce is now comprised of women, with numbers continually rising each year. With a greater number of women working and earning larger salaries than they did in years’ past, women have generally developed an increasingly higher interest in protecting their assets, which a pre-marital agreement offers. Read the rest »
Pennsylvania Raises Awareness of Domestic Violence
In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, in a partnership with Verizon Wireless, four Public Broadcast System (PBS) stations hosted community events across the state of Pennsylvania during the month of October. The events were aimed to help promote awareness of the different options and services accessible to at-risk individuals and domestic violence victims. Events will continue into November, but every American should take time, no matter the month, to see what each one of us can do to help bring to light the seriousness of domestic violence.
According to PR Newswire, prominently featured throughout the events was a screening of “Telling Amy’s Story,” a documentary that chronicles the events that led to the death of Amy Homan McGree, whose husband shot and killed her, leaving behind two children. The film was created by Penn State Public Broadcasting and has aired on PBS stations across the United States. The film was shown on WQLN on October 6, on WHYY on October 12, on WLVT on October 21, and will be shown on WQED in Pittsburgh on November 18. For more information about past and future events, please visit http://www.telling.psu.edu/. Read the rest »
Divorce Changes More than One’s Marital Status
Anyone who’s ever said that filing for divorce is an easy process has probably never been through a divorce themselves. Divorce is usually one of the most stressful situations that a person can ever go through in life. It is a complicated process that involves a substantial amount of work. However, once the divorce process is completed, its conclusion does not mark the end of hard work, particularly if children are involved.
According to a recent NapaValleyRegister.com article, the divorce process can best be described as a major period of change. A person’s daily routines are significantly altered, their finances are inevitably affected, and relationships with their now ex-spouse and close family friends are forever changed. Ultimately, individuals who divorce are not only changing their marital status, but also the way they live after the divorce is finalized. Read the rest »
Understanding Types of Domestic Violence in Philadelphia Divorce Cases
Domestic violence, sometimes referred to as domestic abuse, can take many forms and can involve multiple members of one’s family, including children. Domestic violence in Pennsylvania can involve physical abuse, typically in the form of striking another individual’s body; emotional abuse, in the form of verbally assaulting an individual; or sexual abuse. Intimidation tactics, such as economic deprivation and stalking, are also considered forms of domestic violence. Regardless of the form of domestic violence, the abusive behavior should immediately be reported to the proper authorities, and should certainly be considered during all divorce proceedings.
Marriage can be defined as a partnership in which both individuals involved are charged with treating the other in a fair and just manner. In divorce proceedings where one partner claims that they suffered domestic violence abuse at the hands of the other, the abused party may be able to seek benefits to help compensate for the effects of such treatment. Spouses who experience domestic violence of any form have rights, and those rights should under no circumstances be disregarded during the divorce process. Remember the most important thing to do in any domestic violence scenario is to remove yourself from the situation as soon as possible to ensure your safety and physical well being. Read the rest »
Income, Not Co-Habitation Before Marriage, May Be More Significant in Divorce Decisions
Every now and then, trends need to be re-examined, particularly when it comes to statistical data associated with those trends. When it comes to divorce rate and co-habitation before marriage, what can be deciphered today is different from what was concluded decades ago. According to a recent Newsweek article, living together before marriage was formerly considered a warning sign that an eventual marriage was doomed to end in divorce; but as society’s view of co-habitation has changed over the years, the correlation between co-habitation and divorce has less to do with the act of living together, and more with external factors that may have led to two people choosing to live with one another.
In the 1970s, nearly a third of couples decided to live together before marriage. At the time, societal views of the act of co-habitation were predominantly negative. Now, nearly two-thirds of all couples decide to live together before marriage and, while it is still considered by some to be an improper path taken prior to saying I do, it is much more accepted than ever before. However, when the financial situations of the two co-habiting individuals are taken into consideration, the likelihood of divorce is inevitably affected. Read the rest »
Pay a Premium, Decide to Divorce, and Collect Your Check
Insurance policies are taken out in the event of some sort of disaster. Up until recently, divorce was hardly considered the type of disaster that insurance would cover. However, according to a recent dispatch.com article, one particular insurance company is now offering divorce insurance to individuals who feel that their marriages cannot be saved.
Critics of the newly offered insurance product reason that couples who have this insurance may be less inclined to make their marriage work, opting instead for a monetary payout once proof of the divorce is furnished to the insurance company. Reportedly, the insurance costs about $16 a month per unit, which translates to $1,250 once the policy matures. An individual purchasing this insurance must wait four years until the policy matures, although riders can allegedly be purchased to minimize the length of the maturity period. While many may view this insurance as an extra precautionary measure taken in defense of divorce, others may consider it an indication that a marriage is not built upon strong enough of a foundation to ultimately last in the first place, and that couples who purchase this insurance may simply be setting themselves up for failure. Read the rest »
Children of Divorced Parents are Likely to Experience Divorce Later in Life
With some statistics showing that one out of every two marriages will fail, it’s no wonder that divorce has ingrained itself within our society. In fact, with the addition of laws that have made it much easier to file for divorce nowadays than it was 50 years ago, our society has gotten to the point where divorce is hardly out of the ordinary. Consequently, according to a recent CNN.com report, it’s this sense of familiarity that is making divorce even more prevalent, particularly among couples where either one or both spouses come from families of divorce.
The National Center for Health Statistics reports that in 2009, there were 3.4 divorces per 1,000 people in the United States. However, when you factor in whether or not an individual has divorced parents, the likelihood that the individual will eventually divorce greatly increases. That is, the risk of divorce increases by 50% when one spouse comes from a family of divorce, and an astounding 200% when both spouses do. The most basic explanation for these figures is the idea that children grow up to value the same ideals their parents did, and if divorce was factored into the familial equation, then a child will view divorce much less benignly than a child who was not exposed to a household of divorce while growing up. Read the rest »
Study Shows Daughters May Instill More Divorces than Sons
In a recent New York Times blog article, a study involving the causal relationship between a child’s gender and the likelihood that the child’s parents will divorce has provoked some interesting thoughts. According to the data gathered, parents of girls divorce 5% more than parents of boys do. In fact, the greater the number of daughters a couple has does in fact seem to have an effect on divorce. For example, parents who have three daughters are 10% more likely to divorce than couples who have three sons, according to supporting data gathered in 2003.
There are numerous theories as to why this trend occurs. Previous theories claim that men are more likely to help make a marriage work if sons are involved, although any sort of evidence for this theory is lacking. Currently, some believe that daughters may be viewed as better companions than sons are, and that mothers are more willing to depend on their daughters for the type of social support needed during a divorce. Essentially, if a woman has a daughter, then she does not necessarily need a husband, one theory states. Furthermore, daughters may be labeled as more helpful and/or self-sufficient upon reaching adulthood, while sons are considered more dependent, thus the reasoning why couples may choose to stay together rather than divorce. Read the rest »
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