Pennsylvania Family Law Blog – The Law Offices of Sheryl R. Rentz
Woman Arrested in Pennsylvania on Washington Kidnapping Charge Following Custody Dispute
Police report that a woman accused of kidnapping her children has been arrested after eleven years on the run. An arrest warrant was issued in Spokane, Washington in 1998 for a 48-year-old woman who was recently arrested in her Milton, Pennsylvania home December 29, 2009. She left with the children when her ex-husband was awarded custody after their divorce. The woman claims she was a victim of domestic violence and her children, now 15 and 17-years-old, were sexually abused by their father. Police believe these claims have no merit; however, these kinds of situations are very complex and require thorough investigation.
Even though this kidnapping took place in Washington State, custody disputes are all too common in Pennsylvania. Separation and divorce are difficult enough situations, but when children are involved, emotions can run very high. Nevertheless, it is never appropriate to take a child away from the custodial parent, even if your intention is to protect the child. There can be serious legal ramifications. Obtaining a custody order by a court in Pennsylvania is the key to a secure future custody of the children. Read the rest »
Philadelphia Police Department to Improve Relationship with Domestic Violence Agencies (Part 2)
Every day in Philadelphia hundreds of victims of domestic violence turn to one of the four main domestic violence agencies in the city. These include Women Against Abuse, Women in Transition, Congreso de Latinos Unidos, and Lutheran Settlement House. On some days, the number of victims seeking assistance in Pennsylvania is nearly 2,500. You can visit this website for more information: http://www.helpwomen.org/pr/DV08Sum.pdf.
The Philadelphia Police Department is investigating new ways of strengthening their partnerships with the agencies mentioned above by scheduling follow-up visits and making referrals after 911 calls. Help is available to victims, but services are also offered to abusers as well. Most abusers were victims in their lifetime, and counseling and education are available to help break the vicious cycle. Read the rest »
Philadelphia Police to Improve Domestic Violence Reporting (Part 1)
According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia experienced a dramatic surge in domestic murders in 2009. While the overall homicide rate in the city dropped 23%, domestic murders were up by an alarming 67%.
When a Philadelphia police officer responds to a domestic violence call, the officer does not have any information about the history of domestic violence in that home, such as the number of previous domestic abuse calls, or whether someone living there has an active restraining order. If there are no obvious signs of violence, an officer can only leave behind a business card with hotline numbers, but offer little else in the way of help to the victim. Read the rest »
Learning More About How Divorce May Influence Survivor Benefits
Financial responsibility after a divorce, particularly after the loss of a spouse or ex-spouse, is also connected to survivor benefits if a spouse or ex-spouse passes away. Our previous two blogs addressed a few important issues regarding how divorce may or may not affect your social security. We now turn our attention to whether or not an individual may collect spousal or ex-spousal survivor benefits. Generally speaking, if you are divorced, and if you remarry before the age of 60, you are not allowed to collect a survivor benefit based on the earnings of your deceased ex-spouse for the duration of that new marriage.
A few other factors that may influence whether you qualify to obtain survivor benefits relate to your age and how long your marriage lasted. For instance, you may be able to receive survivor benefits beginning at the age of 60. However it should be noted that you may be able to receive these benefits before the age of 60 if you are at least 50-years-old and disabled. Read the rest »
Understanding How Divorce May Influence Your Social Security (Part Two)
In Part Two of our blog series discussing how divorce may or may not affect your social security, we will discuss what role time and age may play in social security and divorce. Based on a recent Wall Street Journal article, it is helpful to note that an individual who has not yet arrived at his or her full retirement age may receive a percentage of the monetary gain he or she would be entitled to get at that time.
When taking into consideration the benefits you are provided by your own work earnings, what is owed to you would generally have to be less than the benefits you would be given through your spouse’s work benefits. An exception to this is that if you delay filing for Social Security until your full retirement age, you can limit the degree of your application to your ex-spouse’s benefit only. In doing this, you can also maintain accumulating credits for postponing your own retirement benefit up to the age of 70. Read the rest »
Understanding How Divorce May Influence Your Social Security (Part One)
As a Philadelphia family law attorney, I am often asked whether or not a divorce will affect social security benefits. This is a question that many individuals encounter throughout the United States, including Pennsylvania. From my experience as a divorce lawyer, and according to a Wall Street Journal article, there are a few points that may help clear up any confusion regarding social security retirement benefits based on an ex spouse’s work record.
In Part One of our blog series discussing whether or not a divorce will affect your social security, we will discuss four universal conditions that you must meet in order to obtain social security retirement benefits from your ex-spouse’s income. They are as follows: Read the rest »
Child Custody for Fathers Shows Increase
Anyone who has gone through a divorce and has children is likely to tell you that it takes a lot of heart and courage to fight for what is best for your child. Even when a parent does not receive primary physical custody for their child or children, obtaining visitation rights or joint custody are both very important issues of concern.
A recent article from the New York Times discusses a collection of articles from Working Mother Magazine that address a new and heightened tendency for fathers to be given custody of children over the children’s mothers. Interestingly, as more women have become primary earners in a marriage, more women have seen their husbands receive primary physical custody of their children when a divorce takes place. According to the article, there are approximately 2.2 million divorced women in the U.S. who did not obtain primary physical custody of their children during their custody hearings. Furthermore, at this point, about 50% of fathers who seek primary custody in such divorce cases are granted it. Read the rest »
Jim Nantz’s Divorce Leads to an Annual $916,000 in Alimony and Child Support
According to a recent huffintonpost.com article, Jim Nantz, a well-known CBS sportscaster, faces some newfound issues regarding his divorce. Apparently, Mr. Nantz is now required to pay an annual sum of $916,000 to his ex-wife for alimony and child support, both in addition to surrendering his home in Connecticut. Read the rest »
Free Paternity Tests Aim to Help Curb Child Support Debt
Mississippi has recently taken efforts to receive federal funding to help children. Based on a 2.wjtv.com report, Mississippi’s Department of Human Services is hoping that offering free paternity tests will motivate more potential fathers to take responsibility for helping support their children, if that responsibility is in fact theirs to uphold.
According to the report, the state’s main goal is to obtain more child support payments, which will ultimately assist Mississippi federal funding for the new fiscal year. Therefore, the Department of Human Services is providing DNA tests, which can amount to costs between $300 and $500. This initiative may even be something that Mississippi prolongs or that other states adopt to further help parents who can’t afford a paternity test. Read the rest »
Dodgers’ Owner and Chief Executive Still Sift Through Divorce
While questions about the Dodgers’ future still abounds, there is still much uncertainty regarding what will happen for owner Frank McCourt and chief executive Jamie McCourt. According to a latimes.com article, there has been much “buzz” in the media over how Frank allegedly fired Jamie and “branded her with a scarlet letter”. Another big issue in the divorce filings relates to the large annual expenses that Jamie is saying she needs to maintain the lifestyle of a baseball owner. While no one can really blame the questionable ownership of the Dodger franchise for the team’s performance in the National League Championship Series, this separation emphasizes the many challenges a divorce may create.
Similar to the McCourts, some married couples experience long-term tension that is often difficult to hide from close friends and family, and especially children. The couple formally closed the purchase of the Dodgers from News Corp. in January 2004 for approximately $430 million. Although there has been no word on whether the McCourts will sell the franchise as a means of dividing their assets, such an option is one that they may explore. However, based on the report, Frank claims that the Dodgers belong to him and him alone, while Jamie claims that she owns part of the team. Read the rest »
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