West Chester, PA- Carla Marino, partner and co-chair of Lamb McErlane’s Family Law practice group co-authored the LexisNexis’ 2017 Practice Guide: Pennsylvania Family Law with Mary Cushing Doherty, partner at High Swartz LLP.  The 2019 Edition is now available. This comprehensive guide provides practical and insightful guidance on all aspects of a family law case for seasoned family law practitioners and other attorneys who handle family law matters in his or her Pennsylvania practice.

The new 2019 Edition includes the following highlights:

• Revised Chapter 2, Alternative Dispute Resolution, § 2.09 Collaborative Law discusses the enactment in 2018 of 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. §7401, et seq., titled Collaborative Law Process, which applies to dispute resolution between family members, and therefore all family law issues, as well as some estate disputes.  Under the new law, the dispute resolution process starts with the execution of a collaborative law participation agreement by the parties.
• Revised Chapter 3, Protection from Abuse Orders, new § 3.09A New Law for the Relinquishment of Firearms discusses the enactment of a new Pennsylvania law that became effective in April 2019 that has the goal of decreasing firearm crimes that occur in domestic (protection from abuse) cases. The new law requires a defendant in a domestic violence case to relinquish the defendant’s firearms to the county sheriff, to another law enforcement agency, or to a Federal Firearms Licensed dealer, and also requires the defendant to release their firearms within 24 hours of a conviction of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. New § 3.23 Act of Oct. 12, 2018, P.L. 519, No. 79 provides the text of the new law.
• Revised Chapter 4, Custody, new § 4.06A Parenting Coordinator discusses the reintroduction of parent coordinators with respect to custody matters in Pennsylvania, beginning in March 2019. The use of parent coordinators in custody matters was discontinued in Pennsylvania in 2013, but after re-examination, the benefit of their use in custody matters was realized. The new section discusses the qualifications and appointment of parent coordinators, the scope of their authority, communication restrictions, and recommendations and appeals. The chapter, in § 4.37 Forms, also provides a sample Parenting Coordinator Form.
• Revised Chapter 5, Child Support discusses the January 2019 amendments to the child support rules and also discusses the new Pennsylvania Supreme Court case Hanrahan v. Bakker, 186 A.3d 958 (Pa. 2018), which rejected the lower court’s assumption that consideration of a child’s reasonable needs is irrelevant in very high-income cases. In Hanrahan, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that trial courts must engage in scrutiny of a child/children’s needs.
• Revised Chapter 6, Spousal Support/Alimony Pendente Lite/Alimony, § 6.08 Similarities Between Alimony Pendente Lite and Spousal Support discusses the changes to the Pennsylvania Support Rules (effective January 1, 2019), which now contemplate two options for calculating spousal support or alimony pendente lite, in response to the changes in the federal tax laws relating to alimony.
• Revised Chapter 8, Equitable Distribution, § 8.24 Additional Considerations also discusses the new Pennsylvania Supreme Court case Hanrahan v. Bakker, 186 A.3d 958 (Pa. 2018), which affects the calculation of child support in high-net-worth cases and could bring into play the details and final division of the attendant marital estate. In cases such as Hanrahan, the child support calculation takes into account the lifestyle of the child which may be detailed in the evidence and documentation provided during the equitable distribution phase of the divorce.

For more information contact family law attorney Carla Marino and to view the 2019 Edition of the LexisNexis Practice Guide: PA Family Law – click here.

At Lamb McErlane Carla concentrates her practice in Family Law and specializes in all aspects, including, but not limited to, pre-nuptial planning and agreements, post-nuptial agreements, divorce, equitable distribution, child custody, alimony, support, property settlement, and all related litigation. Carla has been designated a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer, a Best Lawyer in America, Main Line Today Top Lawyer and a Nationally Ranked Top 10 Attorney by the National Academy of Family Law Attorneys (NAFLA) in 2017.