Property Division

The division of assets is one of the most complex aspects of a Pennsylvania divorce. Some assets are easily divided. For example, savings and checking accounts can be split in two. However, retirement and investment accounts are different; dividing these accounts can result in penalties or tax consequences. You want to protect your investment. Here […]

If your spouse’s employer offered a pension plan, you may have counted on that money to help fund your retirement. Now that you are getting divorced, you may be worried about your future. You wonder if you’ll have the resources you need to retire. This can be especially stressful if you are over 50. Fortunately, […]

You’ve worked hard to plan for retirement. However, now that you are divorcing, your retirement funds may be marital property. You’ll need to divide retirement assets as part of the equitable distribution process. A few of the most common benefits likely to be distributed are: 401(k) and 403(b) A retirement plan can be an IRA or […]

QUESTION:Can my divorce be finalized even though we haven’t completed separated all of our assets we still have a house on the market that hasn’t sold as yet? You and your spouse have decided to divorce. So far, the process has been amicable. You’ve agreed on child custody, support, and property division. There are just […]

QUESTION: My spouse purchased a home before we were married 10 years ago and the title and mortgage are in his name but now that we’re divorcing I need to know if I’m responsible in any way for the mortgage? When you and your spouse got married, it made sense to pack up your possessions and […]

You’ve agreed; you are getting divorced. But, now that your spouse has moved out, the bills are overwhelming. Are you really responsible for everything? Divorce attorney Thomas Petrelli suggests taking a careful look at the bills. While some bills may be your responsibility there is a good chance that many of your bills are shared […]

In an opinion issued last fall, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania upheld a trial court’s characterization of disability payments in the context of divorce. The case, Yuhas v. Yuhas, involved a surgeon who had to stop working due to surgery for carpel tunnel syndrome. He married his wife on June 4, 1988, and they separated […]

When spouses get divorced, often one of the largest issues, if not the largest, is what happens to the marital home that is jointly titled in both spouses’ names. While there is the option of keeping it in both names after the divorce, this is ill-advised and almost never happens in practice. Instead, the goal […]

An article recently published in the Washington Post by Eugene Volokh, a noted legal scholar, brought to our attention a New York case involving a novel legal question. The judicial opinion that decided the case, Jackson v. Jackson, phrased the question clearly:  “Are the ashes from the cremation of a 26 week old stillborn fetus […]