Pennsylvania Lease Agreements with Options to Purchase Back in May of this year, I wrote a blog called ‘Rent to Own Contracts in Pennsylvania’ which you can read here. I couldn’t think of a clever title for the blog, because Rent to Own Contracts might be the most boring topic I could possibly blog about. Ok, that is not necessarily true,
Will I Be Forced to Sell My House If I Get Divorced? One of the biggest concerns clients have about getting divorced is whether they will be forced to sell their house. In most cases, the house is the highest valued asset both monetarily and sentimentally. Whether the couple lived in it for two years or thirty years, the house
The Lis Pendens in Pennsylvania: A Good Tool If you work in the Philadelphia (and Pennsylvania generally) real estate market, you have certainly at least heard of the infamous ‘lis pendens,’ though you might not know what it is or how it can help you. A lis pendens is a latin term and is defined as, “a pending legal action,
Pennsylvania Cuts Divorce Waiting Period in Half On October 5, 2016, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law legislation that will reduce the waiting period for no-fault divorces in Pennsylvania from two years down to one year. The law applies to new divorce complaints being filed after December 3, 2016. The key here is “new” complaints. Unfortunately, the law will not
Is a Prenup Right for Me? As a couple is happily planning their big day, neither of them wants to think that their marriage could end in divorce. While some may view prenups as a sign that you are giving up on the marriage before you even say your “I dos,” for many others, it is viewed as an essential
Do I Need a Land Trust? I’m a lawyer, and even I think we are in a bit of a litigation happy society at the moment. Every time we read about a tragedy of some kind, following quickly on its heels is almost always a story about who hired which lawyer and in what district the lawsuit is going to
Why You Should Stay Off Social Media During Your Custody Case In part four of this series about the Do’s and Don’ts of Custody, I will discuss how using social media can harm your custody case. In part two of this series, which you can read about here, I discussed how emails and text messages can affect the outcome of
Philadelphia Transfer Tax Part II : The Family Exemptions This is a continuation of the blog post from June 22nd, which you can read about here. In that post, I highlighted how the Pennsylvania transfer tax system works generally, and how the taxes in certain counties (like Philadelphia) are substantially higher than those in other counties. I outlined the math
Speaking to Your Children About Your Custody Case Could Do More Harm Than Good In part three of this series about the do’s and don’ts of your custody case, I will examine how certain discussions with your children can do more harm than good to your case. As I mentioned in the prior articles, there are sixteen factors that the court
Philadelphia Transfer Tax: The Tax is Too High! A client of mine, a citizen hailing from a different English colony than these United States, commented to me recently that purchasing property in the United States is comparatively beyond complicated. He also said that he believed the amount of fees and taxes associated with property purchase and transfer felt borderline criminal.
My Spouse Cheated, I Get Everything in the Divorce Right? Getting divorced is always a highly emotional and stressful period for those involved, even when things end on relatively good terms. But any time adultery is involved, the emotions can sky rocket. The spouse who was cheated on is justifiably upset and are often times looking for some form of
Why Emails and Text Messages Have Become Essential Elements of the Custody Case As I discussed in part one of this series, which you can read about here, there are 16 factors that the court in Pennsylvania must consider when deciding custody cases. One of those custody factors is the level of conflict between the parties and their willingness to
