Divorce Services

When children are involved, our attorneys take a family-centric approach to the divorce. We strive to create child custody and visitation arrangements that address the children’s needs and preserve the children’s relationships with each parent. Our family law attorneys offer several methods to establish suitable arrangements, including mediation, collaborative law and the arbitration process. We also advise you on the consequences of decisions you make about your children. For example: Which parent can claim the dependency exemption for annual income tax filing? How often can you see the children? How should holidays be divided? How does the custody arrangement affect child support?

We have extensive experience identifying and valuing all of the potential assets of a marital estate including: businesses, shares of stock, stock options, limited partnerships, private equity holdings, real estate investments, employee benefits, retirement benefits (qualified and nonqualified), retiree health benefits, royalties, foreign bank accounts, trusts, and offshore accounts. Our attorneys take into account the assets’ tax aspects for a fair distribution between the spouses. We have a network of other professionals to assist us in valuing these assets and considering the tax implications. Also, many of our clients have lived in other countries, including Belgium, Brazil, France, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Syria and the United Kingdom.

For the divorcing couple, our approach also means consideration of long-range issues including: property distribution, health insurance, retirement benefits, alimony, and social security. To promote effective negotiation between divorcing spouses, we often arrange “four-way meetings” among the spouses and attorneys. In this way, an agreement is reached after each person has been heard. Often, time-consuming and expensive litigation can be avoided. As lives change following a divorce, we also assist clients in addressing modifications to existing support orders or custody arrangements.

Our divorce and family lawyers also assist cohabiting couples and same-sex partners in determining property rights, contributions to household expenses, and whether a common law marriage exists (according to the law of Pennsylvania or of any other pertinent state or country). In addition, we prepare cohabitation agreements that define rights in the event of a separation.