PA Family Law Questions
PA Family Law Questions
I have been living in Pennsylvania for 1 year. My spouse has never been in Pennsylvania and I don’t know where he is. Can I file for a PA divorce?
Yes. As long as you or your spouse is a resident of Pennsylvania for six months immediately preceding the filing of the divorce, you can file for a PA divorce. However, you will need to serve the divorce complaint on your spouse; therefore you will need to undertake diligent efforts to locate your spouse, which Hykel Law can help with. If ultimately, after these efforts, you cannot locate your spouse, you can ask the judge for an order granting alternative means of service of the lawsuit, which may be publication in a newspaper or mailing to the last known address.
In Pennsylvania when one custodial parent seeks to relocate with a child and the relocation will substantially affect the custodial rights of the other parent, the party seeking the move must file a relocation petition with the court. If your son’s father moves the child without doing this, there will be serious consequences. However, after a properly filed relocation petition is filed, the Pennsylvania child custody laws instruct judges to weight twenty six factors to award custody to the party seeking the move. (23 Pa.S.C.A. §5337 and 23 Pa.S.C.A. §5328). Some factors include: which parent is more likely to tend to the child’s medical needs, the need for continuity and stability in the child’s life, sibling relationships, availability of extended family in a geographical area, the nature, quality and extent of the relationship between the child the relocating party, and whether the relocation will enhance the quality of life for the child. The primary consideration in child custody is always: “what is in the best interest of the child?” After a thorough hearing on all 26 factors, the judge will make a decision.
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