On January 17, partner Kerri Lee Cappella will co-present on “Alternative Asset Management Firm Valuation Concepts and Considerations in Family Law”, for this years Pennsylvania Bar Association Family Law Section Meeting alongside the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. The PBA Winter Meeting will take place in Pittsburgh Friday-Sunday, January 17-19, at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Kerri’s panel is scheduled on Friday at 1:30 PM.
The PBA Family Law Section meetings bring together family law attorneys from across Pennsylvania for a weekend of networking, continuing education, and professional growth.
Interested in attending? Learn more here. Read More
Partner Carla Schiff Donnelly will be a speaker at the CLE “Nightmare on Ross Street: The Haunting Effects of Dysfunctional Families”, hosted by the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Family Law Section. Taking place on Thursday, October 24, from 12-4:30 PM, this 4-hour CLE will discuss the differentiation between psychological disorders and traits, such as alienation vs. resist/refuse and narcissistic personality disorder vs. narcissistic traits. It will also focus on court-involved therapy, including learning about therapists’ role, insurance concerns and what types of therapy are right for each family. A discussion of safety and reunification counseling in light of Kayden’s Law will round out the course. Ethical considerations will be discussed.
Interested in attending? Click here. Read More
Partner Carla Schiff Donnelly will be presenting at the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Family Law Section Summer Meeting held July 11-14, 2024.
Carla will be moderating “Parental Alienation: What It Is, What It Isn’t and What to Do About It” on July 13. Her course will cover the necessary tools to identify parental alienation in its various forms as well as strategies and resources for navigating parental alienation issues and reunification remedies through judicial, psychological, and practitioner perspectives. Other topics of the day include estate law and family law, and appeal process relating to family law cases.
Click here to learn more. Read More
“It didn’t happen if there isn’t a document to prove it.”
This proposition is a little bit like “possession is nine tenths of the law.” It sounds good and frequently applies, but it isn’t as absolute as it sounds.
In any divorce and custody case, the testimony of the parties is paramount. Yes, the court may hear from experts in financial cases or a party’s parents or best friend in a custody case who says the party is a wonderful parent. But, in my experience, judges want to hear from the parties to assess their credibility and to get to the central issues in any given case.
In divorce cases, the court is required to consider a list of factors for property distribution and a list of separate but similar factors in alimony cases. These factors generally cover “equitable” considerations—meaning what is fair. After all, the court is charged with pursuing “economic justice” in each case.
These general concepts include:
Each party’s age, health, and ability to work.
Contributions to the marriage, both financial and non-financial evidence, such as caring for children.
Financial circumstances of each party, especially sources of current and future income.
Support by one party of the other party’s education, career or earning capacity.
Property brought into the marriage by one party from sources such as inheritances.
The standard of living developed during the marriage.
Documents such as statements for financial accounts, credit card statements, tax returns, and other financial records will be key; in alimony cases, the budget of the party seeking alimony is also critical.
But it is often the testimony of the parties—the story of the marriage—that will drive a court’s analysis of a fair, equitable financial resolution to a case.
This applies with even more force in custody cases. Again, the court is charged with applying a set of statutory factors to the facts of the matter. Read More
Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP is delighted to announce the opening of our newest office in Marlton, New Jersey. Pietragallo currently has ten attorneys barred in New Jersey to serve our clients throughout the Garden State, with additional attorneys in the process of becoming members of the State bar. Their practices cover several specialties including government enforcement and white collar litigation, qui tam and False Claims Act litigation, internal investigations, employment, health care, commercial litigation, professional liability, and Title IX and sexual misconduct.
Our New Jersey office will be led by Scott A. Coffina, former Burlington County Prosecutor from 2017-2022, and former Senior Deputy Chief Counsel to Governor Chris Christie. Scott is the co-chair of our Government Enforcement, Compliance, & White Collar Litigation practice group. Scott also has served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Philadelphia and served as Associate Counsel to the President under President George W. Bush.
“We are very excited to expand into New Jersey with our new Marlton office,” said Pietragallo founding partner and Chairman, William Pietragallo, II. “Our firm already serves a number of clients in New Jersey,” he added. “Although our Philadelphia office is nearby, New Jersey is a different legal market and court system, and we are confident that we and our clients will benefit from our physical presence in the Garden State.”
The Marlton office is located at 50 Lake Center Drive, Suite 110, Marlton, NJ 08053. The office’s main number is 856-817-2600. Scott can be reached at 856-817-2601 or by email at SAC@Pietragallo.com.
About Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP
Pietragallo is a multi-disciplined litigation and business law firm headquartered in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with six offices throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and now New Jersey. Read More
When parties separate in anticipation of divorce, there are several key financial considerations that must be addressed at the outset. Who’s staying in the residence? Who’s paying support to whom, what, if anything, do we do with the marital assets and debts while the case is pending? Interim relief is not the final, disposition of assets; think of it as a band aid until the case can be concluded, or the parties and the Court can get their arms around what’s involved.
An initial consideration is who stays in the residence, or exclusive occupancy of the house. Note: this discussion does not address parties involuntarily removed from a home due to the filing of a petition for protection from abuse.
If the parties agree, typically, one party notifies the other that they intend to move. In a perfect world, the parties address how the household expenses will be paid, and there is no need for court or legal intervention. If the parties cannot agree on who vacates, then one or both parties will file a Petition for Exclusive Occupancy of the residence. This relief is only available if a Divorce Complaint is filed, because the Court does not have jurisdiction over the home in the absence of a Complaint.
Parties might seek exclusive occupancy when the discord in the residence is too high and could escalate. One or both parties may be unnecessarily intrusive on the other’s peace and quiet in the home. A party might be intercepting the other’s mail or monitoring phones or other devices. Often the deciding factor whether to direct that a party vacate is where there is a negative impact on children.
The Court will schedule a hearing on the issue of exclusive occupancy, and it will evaluate why parties seek this interim relief. The Court will hear testimony from the parties, and possibly interview the children. Read More
Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP is pleased to announce that 27 lawyers have been named as 2025 The Best Lawyers in America® and Ones to Watch. In addition, Founding Partner William Pietragallo II has received “Lawyer of the Year” award for his work in Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants in Pittsburgh. He was also recognized for his work in Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions-Plaintiffs, and Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants. Partner Douglas K. Rosenblum has also received “Lawyer of the Year” award for his work in Corporate Compliance Law in Philadelphia.
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Their process is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The following were chosen as The Best Lawyers in America:
Gaetan Alfano
Bet-the-Company Litigation
Commercial Litigation
Employment Law – Individuals
Employment Law – Management
Litigation – Labor and Employment
Charles J. Avalli
Family Law
Litigation – Trusts and Estates
Trusts and Estates
Joseph J. Bosick
Construction Law
Litigation – Construction
Pamela Coyle Brecht
Qui Tam Law
Kerri Lee Cappella
Family Law
Mark Gordon
Insurance Law
Litigation – Insurance
Workers’ Compensation Law – Employers
Kenneth J. Horoho, Jr.
Family Law
David E. Lamm
Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
James F. Marrion
Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Michael Morse
Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Richard J. Parks
Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/ Insolvency and Reorganization Law
Corporate Law
Litigation – Real Estate
William Pietragallo II
Bet-the-Company Litigation
Commercial Litigation
Mass Tort Litigation/ Class Actions – Plaintiffs
Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants – Lawyer of the Year
Francis E. Pipak, Jr.
Workers’ Compensation Law – Employers
Marc S. Raspanti
Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Health Care Law
Qui Tam Law
Lourdes Sánchez Ridge
Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Douglas K. Read More
Imagine this scenario: you represent an elderly client who is in a tenuous marital relationship. Worse, the client’s cognitive functioning is declining. And the client’s longtime home, which was acquired during the marriage, is not titled in that client’s name, although the property has a substantial marital value. Under the Divorce Code, your client has a valuable marital interest in the residence that will evaporate if the client passes away prior to the marital interest being solidified in the divorce process. What is your advice? Should the client pursue a divorce? Can the client pursue a divorce? The topics of competency and competency to pursue a divorce are both important matters which could occupy multiple hours of CLE training. For the Superior Court’s take on these concerns, see its trenchant opinion in Berry v. Berry, 197 A.3d 788 (2018).1 are The first consideration is whether the client is better off under the Probate, Estates & Fiduciaries Code (“PEF Code”) or under the Divorce Code. Under the PEF Code, married individuals have important rights and entitlements that are altered once grounds for divorce are established in a divorce action 2; conversely, there are interests that exist only under the divorce code that may vanish if a person dies before divorce grounds have been established.
Start with the principle that a divorce action abates when a party dies unless grounds for divorce have been established. Grounds can be established in three ways under the Divorce Code:3 1) the court adopts the recommendations of a hearing officer or makes its own findings that grounds exist; 2) both parties have filed affidavits consenting to the entry of the divorce decree 90 days after service of the divorce complaint; or 3) one party has filed and served a 3301(d) affidavit averring that the separation has continued for more than one year prior to the filing AND the other party has not filed a counter-affidavit contesting the period of separation. Read More
Whether it is from TV shows, movies, or stories from friends, people who are unacquainted with the divorce and custody process often come to initial consultations with attorneys with certain expectations that are, well, based on myths. Here are the most common myths that have made the top five list:
I didn’t work during the marriage so I will receive lifetime alimony: Alimony is available in Pennsylvania, but it is what is known as a “secondary remedy”—secondary to asset distribution. This means that the court attempts to fix financial disparities with assets first—potentially by “skewing” the distribution percentage (giving one party more than 50% of the estate)—which leads to the next myth.
Assets are always divided 50/50: Pennsylvania is an equitable distribution state, not an equal distribution state. That means that courts will look at several factors to determine what is fair in an effort to promote “economic justice.” Those factors include contributions to the marriage (economic and non-economic), the relative financial status of the parties, sources of current and future income, and other similar considerations. It may well be that a 50/50 division of assets is fair; but the court can award one party a higher percentage of the estate if the circumstances warrant.
The party filing for divorce pays the other person’s fees: Typically, each party pays for their own legal fees. There are several exceptions to this general rule, such as when one party acts in bad faith or there is an extreme disparity in financial circumstances. But those exceptions are somewhat rare.
I had an affair so I deserve less/ my spouse had an affair so I deserve more: Although the reasons why the marriage ended are a factor in an alimony case, the “moral” issues leading to divorce increasingly do not move the needle one way or the other. Read More
Carla Schiff Donnelly was recently featured in “We’re Divorce Lawyers. These Are The 6 Qualities We look For In A Romantic Partner.” which was published in Huff Post, on March 29, 2024. Read More
March 3, 2025
Partner Carla S. Donnelly has been recognized as a 2025 JD Supra Readers’ Choice Award Top Author. Carla is one of ten family law attorneys recognized for their consistently high readership and engagement within the family law industry for 2024. Read More
February 14, 2025
Co-Chair of Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Women in the Profession Commission, partner Carla Donnelly, was highlighted in this month’s edition of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Best of the West member spotlight. Read More
