The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Commission on Women in the Profession will present its annual Lynette Norton Award to Pittsburgh attorney Carla Schiff Donnelly on May 19, 2021 at an awards luncheon during the Commission on Women in the Profession (WIP) Annual Conference held as part of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Virtual Annual Meeting.
The Norton Award was created in memory of Lynette Norton, a founding member of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession who died in 2002. Norton was an advocate for young women in the legal profession and worked to promote literacy and women’s rights. The award is designed to recognize and encourage female attorneys who excel in litigation skills and who are devoted to mentoring female lawyers.
Ms. Donnelly’s nominator notes, “Carla has not only touched my life in such a strong and meaningful way but has also made an impact on so many other people’s lives. …It is an honor and a privilege to have her in my circle and she has made a strong imprint on not only the local legal community in Allegheny County, but for greater Pennsylvania.”
Ms. Donnelly is unselfish with her time with younger lawyers, especially with female lawyers, as well as with those in the broader community. She is an active member of the PBA WIP, serving on its Executive Committee as secretary and as a member of the WIP Fall Retreats Subcommittee. Ms. Donnelly also is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association Women in the Law Division.
A well respected trial attorney, Ms. Donnelly focuses her practice on divorce litigation and mediation, with a concentration on complex financial and custody issues, including international divorce cases. She also specializes in preparing and negotiating prenuptial and postnuptial agreements and is trained in collaborative law, mediation and parent coordination. Read More
You do not need to be wealthy to need prenuptial agreement. What you do need is something you want to protect.
Ask yourself—
Is my income much higher than my fiancé’s?
If the income disparity between you is great or you anticipate that your income will grow at a much faster rate, you have exposure for paying alimony in the event of a divorce. Even worse, in Pennsylvania, before your divorce is final you could be liable for interim support, which can be up to 40% of the difference between your respective incomes. If the idea of paying alimony or interim support is unappealing to you, you may want to consider entering into a prenuptial agreement. Your prenuptial agreement can have a full waiver of alimony and/or interim support or you can cap the length or the amount of the payments.
Are there assets I want to keep in my family?
Your share of the family business or the family vacation home may have a marital component in the event of a divorce. Even if the family assets are your separate property, as those assets grow during the marriage the growth will be marital in Pennsylvania. Does this sit right with you or are those family assets something you want to protect? In addition, having to go back and value the asset at the time of the marriage and at the time of the separation can prove to be lengthy and expensive proposition.
Are there assets I want to leave to my children?
If you have children from another relationship, you may want to protect certain assets in the event of your death. Even if you leave your assets to your children in your estate plan, your spouse can take against your will and collect assets earmarked for your children. A prenuptial agreement can contain a spousal waiver of the right to take against your will. Read More
Valentine’s Day is a time of romance. The subject of prenuptial agreements isn’t always so romantic. Listen to Ken Horoho talk about how romance and realism collide when it comes to prenuptial agreements.
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Attorney Carla Schiff Donnelly appears on KDKA Radio recently. Ms. Donnelly appeared with Divorce Reality Expert Nan Cohen and discussed divorce and custody issues and access to the courts during the pandemic.
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Attorney Carla Schiff Donnelly appeared on KDKA radio and Facebook Live talking about divorce with Divorce Expert Nan Cohen. Periodically, Cohen calls upon Ms. Donnelly to contribute to her show and provide insight into the divorce process.
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Carla Schiff Donnelly has been named to the 10 Best Family Law Attorneys in Pennsylvania by the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys. The American Institute’s Family Law Division recognizes excellence of practitioners in the field.
The “10 Best” is a prestigious honor for the Attorney as each Attorney must: (1) Be formally nominated by the Institute, client, and/or a fellow Attorney; (2) Have attained the highest degree of professional achievement in his or her field of law; and (3) Having done so with an impeccable Client Satisfaction rating.
Ms. Donnelly focuses her practice on divorce litigation, with a concentration on complex financial and custody issues, including international divorce matters. She also specializes in preparing and negotiating prenuptial agreements.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Donnelly practiced family law for 11 years at Stern and Edlin, P.C., a leading domestic relations firm in Atlanta, Georgia, where she handled all aspects of divorce and post-divorce cases.
Ms. Donnelly has served as a Guardian ad Litem in custody case and is a participant in the Children’s Issues Sub-Committee of the Family Law Section of the Allegheny County Bar Association and is on the Council of the Commission on Women in the Profession of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Ms. Donnelly was named Family Law Attorney of the Year 2018 – Western Pennsylvania in the Third Annual Influential Businesswoman Awards, hosted by Acquisition International.
The Influential Businesswoman Awards returns in 2018 to add its voice to the masses who believe gender equality is the only solution for a sustainable global economy.
Additionally, Ms. Donnelly recently served as co-chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Women in the Profession 25th Annual Conference.
Ms. Donnelly holds a bachelor of arts from Lehigh University and her law degree from Emory University School of Law. She is admitted to practice in both Georgia and Pennsylvania. Read More
Carla Schiff Donnelly has been elected to the Family Law Section Council of the Allegheny County Bar Association.
The role of the Family Law Section is to bring together members of the Allegheny County Bar Association who are interested in the development and practical workings of the law relating to marriage, divorce, equitable distribution, alimony, support, custody, and domestic relations. It also conducts continuing legal education programs in family law for its members, serves as liaison with the courts dealing in the area of family law, and coordinates legislative proposals and other activities with the Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations’ Sections of Family Law and other related organizations.
Ms. Donnelly focuses her practice on divorce litigation, with a concentration on complex financial and custody issues, including international divorce matters. She also specializes in preparing and negotiating prenuptial agreements.
Prior to joining the firm, Carla practiced family law for 11 years at Stern and Edlin, P.C., a leading domestic relations firm in Atlanta, Georgia, where she handled all aspects of divorce and post-divorce cases.
Ms. Donnelly has served as a Guardian ad Litem in custody case and is a participant in the Children’s Issues Sub-Committee of the Family Law Section of the Allegheny County Bar Association and is on the Council of the Commission on Women in the Profession of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
She was named Family Law Attorney of the Year 2018 – Western Pennsylvania in the Third Annual Influential Businesswoman Awards, hosted by Acquisition International. The Influential Businesswoman Awards returns in 2018 to add its voice to the masses who believe gender equality is the only solution for a sustainable global economy.
Additionally, Ms. Donnelly recently served as co-chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Women in the Profession 25th Annual Conference.
Ms. Donnelly holds a bachelor of arts from Lehigh University and her law degree from Emory University School of Law. Read More
Recently, Attorney Carla Schiff Donnelly appeared on the KDKA Radio Show Divorce Total Talk hosted by Nan Cohen. Ms. Donnelly answers listeners questions about divorce. Listen in!
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Kenneth Horoho weighs in on the change to the tax code impacting the deduction for alimony in this Post Gazette article.
The article states:
Thanks to the recent passing of the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, married couples contemplating divorce will have an extra incentive to get their agreements signed, sealed and delivered before Dec. 31.
The most drastic tax overhaul since 1986 will radically change the way divorce settlements have been negotiated for the past 75 years. The key: It eliminates the tax deduction for spouses who pay alimony and makes alimony income tax-free to the recipient of alimony payments.
Alimony, also known as spousal support, often is part of divorce agreements when there is a wide discrepancy in earnings between the husband and wife, and when the marriage has lasted for more than a few years.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, close to 600,000 Americans claimed a spousal support deduction on their Form 1040 tax returns in 2015, totaling $12.3 billion. The data indicates 98 percent of alimony recipients that year were women.
The new tax rules will not affect existing divorces.
Divorces granted before the end of this year will fall under the current tax law, which allows ex-spouses who pay alimony to deduct the expense from their federal income taxes and requires ex-spouses receiving alimony payments to claim the money as taxable income.
The end result of the rule change, divorce attorneys and family law experts say, is that more money will end up going to the government.
That is because, in most cases, the spouse paying alimony is in a much higher tax bracket than the spouse receiving the money. The difference between the tax brackets provides a benefit to the spouse paying the alimony and an even greater benefit to the one receiving it — because the spouse receiving support payments is getting more in actual dollars than the spouse paying it. Read More
On January 8, 2018, a new statewide public records access policy goes into effect which will govern how Court records at all levels will be available for viewing. Parties to actions and their counsel of record will have one level of access to Court dockets, both in person and online, and the general public will have another, more restrictive level of access. The goal of the policy is to balance the public’s Constitutional right to open access to the Courts against litigants’ and related parties’ rights to protect confidential information.
Attorneys and self-represented parties will be responsible for submitting documents to the Court with either a “Confidential” designation as specified in the policy, or to redact certain “confidential” information within the document, again, as specified in the policy, prior to filing documents with the Court. Nevertheless, all Opinions, Orders of Court and the docket list will be viewable online without restriction. Read More
October 21, 2024
Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP is pleased to announce the addition of three new associates to the firm’s Pittsburgh and Philadelphia Offices. Read More
October 16, 2024
Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP is pleased to announce the promotion of three lawyers to partnership: Rebecca Johnson Barksdale in Pittsburgh, PA, and Alexander M. Read More
