Reading Divorce Attorneys Protecting Your Family’s Best Interests

Whether the end of your marriage was your choice or not, the divorce process is not something you can halt. You are in for a challenging upheaval to your life and financial situation, and if you attempt to manage this on your own, you will likely lose a great deal of money and security. But we can help you.

Palange & Endres, P.C., based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, provides skilled representation to clients during divorce. We provide our clients across Berks County with attentive service and advocacy throughout the divorce process. Experiencing the upheaval that comes with divorce is hard enough, but with us on your side, you will confront these challenges with confidence and a compassionate team behind you.

Our Divorce Services

Our firm represents clients in divorce matters ranging from simple, uncontested divorces to highly complex matters involving extensive assets and liabilities. This includes matters relating to:

• Division of assets: We will work on your behalf to achieve an equitable distribution of assets.
• Child custody: We assist clients with all matters related to child custody, including modification and relocation issues.
• Child support: We will ensure that the court has the information necessary to provide fair and adequate financial support for your child.
• Alimony/spousal support: We will protect your best interests and work to achieve the best possible outcome in the alimony process.

At every stage in the divorce process, we strive to achieve the best possible outcome for our clients. Contact us today to schedule an initial appointment.

Grounds For Divorce

An uncontested divorce, typically known in the media as “irreconcilable differences,” is a divorce that makes it clear that neither party took actions that violated the central marital conflict. Such actions typically would be:

• Fraud in the divorce, which can take many forms such as misrepresenting yourself to your partner in a fundamental way in order to get married. A common type of misrepresentation is hiding a criminal record.
• Bigamy or having multiple marriages on record at the same time, could inherently invalidate a marriage.
• Infidelity, alienation of affection or abuse are all some of the more extreme versions of cause in a so-called “fault divorce.”
• Infertility is also grounds for divorce, as the law considers producing children a key aspect of marriage.

In Berks County, Pennsylvania, no-fault divorce is typically the most common type. You can file for fault divorce grounds, but this is rare. To effectively pursue fault divorce grounds, you will have to be able to prove in court the fraud or infidelity or other fault. This has historically been challenging, which makes the no-fault divorce law valuable to anyone seeking to end a marriage. With no fault, there’s nothing to prove, and that takes away most of the obstacles to ending the marriage.

Contested Versus Uncontested Divorce

You can choose to file for an uncontested or contested divorce. In an uncontested divorce, both spouses are in agreement with regard to property, support and custody matters. While it may seem like a difficult proposition to reach, we’ve helped many clients do this. An uncontested divorce doesn’t mean there aren’t hard feelings or even arguments about how to settle these matters. But it does mean that a judge does not have to step in to make a decision.

However, if the discussion cannot be closed amicably, the court will do it. They will listen to the arguments made by both sides and determine, according to Pennsylvania law, how the divorce decrees will be constructed. A contested divorce is by far more costly and time-consuming than an uncontested divorce, but if your ex cannot come to a workable, good-faith agreement, the court may be the only place you will see a fair outcome.

Modifications To All Divorce Decrees

Nothing that is settled in your divorce is meant to stay as it is indefinitely. In fact, everything can be revisited later to alter agreements. Most often, modifications apply to child custody, spousal support or child support, which will change as people’s resources and lives change. There are rare circumstances where such things as property division can be revisited, but that would typically only happen if fraud is uncovered.

If you need to revisit the financial agreements of your divorce, we can help you by closely reviewing the situation and the changes to your life. We will help you craft the petition to the court, which will help you pursue the updates necessary to continue to live your life as you wish.

Answers To Your Questions

In our 60+ combined years of service in family law, our clients have come to us again and again with many highly complex questions. Here are a few that we’ve seen the most:

How is a business divided in a divorce?

Businesses must undergo a considerable valuation looking at all assets and debts. Then the court will review the contributions to the business made by both parties. The court may order liquidation or buyout depending on the circumstances. However, we can help advocate for your needs throughout your divorce. If a business owner is careful to utilize only business equity when expanding a business, it may require little division. But if there has been financial commingling, these discussions can become very difficult.

What counts as marital property?

Anything that was acquired during the marriage, such as income, contributions to retirement plans, homes purchased or even expansions to a preexisting small business if it uses personal funds. Gifts or inheritances to one spouse and anything that predates the marriage is separate property and not part of the divorce discussions.

Is my spouse entitled to half of everything?

Not necessarily. In Pennsylvania, we use an equitable distribution model and look at many factors to determine how to divide property. This can be the length of marriage or “fault” in the divorce. It could also be any factor that the court deems relevant. But if the fair division is not an equal division, then that is what we can pursue in court.

Wyomissing Support Attorneys Who Understand

We understand that a divorce can be a very emotional and stressful event for the entire family. You may have concerns with regard to child and spousal support, custody issues and protecting your assets and retirement benefits.

With more than 60 years of combined experience, our Reading divorce lawyers have the knowledge and skill to address these issues. They will approach your circumstances with compassion and with the goal of finding the best solution for your family’s individual needs. We can advise on financial, support, and custody issues and help both parties reach a successful resolution. If an amicable settlement is not possible, we are also skilled trial lawyers who will advocate for your interests in the courtroom.

Contact us today at 610-674-0712 or toll free at 800-634-1983 to schedule an initial appointment. Or send us an email using our secure online form.