Happy Birthday PHILA|Kids MLP Noon Advocacy Lecture September 13, 2012

By the Numbers Started in August 2011 Screened: 2360 families 57% had at least ONE unmet legal need

Number of Legal Needs 559 families had ONE legal need 312 families had TWO legal needs 222 families had THREE legal needs 126 families had FOUR legal needs 68 families had FIVE legal needs 49 families had SIX legal needs 11 families had SEVEN legal needs 9 families had EIGHT legal needs 5 families had NINE legal needs 7 families had 10 legal needs 1 family had 11 legal needs

Provider Questions Needs health insurance: 407 families self reporting Utility Shut Offs: 274 families self reporting Food Insecurity Worry: 369 families Food Insecurity: 324 High Food Insecurity: 248

Legal Questions SSI Child: 182 SSI Care Giver: 129 Benefit Applications: 240 Housing: 213 Eviction: 78 Education Law: 122 Immigration Status: 36 Divorce: 47 Support/Custody: 210

Social Work Questions Benefit Denials: 258 Housing Accessibility: 94 Domestic Violence: 87

Outcomes Advice Given by Lawyers: 302 Referrals by Doctors and Lawyers: 174 No Service: 287 families = 20.9% of ALL POSITIVE SCREENS were not reached!

Noon Advocacy Lecture September 13, 2012 Family Law 101 Noon Advocacy Lecture September 13, 2012

ABC’s of Custody Sole Custody Shared Custody Primary Custody Partial Custody Supervised Custody Grandparent Custody Rights Guardianship Paternity Establishment

“Full” Custody Legal jargon: Sole Physical Custody. Who gets sole custody? Basically no one. Usually only awarded in cases of TPR. So what do most people get?

Primary Physical Custody Most common arrangement – one parent has primary physical custody and the other has some form of partial physical custody. Both parents retain SHARED LEGAL custody – decision making rights. Child lives at home with mom, gets to see dad on weekends.

Partial Physical Custody Parent has custody of child less than half the time. Wide range of what non-custodial parent can do for partial custody periods: overnights, weekends, supervised, etc.

Supervised Physical Custody Awarded to non-custodial parent when the Court has concerns about the child’s safety during unsupervised contact with parent. Often due to parent’s criminal record PA revised custody law in 2011 to require judges to scrutinize long list of criminal offenses in custody cases.

Grandparent Custody Grandparents can petition to have custody. Their claims may be based on acting as primary care taker of the child long-term Common living arrangement

Guardianship What is the difference between custody and guardianship? Custody is the more common legal proceeding and the legal rights are determined by the Family Court under the Domestic Relations and Child Protection laws. Guardianship is a proceeding in Orphans’ Court under Estate laws and is generally used only in cases where the parents of a minor child are deceased. Guardianship cases may involve adults who need a legal guardian to make decisions for them because of a medical condition, such as profound intellectual disability, brain injury or dementia.

Establishment of Paternity Unmarried parents need paternity test for custody case At hospital, acknowledgement of paternity can be signed by dad No AOP signed? DNA test done at 34 S. 11th Street What if Dad doesn’t want to get the DNA test? No Custodial Rights.

ABC’s of Support Establishment of Paternity Support Calculation What if non-custodian doesn’t work? What if non-custodian on SSI? What if non-custodian is incarcerated? What if non-custodian sells drugs?

Establishment of Paternity For Support, no paternity means no support obligation. Again, AOP can be signed at the hospital or at the first court date. Many child support cases are started by DPW. DPW will ask applicant to ID non-custodial parent for purposes of collecting child support. If no AOP, Court will set a date for DNA testing. What if dad doesn’t want to take the DNA test? DNA Test can be COURT ORDERED if the child is receiving public benefits.

Support Calculation Based on combined income of both parents and the size of the family. What if mom gets public benefits for kids? Dads child support money goes to pay back the state for benefits paid out for children.

What if non-custodian does not work? No work = no support UNLESS SSDI Unemployment Comp The judge finds that they’re taking less pay to avoid paying their support obligation. The judge finds that they have an earning capacity based on level of education, age and previous work experience.

What if non-custodian on SSI? Max SSI benefit is around $700. Federal Government says this income is so low, no support money should be taken from it. PA Support Rules also have a self-support reserve of about $800. That means the Court considers the first $800 of income to be what the obligor needs for their own support.

What if non-custodian is incarcerated? No support!

What if the non-custodian sells drugs? Support is calculated based on wages reported. Parents that “work under the table” or “off the books” or “on the street” are not likely reporting any income. Difficult for parent to prove that non-custodial parent is earning this money and obligated to pay support.

Divorce No Fault Divorce: 2 year separation Or - Consent by both parties with a 90 day waiting period. •Divorces are EXPENSIVE. Minimum of $400 for filing fees in Philadelphia. PA Divorces require multiple steps and are complicated to complete without counsel.

Divorce Divorce determines the legal end of the marriage. Divorce is the one and only time to claim certain property rights from a spouse like real estate interests, pension and retirement benefits. Client’s should be wary of “quickie divorce” to make sure they are not giving up rights.