Pittsburgh Divorce Law Blog

Ending a marriage can be an expensive way to obtain a fresh start. Recent estimates have priced the average American contested divorce as costing anywhere from $15,000-$30,000 for legal counsel, court fees and other related expenses alone.

As the economy is only beginning to recover from long-time devastation, divorce expenses can seem daunting even to couples whose income can be described as "quite comfortable." However, there is one step that Pittsburgh couples can take to reduce the amount of hard-earned income that must be spent on their divorce.

Family law attorneys in Pennsylvania say that evidence gathered from Facebook is growing more common in divorce cases around the state. The poor behavior of rival spouses often finds its way into divorce and child custody hearings and because of that many attorneys advise their clients to quit Facebook and other social media sites.

Family law attorneys use evidence gathered from social media sites in generally two ways: to protect clients and to substantiate their clients' cases by looking at the online behavior of their former partners. Often, even though their attorney has warned them about the impact of making poor choices online many clients continue to make unsavory decisions. Sometimes family law attorneys are not even aware of the behavior of their clients.

In one case of poor, online decision making, a father posted on Facebook that he wanted to take his anger out by placing a picture of his former wife on a punching bag since he could not punch her in real life. The evidence of that post was used during a child custody hearing and the father ended up losing primary child custody because of the post.

In another instance of unpalatable online behavior, a different father created a fake Facebook profile of his former wife and mother of his children. The fake profile showed the mother in a swimsuit with fake posts and status updates. The father even decided to friend his former wife's actual friends using the fake profile. In court, the evidence of the fake page and the father's actions were admitted and the evidence was factored into the judge's decision.

Choosing to get a divorce is a big decision in and of itself. But once that decision has been made, there is a long list of other decisions which will need to be made as well, including many large ones that could impact the financial futures of you and your children.

Pittsburgh residents who have recently decided to divorce may be asking themselves, "How do I begin?" Thankfully, there are professionals who know the process and can help divorcing individuals navigate it successfully.

The end of a marriage not only takes an emotional toll on those involved, it also poses significant financial challenges. During divorce proceedings, spouses must determine what to do with a variety of assets, including the house. Given the financial consequences related to dividing this significant asset, decisions made regarding the house may be some of the most important aspects of any given divorce settlement process.

Divorcing couples in Pittsburgh have a variety of options to consider when dealing with the marital home in a divorce. First, one spouse may choose to keep the house.