As of this summer, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopted Rule of Civil Procedure 1915.11-1, which abolished the use of parent coordinators in Pennsylvania child custody cases. The new rule states that only judges may make decisions in child custody cases, which also includes hearing officers/masters, and therefore the courts shall not appoint any other individual to make decisions or recommendations or alter a custody order in child custody cases. This new rule reflects the Court’s concern with judicial following recent controversies in two different counties regarding juvenile placement and guardians ad litem. While the decision to abolish the coordinators favors transparency and will contribute to more direct accountability for decisions in child custody court, a lot of family law practitioners believe that the program had value and instead should have been tweaked instead of scrapped. Some believe that the parent coordinators were helpful for the parents, attorneys, and courts while other believe the courts were outsourcing too much judicial authority to coordinators who often knew little of the law. According to the Rule, any Orders that have previously appointed parent coordinators have been vacated as of May 23, 2013.
Read MoreMMD&C Family Law Attorney Lucas A. Clark, IV will be providing the Delaware County perspective on Family Law Discovery Issues as part of a panel of distinguished Family Law Attorneys. The presentation has been approved for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit, whereby practicing attorneys can receive credit towards their annual legal education requirement. The presentation will take place at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s CLE Conference Center on June 13, 2013. The Session is entitled: The Family Lawyer’s Discovery Tool Kit. The panel will be giving an overview of the formal and informal discovery tools and methods, there will be a discussion of the forms and pros and cons of various discovery tools; they will address strategic discovery and complex discovery issues such as privilege, third-parties, confidentiality, HIPAA, independent medical examiners, and experts; they will explore court intervention and enforcement of discovery issues with applicable case law; and they will discuss county-specific procedural information for Southeastern Pennsylvania’s five counties for which Attorney Luke Clark will be the Delaware County representative. Mr. Clark’s materials will include a Delaware County Motion for Case Management, a Discovery Order, a Pretrial Statement, a Pretrial Inventory and Appraisement, an Equitable Distribution Hearing Notice, a Hearing Officer’s…
Read MoreFounding partner and practicing Delaware County Family Law attorney, Thomas A. Musi, Jr., has had a long standing roll on the Board of the American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania. In a recent list of honorees, Tom has been recognized for his continued financial and organizational support of the American Red Cross. Tom also dedicates time to support local breast cancer research and the Delaware County Domestic Abuse Project.
Read MoreAt a full hearing in court, MMD&C successfully argued on behalf of its client gaining the return of his vehicle. As a result of an undercover operation conducted by the Delaware County District Attorney‘s Countywide Narcotics Task Force, the client’s vehicle (a paid-for Dodge Ram truck) was seized by the Commonwealth. The vehicle’s occupants were convicted of using the vehicle to deliver narcotics to undercover officers. MMD&C’s attorney filed a Petition for Return of Property and objected to the Commonwealth’s Forfeiture Petition. After unsuccessful negotiations the matter proceeded to a full hearing in court. At the end of the hearing, the Judge ruled in favor of our client and ordered the Commonwealth to return the vehicle to our client. The client was able to pick up his truck from impound two days later. The satisfied client had this to say about his case in a letter sent to the firm: “Thank you very much for your due diligence regarding the return of property: my Dodge Ram Truck. I appreciate the time, effort, and your legal expertise demonstrated by you on my behalf in our conferences and the courtroom. You handled this case with finesse.”
Read MoreBeginning on Super Bowl Sunday, the Northern Delaware County DUI Taskforce will be conducting a week of roving DUI patrols. This DUI Taskforce is comprised of six municipalities: Haverford, Marple, Newtown Square, Radnor, Springfield and Upper Darby Townships. The Taskforce has conducted 38 operations since its inception in late 2009. To date, 80 drivers have been arrested for Driving Under the Influence of alcohol or drugs, 29 citations have been issued for Underage Drinking, and almost 500 citations for other motor vehicle code violations have been issued. Roving Patrols are specialized traffic details where officers focus on spotting and stopping impaired drivers.
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