DivorceNet®

Good Morning,

I have some general questions I am hoping to get some answers to.

In Pa if one spouse wants to keep the marital home does that mean they pay the other spouse 1/2 the appraised value or does that mean they pay whatever equity they would receive if the house sold to a 3rd party?

In general, how many years does one spouse receive alimony?

Is marital debt split or does generally one spouse assume it all?

One spouse has been doing everything pro se and has tried for a few years to settle the financial issues with no response or counter offers by other party or their attorney. Now they have met and had two meetings with the Divorce Master, the Master has requested them to try and settle. The pro se spouse has sent over proposals to the attorney and other spouse with no response. The pro se spouse has decided it is now time to bring an attorney in, can that spouse ask for legal fees and have a decent shot at getting them?

If you need any details to help answer these general questions just let me know.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Gws

In terms of the house and the debt, you either (1) negotiate and make the best deal you can, or (2) let the divorce master dictate what he/she thinks is "fair."

Duration of alimony...depends on a lot of things, esp. length of marriage. Also...if you have paid APL for, say, three years, that should offset the number of years you pay alimony. I have read that there is a rule of thumb in PA, and I have read that the existence of such rule of thumb is a myth. For what its worth, the rule of thumb that may or may not exist is one year of APL/alimony per three years of marriage.

That would mean (of course, I am not an attorney) that if you separated after 15 years, and paid spousal support (APL) for three years before the divorce was final, you would have only an additional two-year alimony obligation. Seems logical but this is just speculation on my part.

I do think....bringing in an attorney is wise. I was pro se for a while and I think in hindsight it cost me a lot more than the money I saved.

Oh...I doubt you would get attorney's fees. I think that is for when the other side has wasted your attorney's time, not for when they have wasted yours.

Good luck.

Thanks to all that took time to answer.

GWS