North East PA Divorce and Family Law Attorney

Our law firm prides itself on serving North East, Pennsylvania and Erie County with Family Law and Matrimonial Legal Services. No one enters a relationship or marriage with the thought of divorce or separation. Unfortunately, the statistics for marriages ending in divorce is approximately 41% for first marriages, 60% for second marriages and 73% for third marriages, regardless of heteronormative couples or same sex couples. These statistics are also not skewed dramatically by age when a couple is getting married or combining assets. While a divorce from a first marriage is difficult, second and third marriages offer their own concerns at the start and end of the marriage, especially if there are combined families. Most families do not merge as seamlessly as the famous Brady Bunch. This is where we can help!

A divorce or separation can be an emotional and financial struggle. Hiring an experienced and local matrimonial and divorce lawyer will guide you through the pitfalls of the separation and help you protect your assets. Issues will arise regarding marital assets such as a home, income properties, cars, pets, spousal support, business assets, and investment portfolios, including retirement assets. If children are involved, you will also need to determine custody, child support, authorization for medical treatment, extracurricular activities, holidays, birthdays, and arrangements on who is responsible for paying for private schools and college. Hiring an experienced divorce attorney like Denise Pekelnicky, who will negotiate on your behalf, and if necessary, go to trial to fight for you, will help ease the burden of the process.

Hiring a Divorce Attorney in North East PA

DCP Law Office has a firm belief in only accepting clients if the firm has capacity and can be accessible to them, including handling phone calls, questions, in-person meetings, and court appearances in a timely and effective manner. Denise will review your case and set clear expectations prior to retaining you as a client to ensure that she and her staff can provide hands on service and give you the best possible outcome according to the law. After years in private practice, an associate at a firm and in-house counsel positions, Denise follows the golden rule to treat others as you would want to be treated which means getting back to her clients in a timely fashion and treating each client with dedication, professionalism and compassion.

The firm regularly handles cases involving:

• Pre-nuptial agreements
• Marital Property Settlement Agreements
• Divorce
• Child Support
• Custody and Visitation
• Post-Matrimonial Agreements
• Family Law
• Fathers’ Rights
• Same Sex Family Law
• Spousal Support
• Adoption
• Deed Transfer or Purchase/Sell Agreements after a divorce or during separation
• Estate Planning and updating wills after a divorce or separation

If you need help with any of the above matters, please contact the firm to schedule a consultation at 814-913-7274 or email me to schedule a consultation to discuss your case and circumstances.

Dispute Resolution Through Collaborative Law

Collaborative law can be useful for all types of disputes, including divorce, custody, employment disputes, contract disputes and all litigation. Currently, the most common usage in Erie County is for divorce and custody. It is my belief that all actions are subject to settlement, and collaborative law is one method to achieve that result. Anyone who practices collaborative law must be trained.

In collaborative situations, the parties and attorneys work together as a team to resolve all issues in the matter. This team may include financial professionals, coaches and mental health professionals. The collaborative process is not mediation. In fact, it is much more client-driven. In a collaborative situation, the parties sign a collaborative agreement in which parties agree that they will not utilize the court system in an adversarial manner. The parties agree in writing to cooperate with each other and their respective counsel. There is still a client-attorney relationship between each party and their attorney. The caveat is that if the parties turn to the adversarial process, then the collaborative process terminates. Both parties must then obtain new counsel. This result is rare. The success rate of the collaborative law is very high, specifically in divorce situations.