Amanda J Iannuzzelli

Amanda J Iannuzzelli

  • Family Law, Divorce, Domestic Violence ...
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Practice Areas
Family Law
Adoption, Child Custody, Child Support, Father's Rights, Guardianship & Conservatorship, Paternity, Prenups & Marital Agreements, Restraining Orders, Same Sex Family Law
Divorce
Collaborative Law, Contested Divorce, Military Divorce, Property Division, Same Sex Divorce, Spousal Support & Alimony, Uncontested Divorce
Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence Criminal Defense, Domestic Violence Restraining Orders, Victims Rights , Victims Rights
Criminal Law
Criminal Appeals, Drug Crimes, Expungement, Fraud, Gun Crimes, Internet Crimes, Sex Crimes, Theft, Violent Crimes
DUI & DWI
Traffic Tickets
Suspended License
Municipal Law
Education
Widener University Delaware School of Law
(2011) Law
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Websites & Blogs
Website
Legal Answers
5 Questions Answered
Q. Dad had dui class during his scheduled time with son. Am I obligated to let him make up lost time?
A: Legally speaking, are absolutely under no obligation to provide “make-up time” to a parent who has to miss part of their custodial time due to a prior obligation. If you have a custody order issued by the Court, you are only required to relinquish custody of your child for the time specified therein. In fact, you are not even required to provide child care for any time during the other parent’s scheduled custody time that they are unable to physically be with your child, regardless of the reason. Often times, courts will order a “right of first refusal”, which means that if your child’s father is not going to be present during a large amount of his custodial time (typically 3 hours or more at once), rather than immediately put the child in a third parties’ care, you would have first dibs at watching and caring for your child during this time.

If your child’s father’s custody or visitation is only for an 8 hour period of time with no overnight, he should make every effort to not schedule anything else during this time. DUI classes typically give multiple options for scheduling, so most likely he scheduled the class to be during his custody time. This is not your problem. However, with all of that said, you may want to consider providing this makeup custodial time. for your child’s benefit. If your child’s Custody time is already extremely limited with his or her father, you should weigh the pros and cons of allowing this hour and a half to be made up at another time, taking into consideration the inconvenience, if any, that it would place on you. After all, the ultimate standard for child custody is what is “in the best interest of the Child”, and not “what is fair to the parents”! ... Read More
Q. Just found out my father's daughter left the state without notifying anyone. What can I do about support and visitation
A: From your question, it is not clear whether you currently live in Pennsylvania, or if PA is the state in which your child's father's new residence is located. Regardless, when parties live in different states, jurisdiction can be a confusing and complicated issue to untangle. Due to the complexity and potential difficulty faced in uniformly enforcing child support orders across the country, there are procedures and guidelines governed by the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), which has been adopted by all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Generally speaking, if you do not have a support order, you may file for one in Pennsylvania if this is where your child's father used to reside with your child, and either you or your he continue to reside in the state. Pennsylvania will retain jurisdiction as long as he has "sufficient contacts" with the state. You can find out more detailed information with respect to jurisdiction over a non-resident in child support under 23 Pa.C.S. § 7201. This link will take you to the statue.

(https://law.justia.com/codes/pennsylvania/2010/title-23/chapter-72/7201/)

If your child's father meets this jurisdictional criteria, you may file a Complaint for Child Support, or Petition to Modify an existing order in the state of Pennsylvania. However, although Pennsylvania may have absolute jurisdiction over entering and modifying the child support order, enforcing the order may be a different story. You will need to register this existing order in your child's father's current state of residence with "Central Registry". All states will have an office called the "Central Registry". The UIFSA gives custodial parents two choices for enforcement, as it is often easier for local authorities to garnish wages of the payor parent or execute an arrest in the event of a contempt. This means that while you may want to enlist Pennsylvania's help to start a enforcement action, it will likely have to occur in the the state of current residence. Typically, your child's father's resident state has the most power to enforce the order, but again, may not modify or make any changes.

With respect to child custody, if one parent moves far enough away that the current schedule is no longer practical or possible to follow, if there is an official child custody order with the court, a Petition for Modification of A Child Custody Order should be filed in the issuing state. These petitions are filed when a a request to change the custody order is being made based on a substantial change in circumstance. Typically, this is filed by the party making the substantial change in residence. However, if they fail to do so, you may find that this burden defaults to you. While the order is considered to remain in place until officially modified and you are unlikely to be found in contempt for failure to abide by 100% of the terms if they have become unduly burdensome. For example, if your order specifies shared transportation, you cannot be reasonably expected to continue providing such transportation if the distance between your residence and the child's Father's residence has increased from 5 to 30 miles. Implicit and often explicit in the terms of your custody order are that the terms are conditional upon the geographical proximity that parents have to one another. In fact, a parent may not move with their child any distance far enough away to impeded the other's parent's custodial rights. When the custodial parent does this, it is considered a "relocation", and they are required to file a Petition for Relocation with the court. However, when a non-custodial parent is the person changing residence, no such terminology applies and a standard Petition for Child Custody Modification is appropriate. ... Read More
Q. Father got new charges for DUI, can I file for contempt?
A: You may file a Petition for Contempt of Custody Order against your child’s father if your order clearly states that he is to abstain from the use of alcohol. A failure to abide by and follow the terms of a court order is typically grounds for a Petition for Contempt. However, depending on the urgency of the situation, you may want to consider filing a Petition for Emergency Custody. Depending on what county you are located in, it may take the Court weeks to months to hear a standard non-emergency. Emergency petitions, if granted or found to have a legitimate basis for the purpose of a hearing, could be listed within a matter of days. Regardless, if you have a true and valid reason for filing and Petition for Emergency Custody, and are able to articulate this reason clearly in your petition, the matter should be listed significantly faster than a standard petition such as Petition for Contempt. Before you file an emergency, you need to validly assess whether you meet the qualifications and criteria that will be considered by the Court. Emergency petitions may be filed when you are in fear that the child may be at risk of, or currently in immediate harm, or has been or is about to be removed from the jurisdiction. One parent abusing drugs or alcohol has been the frequent and continuing subject many emergency custody petitions. You must weigh your objective and subjective view of how immediate and apparent the risk of harm to your child may be. If your child’s father has a long history of alcohol abuse, to such an extent that he had to have supervised visitation for a period of time, you may feel that it is not safe for your child to be in his father’s unsupervised care. In other words, an emergency petition would be appropriate if you believe that your child’s father may abuse alcohol in the presence of your child, and that it poses an immediate risk of harm. ... Read More
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Law Offices of Amanda J. Iannuzzelli
349 West Baltimore Ave. 3rd Floor
Media, PA 19063
US
Telephone: (610) 566-2424
Fax: (610) 566-4141
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