The Rectory at St. John’s
27 East Airy Street
Norristown, PA 19401
610-279-1010
fax 610-279-4607

1. Mr. and Mrs. Smith married fifteen years ago and have two children. Mr. Smith has a one-man accounting practice and earns $150,000 per year. Mr. and Mrs. Smith agreed when they married that Mrs. Smith would stay home, care for the children and be a homemaker. When they divorce, they will most likely divide their property with Mr. Smith receiving the larger share because he earned it.

2. Mr. Smith will have to pay spousal support while the divorce is pending and alimony after the Smiths divorce because he asked her to become a homemaker and they agreed that she would not work outside the home.

3. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have not been getting along and have talked about separating. Mr. Hunt suspects that Mrs. Hunt’s lack of enthusiasm for the marriage is due in large part to an affair he thinks she is having with her co-worker. He buys a software program which will pick up Mrs. Hunt’s sent and received emails and instant messages and installs it on their joint home computer. Mr. Hunt has committed a federal crime which prohibits wire-tapping.

4. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson married ten years ago. Shortly after their marriage, Mrs. Jackson’s parents gave them a $30,000 gift which they used as a down payment on their house. Now that they are getting divorced, Mrs. Jackson’s parents want their daughter to get the gift back. The court will return the $30,000 gift to Mrs. Jackson’s parents.

5. Mr. and Mrs. Washington have three children, ages 16, 13 and 12. They are involved in a bitter custody dispute and the children are scheduled to testify at the trial. The 16 year old and the 13 year old want to live with their mother and the 12 year old wants to live with his father. The court will interview the children and grant their requests because they are old enough to know what they want.

6. Mr. and Mrs. Jordan married twenty five years ago. Their two children are in their early teens. Mr. Jordan is the breadwinner and Mrs. Jordan is a stay-at-home mom. They have been estranged in the same house for many years. Although they have decided that it is time to divorce, each refuses to move out. They both want primary custody and to remain in the house. The court will award occupancy of the house during the divorce to Mrs. Jordan because she is the primary caregiver for the children and homemaker.

7. Mr. and Mrs. Peabody have been married for five years, but have never really gotten along. They have no property and no children. They send away in response to an ad for a quick, cheap divorce in another county. They will have no problem because their divorce is very simple.

8. Mr. and Mrs. Sloan marry thinking that they are second cousins. After being married for three years, they discover that they are first cousins. The marriage is illegal because Pennsylvania forbids marriage between first cousins.

9. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been married for fifteen years.  Mr. Miller works for an insurance company and Mrs. Miller is an antique dealer, which she began with the antique store that she inherited from her parents ten years ago. Mr. Miller now claims that he is entitled to a share of the value of the antiques in the business because the couple often used the inventory from the business to decorate their home.

10. Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar have been married for twenty years. They have two children. They both worked for the federal government during the marriage, but always had financial problems because their children had expensive health issues. After they separate, Mrs. Dunbar wins the lottery for $21,000,000. Mrs. Dunbar will not have to share any of her lottery winnings because she won the lottery after the parties separated.